But what was the real story behind the truce? Glad you liked it. I understand Silent Night (the Lifetime movie) added a dramatic touch at the end which didn't happen, but, overall, it's based on this incident. I want to know what is Hermann roast? Hi, Graham. Dazed by these events, they slowly complied and Elisabeth went inside, demanding the same of the Americans. Is the cabin still standing? It was far from easy to play on the frozen ground, but we continued, keeping rigorously to the rules, despite the fact that it only lasted an hour and that we had no referee. Punishments were doled out and very harsh threats were made should it happen again. Answer: The mother was able to provide a large roast chicken which was then made into a stew with potatoes and, perhaps, some other stored root vegetables. I think this is okay in comments because I'm not actually promoting these other sites. It would now have been a good souvenir.”, In most places, up and down the line, it was accepted that the truce would be purely temporary. Great comment, as usual. England. The events of December 1914 have become an integral part of national remembrance and provide a centrepiece for the current First World War centenary commemorations.. David Hunt (author) from Cedar Rapids, Iowa on December 03, 2012: Hi, aethelthyth. Fortunate indeed-- especially when you remember the Battle of the Bulge was still going on. Larry Fields from Northern California on November 29, 2012: I remember reading that something similar to the 1914 Christmas truce happened during the American Civil War. I'd not ever heard of this event, so I thank you, once again, for some new and interesting information. Generals on both sides, determined to prevent fraternization in future, saw to it that such activities would be severely punished and so there were no more Christmas truces the rest of that war or the next. Would be a wonderful touch to add to our Christmas next year. I read this story for the first time in a Reader's Digest when I was a kid. Hello, wtaylorjr2001. David Hunt (author) from Cedar Rapids, Iowa on December 05, 2012: Thanks, fpherj48. Your own experience is also a reminder that, given the chance, ordinary people are capable of overlooking differences and being friends. Now, Researchers Found Another, Renewing Hope for the Species, The History Behind Amazon's 'One Night in Miami', Why I Captured This MRI of a Mother and Child, Fourteen Fun Facts About Love and Sex in the Animal Kingdom, The Rise and Fall of America's Lesbian Bars, Meet Joseph Rainey, the First Black Congressman, The State of American Craft Has Never Been Stronger. Question: Were there any other WWII truces? My understanding is that an attempt on a much smaller scale was tried in Xmas 1915, but by then the war and the generals had their way. I'm glad you were moved by my Hub-- that's the sort of thing writers never tire of hearing. In the trenches occupied by the Royal Welch Fusiliers, Captain Stockwell “climbed up on the parapet, fired three shots in the air and put up a flag with ‘Merry Christmas’ on it.” At this, his opposite number, Hauptmann von Sinner, “appeared on the German parapet and both officers bowed and saluted. World War 1 had been going on for many months but the soldiers on both sides stepped out of their trenches. Thanks for sharing. For many, the Christmas Truce remains one of the most enduring and symbolic moments of World War One. How could we resist wishing each other a Merry Christmas, even though we might be at each other’s throats immediately afterwards? It is a touching event, isn't it? “I wish I had kept that signal,” he wrote years later. British memorial commemorating the 1914 Christmas Truce Although disappointed to be far from home on Christmas Eve, Brewer at least took solace in the fact that … It's not always easy to pull off-- but the subject matter here does most of the "moving". An American soldier and a Belgian woman fall in love during a brief holiday truce amid the Battle of the Bulge. Voted up and interesting/beautiful. Tomorrow, you fight for your country, I fight for mine. Of course, not every man on either side was thrilled by the Christmas Truce, and official opposition squelched at least one proposed Anglo-German soccer match. Great story, superbly written. Pavlo, I think you're right on both counts. I try to make history readable and interesting, warts and all. Pope Benedict XV, who took office that September, had originally called for a Christmas truce, an idea that was officially rejected. Thanks for the kind words. Officers, fearing treachery, ordered the men to be silent. The New York Times investigated it shortly after Reagan's speech, verifying it had appeared in the January 1973 edition of Reader's Digest and discovering that Reader's Digest had also done extensive research on such a hard-to-believe story. Slowly, parties of men from both sides began to venture toward the barbed wire that separated them, until—Rifleman Oswald Tilley told his parents in a letter home—”literally hundreds of each side were out in no man’s land shaking hands.”, Communication could be difficult. Although Williams was recalling a game played on New Year’s Eve, after there had been a thaw and plenty of rain, his description chimes with the little that is known for sure about the games played on Christmas Day: ball appeared from somewhere, I don’t know where, but it came from their side… They made up some goals and one fellow went in goal and then it was just a general kickabout. I am thankful I never served in a war but want to always remember the great cost of our freedom. View of the type of terrain in the Huertgen Forest. Although the dvd mainly concentrates on the brief peace time between enemy alliances during the Christmas … I served in Vietnam and there was no way this could have happened between us and the VC or the NVA! The Christmas Truce is a good dvd for history class high school students. The Pastor is a story in itself. On the evening before one of the great battles, some Union soldiers and Confederate soldiers visited the camps of their 'enemies', and hung out for awhile, before returning to their own camps for some much-needed shut-eye. For Niemann, the novelty of getting to know their kilted opposition matched the novelty of playing soccer in no man’s land: Us Germans really roared when a gust of wind revealed that the Scots wore no drawers under their kilts—and hooted and whistled every time they caught an impudent glimpse of one posterior belonging to one of “yesterday’s enemies.” But after an hour’s play, when our Commanding Officer heard about it, he sent an order that we must put a stop to it. The Germans contributed a bottle of red wine and a loaf of rye bread. Directed by Christian Carion. To learn more about WWI and the soldiers who fought in it, ... WWII … Captain Clifton Stockwell, an officer with the Royal Welch Fusiliers who found himself occupying a trench opposite the ruins of a heavily shelled brewery, wrote  in his diary of “one Saxon, who spoke excellent English” and who “used to climb in some eyrie in the brewery and spend his time asking ‘How is London getting on?’, ‘How was Gertie Millar and the Gaiety?’, and so on. This story touches a part of my life too because of God's providence I spent a total of 5 weeks in the 80s behind the iron curtain and started a life time friendship with a couple of German families, one in the former DDR and one in free West Berlin. Congratulations! Gustave Kilthau from USA on November 29, 2012: Thank you very much for presenting such a meaningful and well-written story. My question is what would they have eaten during the WWII Christmas truce? At 8:30 p.m. an officer of the Royal Irish Rifles reported to headquarters: “Germans have illuminated their trenches, are singing songs and wishing us a Happy Xmas. Passing this on. The Christmas Truce is the name given to a series of unofficial ceasefires which happened during World War 1 on the Western Front in 1914 around Christmas time. Interesting story. The truce occurred during the Christmas of 1914. A German trench in December 1914. Since she didn't care much for either Nazi Reichsminister Hermann Goering or the rooster, she had named the rooster after Goering. Knowing the penalty for harboring the enemy was execution, Elisabeth, white as a ghost, pushed past Fritz and stepped outside. It is like a miracle which can happen in the Chrtmas time only. That whole region is the best for enjoying Germany outside of Bavaria, but I'm a huge history guy. In Frelinghien, a French village, there is a plaque dedicated solely to the Christmas truce … Before Smithsonian.com, Dash authored the award-winning blog A Blast From the Past. Sponsored by World of Tanks! But up and down our line one heard the men answering that Christmas greeting from the enemy. I had a go at the ball. And it does not seem to have been uncommon for the resumption of the war to be marked with further displays of mutual respect between enemies. Meetings in No Man’s Land: Christmas 1914 and Fraternization in the Great War. It should be made into a movie, I reckon. You tell wonderful stories in such an entertaining way.........UP+++. A couple of friends and I met some merchant sailors. It's very possible that the draftees and other soldiers on both sides of the Civil War really did not want to be there, and that a typical soldier harbored precious little animosity toward his counterparts on the opposing side. In the one detailed eyewitness account that survives—albeit in an interview not given until the 1960s—Lieutenant Johannes Niemann, a Saxon who served with the 133rd, recalled that on Christmas morning: the mist was slow to clear and suddenly my orderly threw himself into my dugout to say that both the German and Scottish soldiers had come out of their trenches and were fraternizing along the front. When fighting resumes, they promise to reunite on the first … Artist’s impression of the Christmas truce of 1914. On Dec. 25, 1915, the 28-year-old Colquhoun had written in his diary: “A German officer came forward and asked me for a truce for Christmas. Oh well, I would have written in January even if I missed the holiday. Fritz and his parents survived the war. He told this story all the time. Elisabeth Vincken and her 12-year-old son, Fritz, had been hoping her husband would arrive to spend Christmas with them, but it was now too late. Hi Joan. Remembering the Christmas Truce. And the last thing - they were all too tired and exhausted to fight between them. Thank you so much for sharing this little known story with us!! Most people have heard the story of the front-line, Christmas-time, truce in France during World War One, partially due to its retelling in the 2005 movie, Joyeux Noël, but not … Sadly, he died in on December 8, 2002, almost 58 years to the day of the Christmas truce. rlbertoo, I hadn't heard of it either, although I knew there was nothing in WW2 like the truce in WW1. Thank you for letting me know this. Keep up-to-date on: © 2021 Smithsonian Magazine. Elisabeth and Fritz were alone in the cabin. Tom Ware from Sydney, Australia on September 01, 2015: This is a wonderful story. The Illustrated London News of January 9 1915. Fritz flew to Frederick in January 1996 and met with Ralph Blank, one of the American soldiers who still had the German compass and map. In a short while, all of us pretty drunk, we began singing Marshal Songs from WW2. By that time, the bad weather had lifted and Allied planes filled the skies during the day. WW2: Battle of the Bulge. Robert Wayne Voss. Three American soldiers, one badly wounded, were lost in the snow-covered Ardennes Forest as they tried to find the American lines. For another British soldier, Private Frederick Heath, the truce began late that same night when “all down our line of trenches there came to our ears a greeting unique in war: ‘English soldier, English soldier, a merry Christmas, a merry Christmas!’” Then–as Heath wrote in a letter home–the voices added: ‘Come out, English soldier; come out here to us.’ For some little time we were cautious, and did not even answer. “What is there for us to fight about?” The most detailed estimate, made by Malcolm Brown of Britain’s Imperial War Museums, is that the truce extended along at least two-thirds of British-held trench line that scarred southern Belgium. It is ineed a moving tribute to her and the little bit of humanity that occurred that night. The most detailed of these stories comes from the German side, and reports that the 133rd Royal Saxon Regiment played a game against Scottish troops. Some of the soldiers were ordered to start fighting again at midnight of December 26 th, while others continued the truce until New Year’s Day. Many officers disapproved, and headquarters on both sides took strong steps to ensure that it could never happen again. Hi UnnamedHarald. The first reports of such a contest surfaced a few days afterward; on January 1, 1915, The Times published a letter written from a doctor attached to the Rifle Brigade, who reported “a football match… played between them and us in front of the trench.” The brigade’s official history insisted that no match took place because “it would have been most unwise to allow the Germans to know how weakly the British trenches were held.” But there is plenty of evidence that soccer was played that Christmas Day—mostly by men of the same nationality, but in at least three or four places between troops from the opposing armies. I'm guessing it wasn't official. Men returned to their trenches at dusk, in some cases summoned back by flares, but for the most part determined to preserve the peace at least until midnight. The merchant sailors were probably around ten years older than us. His mother and father passed away in the Sixties and by then he had gotten married and moved to Hawaii, where he opened Fritz's European Bakery in Kapalama, a neighborhood in Honolulu. Even so, accounts of a Christmas Truce refer to a suspension of hostilities only between the British and the Germans. Yet there were still odd moments of joy and hope in the trenches of Flanders and France, and one of the most remarkable came during the first Christmas of the war, a few brief hours during which men from both sides on the Western Front laid down their arms, emerged from their trenches, and shared food, carols, games and comradeship. Heavy fighting had been taking place for several months before German and allied soldiers stepped out of their trenches, shook hands and agreed an unofficial truce … David Hunt (author) from Cedar Rapids, Iowa on December 01, 2012: Thanks for your comment, Gypsy. By December 1914, the men in the trenches were veterans, familiar enough with the realities of combat to have lost much of the idealism that they had carried into war in August, and most longed for an end to bloodshed. Thank you for sharing and voting up. As the brutality of war escalated in 1915, events like the Christmas Truce of 1914 became unattainable, though some limited truces still … The boots we wore were a menace—those great big boots we had on—and in those days the balls were made of leather and they soon got very soggy. She certainly deserves to be. Hermann's namesake was Hermann Goering, the Nazi leader, who Elisabeth didn't care much for. Silent Night: the story of the carol that paused a war December 20, 2018 … I'm sure these were Wehrmacht soldiers - the massacre you refer to at Malmedy was perpetrated by the Waffen SS commanded by "Sepp" Dietrich. Pavlo Badovskyi from Kyiv, Ukraine on November 29, 2012: This is a unique situation which became possible because German and Americal soldiers follow the same traditions . Von Sinner then also fired two shots in the air and went back into his trench.”. A celebration of the human spirit, the Christmas Truce remains a moving manifestation of the absurdities of war. If so could you please let me have the links? Fritz said the reunion was the high point of his life. A little later we drifted back to our trenches and the fraternization ended. Larry Fields from Northern California on November 30, 2012: Hi David. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. William H Taylor from Binghamton NY on November 29, 2012: This is truly an amazing and powerful story showing what humans have in common. Then … London: Simon & Schuster, 2001. I replied that this was … Malcolm Brown & Shirley Seaton. Ralph told Fritz “Your mother saved my life”. While Hermann roasted, there was another knock on the door and Fritz went to open it, thinking there might be more lost Americans, but instead there were four armed German soldiers. The corporal asked sharply if there were Americans inside and she said there were three who were lost and cold like they were and one was wounded. Terms of Use The generals on both sides were outraged that their soldiers participated. It is left to a fourth recollection, given in 1983 by Ernie Williams of the Cheshire Regiment, to supply a real idea of what soccer played between the trenches really meant. I wasn't sure what to expect in the former DDR (east Germany) but we were places there where we were the first Americans to visit after the war. Just how widespread the truce was is hard to say. A tear in my eye here David. I imagine they had a lasting impact on your life. The football match during the 1914 Christmas truce has become one of the most iconic moments of the First World War. Of course, only a few men involved in the truce could share reminiscences of London. David Hunt (author) from Cedar Rapids, Iowa on November 29, 2012: Thanks for your generous comment, WillStarr. How fortunate all those boys were to have stumbled on Elisabeth's house. They invited us back to their ship. I envy your experiences behind the iron curtain in the eighties, brus. Fritz Vincken also managed to later contact one of the other Americans, but none of the Germans. christmas truce at the somme 1914 At Christmas, 1914, there occurred several informal truces at various points along the trench lines of Northern France and Belgium. Everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves. You can't afford to let men see your enemy as human or anything but monsters... or they won't kill each other as efficiently. We must look to the past to understand the present and confront the future. Men from the Royal Dublin Fusiliers meet their German counterparts in no man's land somewhere in the deadly Ypres Salient, December 26, 1914. German-speaking British troops were scarce, but many Germans had been employed in Britain before the war, frequently in restaurants. Isadore, it's very interesting to hear that Readers' Digest published a version in the sixties. I enjoyed it very much. One common factor seems to have been that Saxon troops—universally regarded as easygoing—were the most likely to be involved, and to have made the first approaches to their British counterparts. I grabbed my binoculars and looking cautiously over the parapet saw the incredible sight of our soldiers exchanging cigarettes, schnapps and chocolate with the enemy. What followed, though, was something more than that, for if the story of the Christmas Truce has its jewel, it is the legend of the match played between the British and the Germans—which the Germans claimed to have won, 3-2. The Germans produced a bottle of wine and a loaf of bread. I was pretty good then, at 19. Later a Scottish soldier appeared with a football which seemed to come from nowhere and a few minutes later a real football match got underway. Get the best of Smithsonian magazine by email. Joan Veronica Robertson from Concepcion, Chile on December 06, 2012: Hi David, another masterpiece! Looking at the Americans' map, the corporal told them the best way to get back to their lines and provided them with a compass. A faded photo of the 133rd Royal Saxon Regiment's pre-war football team was one of the souvenirs presented to Lieutenant Ian Stewart of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders. For Fritz. ”, Exactly what happened between the Saxons were `` very ''... Story and seeing their condition -- especially the wounded soldier -- Elisabeth started preparing a meal you, once,. Still going on grace, Fritz noticed tears in the exhausted soldiers ' eyes -- German! 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