German and British soldiers fraternize – Christmas 1914

Jenny hasn't been around much between holiday madness, working on this, and my "naughty and nice" list---but that's a different blog. First a wee history lesson:

British-German Truce

The truce began on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1914, when German troops began decorating the area around their trenches in the region of Ypres, Belgium, for Christmas. They began by placing candles on trees, then continued the celebration by singing Christmas carols, most notably Stille Nacht (Silent Night). The British troops in the trenches across from them responded by singing English carols.

The two sides continued by shouting Christmas greetings to each other. Soon thereafter, there were calls for visits across the "No Man's Land" where small gifts were exchanged — whisky, jam, cigars, chocolate, and the like. The artillery in the region fell silent that night. The truce also allowed a breathing spell where recently-fallen soldiers could be brought back behind their lines by burial parties. Proper burials took place as soldiers from both sides mourned the dead together and paid their respects. At one funeral in No Man's Land, soldiers from both sides gathered and read a passage from the 23rd Psalm:

The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

The truce spread to other areas of the lines, and there are many stories of football matches between the opposing forces. The film Joyeux Noël suggests that letters sent home from both British and German soldiers related that the score was 3-2 in favour of the Germans.

In many sectors, the truce lasted through Christmas night, but in some areas, it continued until New Year's Day.

The truce occurred in spite of opposition at higher levels of the military. Earlier in the autumn, a call by Pope Benedict XV for an official truce between the warring governments had been ignored.

British commanders Sir John French and Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien vowed that no such truce would be allowed again. (However, both had left command before Christmas 1915.) In all of the following years of the war, artillery bombardments were ordered on Christmas Eve to ensure that there were no further lulls in the combat. Troops were also rotated through various sectors of the front to prevent them from becoming overly familiar with the enemy. Despite those measures, there were a few friendly encounters between enemy soldiers, but on a much smaller scale than the previous year.

Some of you never heard of this until long after secondary school. Wouldn't do to teach the next generation commanders can be told to go bugger themselves and troops can assert moral authority. Anyway, the point is if these lads could do it risking Howitzers then those of us on-line have no excuse not to try to get to know each other as people.

Now I'm not in the mood for any bollox about how there isn't an online 9/11 info war, or there is no organized disruption--already blogged that here. But in any war there are many reasons people fight. I have no illusions about the motives of the head of ops like Screw Loose Change or the "seagulls". But there are those what get involved by being severely misinformed. And, for sincere rank and file activists on both sides of the 9/11 fence, maybe an opportunity to see each other as people can be educational even if we'll never agree about 9/11.

Mark your calendar:

Are you game?