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1914 Christmas Truce - WW I
"Thus Christmas, the celebration of Love, managed to bring mortal enemies together as friends for a time.”
"The Germans were singing carols, as it was Christmas Eve. In the darkness, some of the British soldiers began to sing back. 'Suddenly,' Bairnsfather recalled, 'we heard a confused shouting from the other side. We all stopped to listen. The shout came again.' The voice was from an enemy soldier, speaking in English with a strong German accent. He was saying, 'Come over here.' One of the British sergeants answered: 'You come half-way. I come half-way.'
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Peaceful New Year!
"Thus Christmas, the celebration of Love, managed to bring mortal enemies together as friends for a time.”
- German Lieutenant Kurt Zehmisch of the 134 Saxons Infantry
Perhaps it’s time to put our differences aside, follow the example of these brave men, and reach out to family and friends who have been distanced due to differences of opinion. Family and friendships are too precious to be separated by our own personal “no man’s land”.
During the cold, dark night of December 24, 1914, in the midst of World War I, something extraordinary happened. There was a truce—not brought on by the generals, but by the men fighting in the trenches that cold Christmas Eve.
Descriptions of the Christmas Truce appear in numerous diaries and letters of the time. British machine gunner Bruce Bairnsfather, later a prominent cartoonist, wrote about it in his memoirs.
"The Germans were singing carols, as it was Christmas Eve. In the darkness, some of the British soldiers began to sing back. 'Suddenly,' Bairnsfather recalled, 'we heard a confused shouting from the other side. We all stopped to listen. The shout came again.' The voice was from an enemy soldier, speaking in English with a strong German accent. He was saying, 'Come over here.' One of the British sergeants answered: 'You come half-way. I come half-way.'
What happened next would, in the years to come, stun the world and make history.
Enemy soldiers began to climb nervously out of their trenches, and to meet in the barbed-wire-filled 'No Man’s Land' that separated the armies. Normally, the British and Germans communicated across No Man’s Land with streaking bullets, with only occasional gentlemanly allowances to collect the dead unmolested. But now, there were handshakes and words of kindness. The soldiers traded songs, tobacco and wine, joining in a spontaneous holiday party in the cold night. “
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Peaceful New Year!
