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FReeper Canteen ~ Hall of Heroes: The Christmas Truce 1914 ~ December 29, 2014
Serving The Best Troops and Veterans In The World !! | StarCMC

Posted on 12/28/2014 5:06:14 PM PST by Kathy in Alaska

 

Our Troops Rock!  Thank you for all you do!
For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday...
Thank the Veterans who served
in The United States Armed Forces.
 
Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States
Armed Forces Today!
 
 

~ Hall of Heroes ~

The Christmas Truce
Info from here.

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You are standing up to your knees in the slime of a waterlogged trench.  It is the evening of 24 December 1914 and you are on the dreaded Western Front.

Stooped over, you wade across to the firing step and take over the watch.  Having exchanged pleasantries, your bleary-eyed and mud-spattered colleague shuffles off towards his dug out.  Despite the horrors and the hardships, your morale is high and you believe that in the New Year the nation's army march towards a glorious victory.

But for now you stamp your feet in a vain attempt to keep warm.  All is quiet when jovial voices call out from both friendly and enemy trenches.  Then the men from both sides start singing carols and songs.  Next come requests not to fire, and soon the unthinkable happens: you start to see the shadowy shapes of soldiers gathering together in no-man's land laughing, joking and sharing gifts.

Many have exchanged cigarettes, the lit ends of which burn brightly in the inky darkness.  Plucking up your courage, you haul yourself up and out of the trench and walk towards the foe...

The meeting of enemies as friends in no-man's land was experienced by hundreds, if not thousands, of men on the Western Front during Christmas 1914.  Today, 90 years after it occurred, the event is seen as a shining episode of sanity from among the bloody chapters of World War One - a spontaneous effort by the lower ranks to create a peace that could have blossomed were it not for the interference of generals and politicians

The reality of the Christmas Truce, however, is a slightly less romantic and a more down to earth story.  It was an organic affair that in some spots hardly registered a mention and in others left a profound impact upon those who took part.

Many accounts were rushed, confused or contradictory.  Others, written long after the event, are weighed down by hindsight.  These difficulties aside, the true story is still striking precisely because of its rag-tagged nature: it is more 'human' and therefore all the more potent.

Months beforehand, millions of servicemen, reservists and volunteers from all over the continent had rushed enthusiastically to the banners of war: the atmosphere was one of holiday rather than conflict.

But it was not long before the jovial façade was torn away. Armies equipped with repeating rifles, machine guns and a vast array of artillery tore chunks out of each other, and thousands upon thousands of men perished.

To protect against the threat of this vast firepower, the soldiers were ordered to dig in and prepare for next year's offensives, which most men believed would break the deadlock and deliver victory.

The early trenches were often hasty creations and poorly constructed; if the trench was badly sighted it could become a sniping hot spot.  In bad weather (the winter of 1914 was a dire one) the positions could flood and fall in.  The soldiers - unequipped to face the rigours of the cold and rain - found themselves wallowing in a freezing mire of mud and the decaying bodies of the fallen.

The man at the Front could not help but have a degree of sympathy for his opponents who were having just as miserable a time as they were.

Another factor that broke down the animosity between the opposing armies were the surroundings.  In 1914 the men at the front could still see the vestiges of civilisation.  Villages, although badly smashed up, were still standing.  Fields, although pitted with shell-holes, had not been turned into muddy lunarscapes.

Thus the other world - the civilian world - and the social mores and manners that went with it was still present at the front.  Also lacking was the pain, misery and hatred that years of bloody war build up.  Then there was the desire, on all sides, to see the enemy up close - was he really as bad as the politicians, papers and priests were saying?

It was a combination of these factors, and many more minor ones, that made the Christmas Truce of 1914 possible.

On the eve of the Truce, the British Army (still a relatively small presence on the Western Front) was manning a stretch of the line running south from the infamous Ypres salient for 27 miles to the La Bassee Canal.

Along the front the enemy was sometimes no more than 70, 50 or even 30 yards away.  Both Tommy and Fritz could quite easily hurl greetings and insults to one another, and, importantly, come to tacit agreements not to fire.  Incidents of temporary truces and outright fraternisation were more common at this stage in the war than many people today realise - even units that had just taken part in a series of futile and costly assaults, were still willing to talk and come to arrangements with their opponents.

As Christmas approached the festive mood and the desire for a lull in the fighting increased as parcels packed with goodies from home started to arrive.  On top of this came gifts care of the state.  Tommy received plum puddings and 'Princess Mary boxes'; a metal case engraved with an outline of George V's daughter and filled with chocolates and butterscotch, cigarettes and tobacco, a picture card of Princess Mary and a facsimile of George V's greeting to the troops.  'May God protect you and bring you safe home,' it said.

Not to be outdone, Fritz received a present from the Kaiser, the Kaiserliche, a large meerschaum pipe for the troops and a box of cigars for NCOs and officers.  Towns, villages and cities, and numerous support associations on both sides also flooded the front with gifts of food, warm clothes and letters of thanks.

The Belgians and French also received goods, although not in such an organised fashion as the British or Germans.  For these nations the Christmas of 1914 was tinged with sadness - their countries were occupied.  It is no wonder that the Truce, although it sprung up in some spots on French and Belgian lines, never really caught hold as it did in the British sector.

With their morale boosted by messages of thanks and their bellies fuller than normal, and with still so much Christmas booty to hand, the season of goodwill entered the trenches.  A British Daily Telegraph correspondent wrote that on one part of the line the Germans had managed to slip a chocolate cake into British trenches.

Even more amazingly, it was accompanied with a message asking for a ceasefire later that evening so they could celebrate the festive season and their Captain's birthday.  They proposed a concert at 7.30pm when candles, the British were told, would be placed on the parapets of their trenches.

The British accepted the invitation and offered some tobacco as a return present.  That evening, at the stated time, German heads suddenly popped up and started to sing.  Each number ended with a round of applause from both sides.

The Germans then asked the British to join in.  At this point, one very mean-spirited Tommy shouted: 'We'd rather die than sing German.'  To which a German joked aloud: 'It would kill us if you did'.

December 24 was a good day weather-wise: the rain had given way to clear skies.

On many stretches of the Front the crack of rifles and the dull thud of shells ploughing into the ground continued, but at a far lighter level than normal.  In other sectors there was an unnerving silence that was broken by the singing and shouting drifting over, in the main, from the German trenches.

Along many parts of the line the Truce was spurred on with the arrival in the German trenches of miniature Christmas trees - Tannenbaum.  The sight these small pines, decorated with candles and strung along the German parapets, captured the Tommies' imagination, as well as the men of the Indian corps who were reminded of the sacred Hindu festival of light.

It was the perfect excuse for the opponents to start shouting to one another, to start singing and, in some areas, to pluck up the courage to meet one another in no-man's land.

By now, the British high command - comfortably 'entrenched' in a luxurious châteaux 27 miles behind the front - was beginning to hear of the fraternisation.

Stern orders were issued by the commander of the BEF, Sir John French against such behaviour.  Other 'brass-hats' (as the Tommies nick-named their high-ranking officers and generals), also made grave pronouncements on the dangers and consequences of parleying with the Germans.

However, there were many high-ranking officers who took a surprisingly relaxed view of the situation.  If anything, they believed it would at least offer their men an opportunity to strengthen their trenches.  This mixed stance meant that very few officers and men involved in the Christmas Truce were disciplined.

Interestingly, the German High Command's ambivalent attitude towards the Truce mirrored that of the British.



Christmas day began quietly but once the sun was up the fraternisation began.  Again songs were sung and rations thrown to one another.  It was not long before troops and officers started to take matters into their own hands and ventured forth.  No-man's land became something of a playground.

Men exchanged gifts and buttons.  In one or two places soldiers who had been barbers in civilian times gave free haircuts.  One German, a juggler and a showman, gave an impromptu, and given the circumstances, somewhat surreal performance of his routine in the centre of no-man's land.

Two Territorials of London Rifle Brigade with Saxon troops of the 104th and 106th Regiments in No Man's Land near Ploegsteert Wood during the unofficial Christmas TruceCaptain Sir Edward Hulse of the Scots Guards, in his famous account, remembered the approach of four unarmed Germans at 08.30.  He went out to meet them with one of his ensigns.  'Their spokesmen,' Hulse wrote, 'started off by saying that he thought it only right to come over and wish us a happy Christmas, and trusted us implicitly to keep the truce.  He came from Suffolk where he had left his best girl and a 3 ½ h.p. motor-bike!'

Having raced off to file a report at headquarters, Hulse returned at 10.00 to find crowds of British soldiers and Germans out together chatting and larking about in no-man's land, in direct contradiction to his orders.

Not that Hulse seemed to care about the fraternisation in itself - the need to be seen to follow orders was his concern.  Thus he sought out a German officer and arranged for both sides to return to their lines.


While this was going on he still managed to keep his ears and eyes open to the fantastic events that were unfolding.

'Scots and Huns were fraternizing in the most genuine possible manner.  Every sort of souvenir was exchanged addresses given and received, photos of families shown, etc.  One of our fellows offered a German a cigarette; the German said, "Virginian?"  Our fellow said, "Aye, straight-cut", the German said "No thanks, I only smoke Turkish!"... It gave us all a good laugh.'

Hulse's account was in part a letter to his mother, who in turn sent it on to the newspapers for publication, as was the custom at the time.  Tragically, Hulse was killed in March 1915.

On many parts of the line the Christmas Day truce was initiated through sadder means.  Both sides saw the lull as a chance to get into no-man's land and seek out the bodies of their compatriots and give them a decent burial.  Once this was done the opponents would inevitably begin talking to one another.

The 6th Gordon Highlanders, for example, organised a burial truce with the enemy.  After the gruesome task of laying friends and comrades to rest was complete, the fraternisation began.

German officer in a British trench during the Christmas truce.  With the Truce in full swing up and down the line there were a number of recorded games of soccer, although these were really just 'kick-abouts' rather than a structured match.

On January 1, 1915, the London Times published a letter from a major in the Medical Corps reporting that in his sector the British played a game against the Germans opposite and were beaten 3-2.

Kurt Zehmisch of the 134th Saxons recorded in his diary: 'The English brought a soccer ball from the trenches, and pretty soon a lively game ensued.  How marvelously wonderful, yet how strange it was.  The English officers felt the same way about it.  Thus Christmas, the celebration of Love, managed to bring mortal enemies together as friends for a time.'



The Truce lasted all day; in places it ended that night, but on other sections of the line it held over Boxing Day and in some areas, a few days more.  In fact, there parts on the front where the absence of aggressive behaviour was conspicuous well into 1915.

Captain J C Dunn, the Medical Officer in the Royal Welch Fusiliers, whose unit had fraternised and received two barrels of beer from the Saxon troops opposite, recorded how hostilities re-started on his section of the front.

Dunn wrote: 'At 8.30 I fired three shots in the air and put up a flag with "Merry Christmas" on it, and I climbed on the parapet.  He [the Germans] put up a sheet with "Thank you" on it, and the German Captain appeared on the parapet.  We both bowed and saluted and got down into our respective trenches, and he fired two shots in the air, and the War was on again.'

German comrades, winter 1914-15 (copyright Simon Rees, click to enlarge)The war was indeed on again, for the Truce had no hope of being maintained.  Despite being wildly reported in Britain and to a lesser extent in Germany, the troops and the populations of both countries were still keen to prosecute the conflict.

Today, pragmatists read the Truce as nothing more than a 'blip' - a temporary lull induced by the season of goodwill, but willingly exploited by both sides to better their defences and eye out one another's positions.  Romantics assert that the Truce was an effort by normal men to bring about an end to the slaughter.

In the public's mind the facts have become irrevocably mythologized, and perhaps this is the most important legacy of the Christmas Truce today.  In our age of uncertainty, it comforting to believe, regardless of the real reasoning and motives, that soldiers and officers told to hate, loathe and kill, could still lower their guns and extend the hand of goodwill, peace, love and Christmas cheer.

 

Please remember the Canteen is here to honor, support and entertain our troops and their families.  This is a politics-free zone!  Thanks for helping us in our mission! 



TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Free Republic
KEYWORDS: canteen; heroes; military; troopsupport
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To: StarCMC; Kathy in Alaska; GodBlessUSA; LUV W; Arrowhead1952; E.G.C.; HiJinx; AZamericonnie; ...

TO THE

FReeper Canteen

Good morning, Everyone.

Good morning to our

AWESOME

Military, our Allies, and their families.

Thank you, Star, for preparing
the Canteen for today’s activities.
The Christmas truce is an amazing story.

Checking in.

Everyone ready for a NEW YEAR?
Gosh, where did 2014 go?
I'm certainly ready for it since
I'll be retiring from the rat-race in 2015.
So, it will be a busy year for me in many ways;
lots to prepare for.
(I'll probably be getting advice from Pro :~p )

Time for me to make my rounds.
Please stay right where you are.
Keep the troops company
as long as you can.

Remember, the Canteen is ALWAYS

Come on in and sit for a while.
There's always plenty of coffee, tea,
pancakes, conversation, silliness,
and plain old BS

REMEMBER THEM

DEFENDERS OF FREEDOM


81 posted on 12/29/2014 4:11:16 AM PST by beachn4fun (Guns are not the problem. People are. Forget the magazine...check your attitude.)
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To: beachn4fun

((HUGS))Good morning, Beach. How’s it going?


82 posted on 12/29/2014 4:23:13 AM PST by E.G.C.
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To: E.G.C.

Good morning EG ((HUGS))

I’m drinking coffee and washing a load of clothes, and getting ready to eat breakfast.

Howz it out your way?


83 posted on 12/29/2014 5:00:41 AM PST by beachn4fun (Guns are not the problem. People are. Forget the magazine...check your attitude.)
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To: Kathy in Alaska

Indeed.

It was a struggle, and i made some poor musical decisions. Oh well. there is always next week.


84 posted on 12/29/2014 5:22:51 AM PST by left that other site (You shall know the Truth, and The Truth Shall Set You Free.)
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To: beachn4fun
It's going OK. Had much better luck with Bo out at the lake this weekend then on Christmas when I lost him for an hour and a half.

This time I was able to keep up with him without losing him while he was doing his thing.:-{}

Today is the nicest day we're going to have this week. Supposed to start getting colder tomorrow. We may end up getting some sleet and freezing rain later this week. :-(

85 posted on 12/29/2014 5:23:24 AM PST by E.G.C.
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To: E.G.C.

Good thing you and Bo are back in sync.

Our weather is supposed to go down into the 40s again (fingers crossed it doesn’t go lower as I’ve been enjoying the mild winter) but by weekend rain and 50s.


86 posted on 12/29/2014 5:25:19 AM PST by beachn4fun (Guns are not the problem. People are. Forget the magazine...check your attitude.)
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To: beachn4fun; y'all; Arrowhead1952; E.G.C.; GodBlessUSA; ConorMacNessa; Kathy in Alaska; HiJinx; ...

Well, Gooooood Monday mornin', Early Birds!
No...it's not snowing here....yet!
Supposed to be really cold tomorrow
....with that chance of snow or sleet!
Glad I'll be off then! LOL!
Maybe I'll make soup....hmmm....
I'm just hopin' that the crowds are gone today!
I think I'm ready to retire, too, Beachy!
If I didn't think I'd be bored silly.... :)
((((hugs))))


Arrow....what's going on in your world?
Please be getting better and better!

87 posted on 12/29/2014 6:00:16 AM PST by luvie (All my heroes wear camos! Thank you David, Michael, Chris, Txradioguy, JJ, CMS, & ALL Vets, too!)
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To: Kathy in Alaska

Snow Paws did fine, He knows the Doggie Motel and the People there. It’s a nice place with caring people.

He got lots of love when he was picked up and when he got home.


88 posted on 12/29/2014 6:00:36 AM PST by SandRat (Duty - Honor - Country! What else need s said?)
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To: HiJinx

I did, until my 4-legged alarm clock woke me up. lol


89 posted on 12/29/2014 6:02:38 AM PST by SandRat (Duty - Honor - Country! What else need s said?)
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To: LUV W

((HUGS))Good morning, LUV W. How’s it going?


90 posted on 12/29/2014 6:21:14 AM PST by E.G.C.
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To: E.G.C.

Howdy, EGC! (((hugs)))

All is going well...but I haven’t left the house yet. LOL! Hope you and Bo had a good weekend and he didn’t try to “escape” again! Any critters to chase since it’s been so cold?


91 posted on 12/29/2014 6:26:19 AM PST by luvie (All my heroes wear camos! Thank you David, Michael, Chris, Txradioguy, JJ, CMS, & ALL Vets, too!)
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To: LUV W

Good morning night owl ((HUGS))

Bored? How can you be bored when retired? Don’t you have other interests besides work? Travel? Crafts? Learning to cook :) Or go part time.

There is so much one can do when retired. It is only limited by one’s imagination.

I’m getting ready to sign off and do some chores. Have a wonderful day.


92 posted on 12/29/2014 6:33:41 AM PST by beachn4fun (Guns are not the problem. People are. Forget the magazine...check your attitude.)
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To: beachn4fun
Morning Beachie!

Yeah, where did 2014 go, indeed!

I had a good weekend with the kids over Saturday after I returned from my sisters.

Lots of both pro and college football to watch this time of year too.

Have a great day!

93 posted on 12/29/2014 7:05:34 AM PST by PROCON (Always give 100% -- Unless you're donating Blood.)
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To: LUV W

Well, there are some squirrels running around but they run out of the fence before Bo can catch them :-{} ((LOL))


94 posted on 12/29/2014 8:52:09 AM PST by E.G.C.
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To: E.G.C.; LUV W; Kathy in Alaska

95 posted on 12/29/2014 1:24:43 PM PST by SandRat (Duty - Honor - Country! What else need s said?)
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To: SandRat

LOL. Good one SR ((HUGS))

Love the Garfield one.


96 posted on 12/30/2014 3:02:15 AM PST by beachn4fun (Guns are not the problem. People are. Forget the magazine...check your attitude.)
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To: PROCON

Good morning Pro ((HUGS))

Yes, I know I’m on the wrong thread. I won’t have time to post on Tuesday’s thread as I have a dental appointment first thing this morning; thus I’m catching up on pings.

Sorry I missed you yesterday...did you sleep late or what? I got into a cleaning frenzy and had to sign off. LOL

Waaa…our weather is turning colder, especially the nights. But we’re getting rain instead of snow, so that’s good.

Glad to hear you had a good time with family during the holidays. Did any of your teams win? Hubby’s Wolverines haven’t been doing so well.

Our Redskins have sucked lately. Seems they need (almost) all new players. Even when they have a decent quarterback, it seems like the receivers can’t catch or fumble, and the defense allows to many sacks. Our young son doesn’t like the Ravens but they’re a lot better team so I watch them when available. Hubby’s home team (Detroit) made it into the play offs. YooHoo!

Guess, I’d better finish my pings and have another cup of coffee before I go.

Have a totally, terrific Tuesday.


97 posted on 12/30/2014 3:19:23 AM PST by beachn4fun (Guns are not the problem. People are. Forget the magazine...check your attitude.)
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To: beachn4fun

Good morning, Beacon...((HUGS))

Glad you liked the Toon.


98 posted on 12/30/2014 6:33:35 AM PST by SandRat (Duty - Honor - Country! What else need s said?)
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