THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914 (c/o History Channel.com)
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This historical event speaks volumes and for itself. Belief, unbelief, indifference. Realities, fairy tales, wishful thinking. What are we to do with the babel coming at us from every direction ?
This most improbable event ought give us pause. Could it happen again ? Does it really matter ? How come so few people know of this ? It packs one serious punch. People circulate little stories like "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus" this time year. The local paper has published the 'Virginia' story on the editorial page every year for....well since whenever it started. I am okay with this. It just seems some people might find the 1914 event a bit more curious.
Too late to have newspapers run the story this year.....let's try for next year, yes ?
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During World War I, on and around Christmas Day 1914, the sounds of rifles firing and shells exploding faded in a number of places along the Western Front in favor of holiday celebrations in the trenches and gestures of goodwill between enemies.
Starting on Christmas Eve, many German and British troops sang Christmas carols to each other across the lines, and at certain points the Allied soldiers even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.
At the first light of dawn on Christmas Day, some German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied lines across no-man's-land, calling out "Merry Christmas" in their enemies' native tongues. At first, the Allied soldiers feared it was a trick, but seeing the Germans unarmed they climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the enemy soldiers. The men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings and sang carols and songs. There was even a documented case of soldiers from opposing sides playing a good-natured game of soccer.
Some soldiers used this short-lived ceasefire for a more somber task: the retrieval of the bodies of fellow combatants who had fallen within the no-man's land between the lines.
The so-called Christmas Truce of 1914 came only five months after the outbreak of war in Europe and was one of the last examples of the outdated notion of chivalry between enemies in warfare. It was never repeated—future attempts at holiday ceasefires were quashed by officers' threats of disciplinary action—but it served as heartening proof, however brief, that beneath the brutal clash of weapons, the soldiers' essential humanity endured.
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