Officers, fearing treachery, ordered the men to be silent. I actually doubt it could happened if the representatives of absolutely different religions met. While Elisabeth tended to the cooking, one of the German soldiers, an ex-medical student, examined the wounded American. 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. The war was on again, and there would be no further truce until the general armistice of November 1918. On Christmas Eve in 1944, a young boy … 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. 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. Von Sinner then also fired two shots in the air and went back into his trench.”. Although the dvd mainly concentrates on the brief peace time between enemy alliances during the Christmas … I was half-way through writing this when it occurred to me that it is a timely Christmas story. I had of course heard of the Christmas truce during WWI but had never heard this story before. Hermann's namesake was Hermann Goering, the Nazi leader, who Elisabeth didn't care much for. Malcolm Brown & Shirley Seaton. Vote Now! Mike Dash is a contributing writer in history for Smithsonian.com. The football match during the 1914 Christmas truce has become one of the most iconic moments of the First World War. Thanks very much for your kind comment. Thanks. But there is still some debate about whether football really featured in the truce… Great comment, as usual. It was only in the British sector, then, that troops noticed at dawn the Germans had placed small Christmas trees along parapets of their trenches. 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. It is estimated that about … I met a Pastor there who's father was killed by the Americans but he shared how thankful he was for the help from the Americans to free them of the tyranny. I will do additional research on this. WW2: Battle of the Bulge, Young German soldiers, Bundesarchiv Bild 183-J28548/Henisch/CC-BY-SA. I'm only glad I my interpretation affects people. I'm guessing it wasn't official. Elisabeth and Fritz were alone in the cabin. 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. I recall when I was a twenty year old sailor in the Australian Navy. All I know is that it was about 4 miles from the village of Monschau, Germany (current population about 10,000). Great story, superbly written. David Hunt (author) from Cedar Rapids, Iowa on April 14, 2015: That is amazing Anita A. I hope I did his story justice. David Hunt (author) from Cedar Rapids, Iowa on December 03, 2012: Hi, aethelthyth. I suggest contacting these guys. The Illustrated London News of January 9 1915. Before Smithsonian.com, Dash authored the award-winning blog A Blast From the Past. 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. I should think there were a couple of hundred taking part. VIDEO: Defiance - The Story of FC Start - ESPN, Their truce–the famous Christmas Truce–was unofficial and illicit. that has been considerably appreciated. However, 30 years later during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II, a small Christmas truce happened for three American soldiers. Christopher Antony Meade from Gillingham Kent. 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. Lieutenant C.E.M. Keep up-to-date on: © 2021 Smithsonian Magazine. Her son certainly was glad that his mother was remembered for her brave stance that night so many years ago. I replied that this was … Thanks for the kind words. Sadly, he died in on December 8, 2002, almost 58 years to the day of the Christmas truce. Then again in my own language Sinhala (Native language of Sri Lanka) later. His father was also a pastor and joined the Confessing Church led by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Just how widespread the truce was is hard to say. The Christmas Truce has become one of the most famous and mythologised events of the First World War. Joan Veronica Robertson from Concepcion, Chile on December 06, 2012: Hi David, another masterpiece! I am planning on going to Germany next year at Christmas. Artist’s impression of the Christmas truce of 1914. 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 … Elisabeth told them they were welcome to come into the warmth and eat until the food was all gone, but that there were others inside who they would not consider friends. Elisabeth blew out the candles and opened the door to find two enemy American soldiers standing at the door and a third lying in the snow. President Reagan heard of his story and referenced it in a 1985 speech he gave in Germany as an example of peace and reconciliation. Thanks for the comment! Poor Hermann, he had to be sacrificed for the greater good. My late grandfather was one of those soldiers. I enjoyed it very much. A little later we drifted back to our trenches and the fraternization ended. The story only spread after the boy grew up and told the story to Reader's Digest (it became so famous that Ronald Reagan mentioned it in a speech when he visited Germany). London: Constable & Robinson, 2007; “The Christmas Truce – 1914.” Hellfire Corner, accessed December 19, 2011; Thomas Löwer. Oh well, I would have written in January even if I missed the holiday. I imagine they had a lasting impact on your life. Pope Benedict XV, who took office that September, had originally called for a Christmas truce, an idea that was officially rejected. AlexDrinkH2O from Southern New England, USA on November 30, 2012: Beautiful story - voted up and shared. This is definitely a tale of how humanity can still exist if there are those to fight for it. The night wore on to dawn—a night made easier by songs from the German trenches, the pipings of piccolos and from our broad lines laughter and Christmas carols. Very great story. Their Christmas meal would now have to wait for his arrival. By that time, the bad weather had lifted and Allied planes filled the skies during the day. And thanks, too, to Will Starr for sharing. Graham Lee from Lancashire. 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. On Christmas Eve 1914, on the western front, British soldiers heard German troops in the opposite trenches singing carols. Hi, Graham. The merchant sailors were probably around ten years older than us. Great story, well told as always. Elisabeth returned all their weapons and the enemies shook hands and left, in opposite directions. I loved it! London: Simon & Schuster, 2001. 17th Annual Photo Contest Finalists Announced. Many officers disapproved, and headquarters on both sides took strong steps to ensure that it could never happen again. Otherwise "Roast Hermann" was simply a roasted chicken. David Hunt (author) from Cedar Rapids, Iowa on November 18, 2015: I'm afraid I don't know if the cabin exists. George Eade, of the Rifles, had become friends with a German artilleryman who spoke good English, and as he left, this new acquaintance said to him: “Today we have peace. Thank you for sharing and voting up. I was searching for this story for a long time but couldn't until a fellow blogger like me replied a comment I made in a blog post mentioning this story. You wrote it so well, just the right touch, I think it would not have been a good idea to make a "sensational" Hub with this, it was just right! Please forgive me. What a wonderful and touching story. Tomorrow, you fight for your country, I fight for mine. A very minor Scottish poet of Great War vintage, … There was more singing, and in at least one spot presents were exchanged. For those entrenched in this war, there would be no Christmas truce like there had been during WWI. Many, perhaps close to the majority, of the thousands of men who celebrated Christmas 1914 together would not live to see the return of peace. They were armed and could have simply burst in, but they hadn't, so she invited them inside and they carried their wounded comrade into the warm cabin. Well done. Thanks for reading and commenting. It is a touching event, isn't it? Instead, they managed to locate Fritz's mother in Aachen, West Germany. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. But up and down our line one heard the men answering that Christmas greeting from the enemy. Are there other versions available of this story Harald? He told this story all the time. 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. Thanks so much for reading and commenting. American soldiers. He was forever grateful that his mother got the recognition she deserved. 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. I'm glad you were moved by my Hub-- that's the sort of thing writers never tire of hearing. 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. Still, it could have gone quite the other way--look at the butchery at Malmady, where 80 Americans prisoners were machine gunned to death. By the time the meal was ready, the atmosphere was more relaxed. 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. The Germans produced a bottle of wine and a loaf of bread. Silent Night: The Remarkable Christmas Truce of 1914. The Christmas Truce: The Western Front December 1914. Terms of Use In December 1914, an unofficial Christmas truce on the Western Front allows soldiers from … David Hunt (author) from Cedar Rapids, Iowa on December 25, 2014: At least this Hermann did some good, unlike his namesake. The son in the story, Fritz Vincken, had actually submitted it in the sixties, but when RD tried to contact him, they could not locate him. If so could you please let me have the links? Then, on Christmas Eve itself, several weeks of mild but miserably soaking weather gave way to a sudden, hard frost, creating a dusting of ice and snow along the front that made the men on both sides feel that something spiritual was taking place. Dazed by these events, they slowly complied and Elisabeth went inside, demanding the same of the Americans. 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. He talked about the German truce. The frozen ground was no great matter. Interesting story. But, in December of 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge, while the Americans fought for their lives against a massive German onslaught, a tiny shred of human decency happened on Christmas Eve. The game ended 3-2 for Fritz.”, Exactly what happened between the Saxons and the Scots is difficult to say. Hi Larry. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce. The Germans contributed a bottle of red wine and a loaf of rye bread. 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. Voted up, of course and will share around. Hi UnnamedHarald. on November 30, 2012: Hi UH. Whitehaven, Cumbria: Operation Plum Puddings, 2006; Marc Ferro et al. Congratulations! Another indication of a good article is the good conversation in comments that has become a continuation of the article! 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. We must look to the past to understand the present and confront the future. A sergeant in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders recorded that a game was played in his sector “between the lines and the trenches,” and according to a letter home published by the Glasgow News on January 2, the Scots “won easily by 4-1.” Meanwhile Lieutenant Albert Wynn of the Royal Field Artillery wrote of a match against a German team of “Prussians and Hanovers” that was played near Ypres. The Christmas truce which was a not official truce. From what I've seen it's a beautiful place for tourists and hikers. William H Taylor from Binghamton NY on November 29, 2012: This is truly an amazing and powerful story showing what humans have in common. How could we resist wishing each other a Merry Christmas, even though we might be at each other’s throats immediately afterwards? I'm ashamed to admit that as I read this and realized the difference in our skill level as writers, I became envious. 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. The truce occurred during the Christmas of 1914. I think this is okay in comments because I'm not actually promoting these other sites. 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. 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. When fighting resumes, they promise to reunite on the first … David Hunt (author) from Cedar Rapids, Iowa on December 01, 2012: Thanks for your comment, Gypsy. United Kingdom on January 06, 2013: I love it when some beauty can obscure some of the horror that we sometimes make of this world. Christmas Truce, (December 24–25, 1914), impromptu cease-fire that occurred along the Western Front during World War I. This is a copy of the original story written by Fritz Vincken as I remember it from Readers Digest 1973, http://storytruceintheforest.blogspot.com/. Unsolved Mysteries broadcast it (which ended up revealing Ralph Blank as one of the Americans) 10 years after President Reagan referred to it in a 1985 speech in Bitburg, West Germany. Not a Shot was Fired: Letters from the Christmas Truce 1914. In English, he explained that the cold had prevented infection but he'd lost a lot of blood. The truce lasted through the night and into the morning. Thank you for letting me know this. 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. Voted up and interesting/beautiful. 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. aethelthryth from American Southwest on December 03, 2012: Loved it - both moving and funny (the part about Hermann the rooster!). Cookie Policy A German trench in December 1914. That game “ended in a draw,” but the Lancashire Fusiliers, occupying trenches close to the coast near Le Touquet and using a ration-tin “ball,” played their own game against the Germans, and–according to their regimental history–lost by the same score as the Scots who encountered the 133rd,  3-2. Of course, only a few men involved in the truce could share reminiscences of London. Men from the Royal Dublin Fusiliers meet their German counterparts in no man's land somewhere in the deadly Ypres Salient, December 26, 1914. Richards, a young officer serving with the East Lancashire Regiment, had been greatly disturbed by reports of fraternization between the men of his regiment and the enemy and had actually welcomed the “return of good old sniping” late on Christmas Day—”just to make sure that the war was still on.” That evening, however, Richards “received a signal from Battalion Headquarters telling him to make a football pitch in no man’s land, by filling up shell holes etc., and to challenge the enemy to a football match on 1st January.” Richards recalled that “I was furious and took no action at all,” but over time his view did mellow. It may well be that there … Blood and peace, enmity and fraternity—war’s most amazing paradox. 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. 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. David Hunt (author) from Cedar Rapids, Iowa on January 06, 2013: Thanks christopheranton. So, in fact, this story has been verified by several different sources. They invited us back to their ship. 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. It turned out these guys were all U-boat crew only ten years earlier. Then we organized each side into teams, lining up in motley rows, the football in the center. It should be made into a movie, I reckon. Perhaps it was inevitable that some men on both sides would produce a ball and—freed briefly from the confines of the trenches—take pleasure in kicking it about. Despite the initial massive success the Germans had when the attack started, it was a last, desperate gamble of an exhausted army, so the common soldier may have felt the war was becoming pointless. The same basic understanding seems to have sprung up spontaneously at other spots. David Hunt (author) from Cedar Rapids, Iowa on December 06, 2012: Judi, thanks for commenting. WillStarr from Phoenix, Arizona on November 29, 2012. I'm glad you liked it and you are correct, I think, about sensationalizing it. The Christmas Truce 1914: Operation Plum Puddings, Archaeologists Unearth Egyptian Queen's Tomb, 13-Foot 'Book of the Dead' Scroll, How Wolves Are Driving Down Mountain Lion Populations, Wolverine Captured on Yellowstone Trail Cameras for the First Time, Yes, Giant Technicolor Squirrels Actually Roam the Forests of Southern India, 3-D Reconstruction of Fossil Reveals Secret Sex Life of Dinosaurs, Caligula's Gardens, Long Hidden Beneath Italian Apartment Building, to Go on View, You Can Now Explore the CIA's 'Entire' Collection of UFO Documents Online, Monument to Coretta Scott and MLK Is Coming to Boston, City Where They Met, The Best Board Games of the Ancient World, The 'Last' Female Swinhoe's Softshell Turtle Died in 2019. I was expecting a story about the incident during WW1 where a few American and German forces supposedly called a truce on the last Christmas day before the end of that war. The Vinckens had been bombed out of their home in Aachen, Germany and had managed to move into the hunting cabin in the Hurtgen Forest about four miles from Monschau near the Belgian border. She certainly deserves to be. Hello, wtaylorjr2001. They walked across no mans land which is where they shook hands and agreed to have a truce … How fortunate all those boys were to have stumbled on Elisabeth's house. Advertising Notice Sixty years later feelings of camaraderie stay with me yet. So we kept up a running conversation with the Germans, all the while our hands ready on our rifles. I don't know if it was an official truce. Give a Gift. 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 … Pavlo, I think you're right on both counts. As Elisabeth said grace, Fritz noticed tears in the exhausted soldiers' eyes-- both German and American. Hello, Leah. 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. In Frelinghien, a French village, there is a plaque dedicated solely to the Christmas truce … There was a knock on the door. 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. It fits the season perfectly, doesn't it? They're even better when they're based on fact. She took their weapons and stacked them outside next to the Germans'. The corporal stared hard at her until she said “Es ist Heiligabend und hier wird nicht geschossen.” “It is the Holy Night and there will be no shooting here.” She insisted they leave their weapons outside. Looking at the Americans' map, the corporal told them the best way to get back to their lines and provided them with a compass. For now though I can only say thank you for sharing something that is worth studying. For American soldiers within Bastogne, Christmas … I served in Vietnam and there was no way this could have happened between us and the VC or the NVA! “Stupidly I destroyed it—I was so angry. Yet it seems the sheer misery of daily life … The generals on both sides were outraged that their soldiers participated. 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. World War 1 had been going on for many months but the soldiers on both sides stepped out of their trenches. When asked whether they should instead go to Monschau, the corporal shook his head and said it was now in German hands. We were shown so much kindness. The war diary of the Scots Guards records that a certain Private Murker “met a German Patrol and was given a glass of whisky and some cigars, and a message was sent back saying that if we didn’t fire at them, they would not fire at us.”. Silent Night: the story of the carol that paused a war December 20, 2018 … Why did it happen and did British and … Glad you liked it. Smithsonian Institution. Your own experience is also a reminder that, given the chance, ordinary people are capable of overlooking differences and being friends. What follows is an incredible story of how the Spirit of Christmas … Shared! “We are Saxons, you are Anglo-Saxons,” one shouted across no man’s land. Fritz and his parents survived the war. For many, the Christmas Truce remains one of the most enduring and symbolic moments of World War One. Would be a wonderful touch to add to our Christmas next year. View of the type of terrain in the Huertgen Forest. 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