When tens of thousands of young British and
Commonwealth men went off to war so eagerly and naively in the summer of 1914,
it was generally thought that they would be home by Christmas. But by then the
troops on the Western Front were well entrenched along a mostly static line
that would witness a brutal war of attrition during the next four years.
One of the absurdities of war is that the
people who are expected to kill one another have no personal enmity towards one
another. This became particularly clear on Christmas, 1914, when there was a
spontaneous cessation of hostilities between British and German troops in the
front lines. The Germans were decorating their trenches with small Christmas
trees and singing carols. The British “retaliated” with English carols, and
soon the men were shouting greetings to each other. Many met in No Man's Land
(the area between the opposing front lines) where small gifts like chocolate or
buttons were exchanged, and pictures of sweethearts were shown. In some places,
the opposing troops played soccer, and drank together. It became known as the
"Christmas Truce", and was dramatized in the 2005 Oscar-nominated
French film entitled "Joyeux Noel". The commanders, of course, didn’t
like this fraternization with the enemy, and tried to ensure that it never
happened again.
See the trailer for "Joyeux Noel". Also moving and powerful is this Sainsbury ad.
Christmas is a time to truly reflect and
heed Longfellow’s words, sung for generations: “peace on earth, good will to
men”.
