Impression sketch
of Private Robert Keating.jpg [online] Soldier who experienced ceasfire on
Christmas day 1915. See an original image at: <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-35120354>
Accessed: 29 December 2015].
Twelve months had passed to find
Situations had
little changed -
Stagnant land daily
wavered, as
Deeper trench
lines lay battered,
Over the same held, dirty ground.
Christmas once
again, where
Twelve months
before a truce
Had occurred - as
some legend,
Where Allies and
Germans laid
Down weapons for
handshakes.
Over four prior seasons
marking
The calendar,
attempts had been
Made to hold
truces - with Easter
An attempted
German truce flag,
Was warned away by the British.
The Christmas of
1915 was to be
Free of a repeat
of 1914 - in place
To harass the
enemy with all units
Ordered to make
raids on the lines,
With artillery halting
fraternizations.
Twelve months
gone and systems
Of new warfare
had seen gas used -
While air warfare
had developed -
Yet still many
men sought relief to
Meet and mark the
peak of advent.
Despite warnings
of disobedience,
Truce acts were a
fact - as a diary
Record of Private
Robert Keating,
Told how after
breakfast, greetings
Were called out
to the other side.
In the cold still
air they shouted
'Come over!' as
Germans called
Out the same -
Private Keating
And others stood
to see enemy
Walking above
their parapets.
On impulse some
jocks ran out -
Despite officers
shouting orders
'Come back!'
Keating and others
Ignored the words
and went on
To meet with
German reserves.
In a standing
crowd, two sides
Talked on subject
of old England;
One German, born in
Northampton,
Fed up longed to
time to return -
Feeling war would
surely end soon.
In tradition of
gifts, they swapped
Items, when
artillery began to fire -
The reaction
being to run in hurried
Acts - some caught
in barbed wire,
In belief snipers
would start to fire.
Despite shells sent
over to German
Side there was no
sudden danger -
A German officer
said they would not
Fire for two days,
if the same happened
On allied side; and no shots were fired.
Only on Sunday
did fire commence
When the Irish
Guard relieved them.
Elsewhere an
isolated cease-fire was
Marked, as a rush
of both sides meet
To hurriedly swap
ready souvenirs.
Their officers
gave orders to cease
Fraternity and a
promised match
Of football did
not happen - a brigade
Commander made
threats against
Lack of
discipline, as fire resumed.
In one other
section a Scots Guards
Commander, Sir
Ian Colquhoun held
Under court
martial, for defiance
Of raising truce
- found guilty a final
Punishment was
annulled by Haig.
This likely
reason being Colquhoun's
Relation to Prime
Minister Asquith -
While in seeking
suppression of facts,
The truth had
been that Christmas
Truce's happened that day, if only briefly.
by Jamie Mann.
Source: File:
Christmas truce. Online Available at:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_truce> Accessed 29 December 2015
Source: File:
1915 WW1 diary gives account of second Christmas truce. By Nick Bourne. 26
December 2015. Available Online at:
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-35120354> Accessed 29 December 2015
Source: File: The
forgotten Christmas truce the British tried to suppress. Available Online at:
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/12058701/The-forgotten-Christmas-truce-the-British-tried-to-suppress.html>
Accessed 29 December 2015
Mann, J., 2015.
100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 29 December 2015).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone
#worldwaroneremembered #WW1WesternFront
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