Poem ~ Peace and Weihnachten - Thursday, 25 December 1914

Source: File: German and British soldiers fraternize - Christmas 1914.jpg. THE HERITAGE OF THE GREAT WAR.The various impacts of a short peace on the minds of soldiers Demystifying the Christmas Truce By Thomas Löwe. [online] Available at:<http://www.greatwar.nl/frames/default-christmastruce.html> Accessed: 25 December 2014].

Source: File: Negative No.92436.jpg. 'A friendly chat with the enemy', Christmas Truce, 1914. [online] Available at:<http://prints.national-army-museum.ac.uk/image/378979/a-friendly-chat-with-the-enemy-christmas-truce-1914> Accessed: 25 December 2014].

Darkness fell on Christmas Eve

And across the border of lines

Of trench’s  - the land sparkled

White - with hard frost on frost -

Voices singing could be heard

And Christmas trees were seen

That marked home of German’s

Entrenched in their trenches.

The varied trees of Christmas

Glimmered - Lit by lanterns,

And paper decorations -

While men far from home sang,

As other men far from home,

On guard in the cold, listened.

Voices took the place of guns,

As sounds of Christmas songs

Evoked an absent fatherland.

Not to be outdone the English

Sang back with varied carols,

In exchange of peaceful wishes -

War then may seemed absent,

For how long? Living apart,

In long ditches, two nations

Kept each other happy company.

A silence fell - in that haunting

Stillness, of awaited anticipation

Of a Christmas celebration.

With dawn of 25 December

Both sides’ expectations,

Held a vow of Christmas Eve -

Instead of morning Stand-To

Bright voices were raised,

In pockets down the line.

One, Private Cunningham,

Of the 5^th Scottish Rifles,

Recounts how, with dawn

Each side raised their eyes

Above the parapet and waved.

Up went such shouts ‘Hello

Is that the rifle brigade?’

‘Aye mate that it is.’

‘Gutten morgen,’ a man stood

In German grey, a lifted hand

Signalled the special day.

A hundred yards separated

Them but sounds were clear.

Looking up with surprise,

Cunningham saw two more

Germans, as they rolled two

Barrels of beer – knowing

That a nearby brewery had

Been occupied by Germans.

At a halfway point the Germen

Gestured them to come across.

Three British soldiers went out,

To wish them a merry Christmas.

with a reply, 'Frohe Weihnachten.'

They took the barrels to the British

Side, amid a mass of cheers  -

The signal of peace declared.

From the Queen’s Westminster's,

Rifleman Brazier saw similar

Events - in agreements of no shots

Cigars and wine given as cake

And cigarettes were received.

Thirty Germans gathered about  -

All 'very nice fellows.' At nightfall

They sang to each other - even

One German played on a mouth

Organ 'God save the King.'

Formalities of war could not

Be completely ignored - even

To agree when the ceasefire truce

Was to end - in whatever part

The officials sought to play down,

Such events of peace took place. 

Even officers gave consent,

Not to fire unless a German

Did - while a story controversy

Was bred, over whether or not

Football games were played.

As an opportunity was given

For the solemn collection

Of their dead, across the field -

Bodies frozen - like the living

Seeking warmth - starting

Perhaps with a need to move.

As in an idea of asking a Saxon

Do you have a 'plum pudding?'

No but we do have a football -

Then from somewhere a leather

Ball appeared, promptly kicked

Out to the centre of the field.

In sudden, open organisation,

Makeshift goals were made,

And the kick about ensued -

With roughly either side,

Made up of a hundred men

They kicked with clumsy boots.

With yells and calls without tally

Or referee, to form a melee.

So if wars end, had been decided

Then - the rough score of 3-2

To Germany  - would make odd

Peace - yet German admission

Confessed a wish for war's end.

Elsewhere sniping went on the same,

And shells fell as snow - in a tune

Of hostilities - a Christmas horror

Story - with warnings sent home,

Not to believe what the papers say.

As all good things that come to end,

The day ended back in the trenches -

But with reluctance to fire again

From either side - now German shouts

Of 'keep your head down!' with official

Orders to resume a return to fire.

Yet the legacy did not fade but made

Legend, in stories, songs and images,

Of one cold Christmas day.
 

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File: Christmas Truce 1914 Operation Plum Puddings: A general overview. [online] Available at: < http://www.christmastruce.co.uk/article.html> Accessed: 25 December 2014].

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 25 December 2014). 

http://www.christmastruce.co.uk/article.html

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

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Poem ~ Silence on Christmas Eve - Wednesday, 24 December 1914

Source: File: German soldiers were the first to emerge.jpg. The Importance Of The December 1914 Christmas Truce. German soldiers were the first to emerge from their trenches and approach Allied lines, calling out “Merry Christmas” in English. [online] Available at:<https://www.popularresistance.org/the-importance-of-the-december-1914-christmas-truce/> Accessed: 24 December 2014]. 

Source: File: British and German Soldiers Arm-in-Arm Exchanging Hea.jpg. The Importance Of The December 1914 Christmas Truce. The Illustrated London News of January 9, 1915: “British and German Soldiers Arm-in-Arm Exchanging Headgear: A Christmas Truce between Opposing Trenches.” [online] Available at:<https://www.popularresistance.org/the-importance-of-the-december-1914-christmas-truce/> Accessed: 24 December 2014]. 

Thus after five months,

Came established lines

Of resistance made by trench -

A system of stalemate.

The need to dig in had begun,

With either side not wanting

To budge – in a continual ditch,

From the north to the south,

From Lorraine to the channel.

Concealed half underground,

Thousand of troops waited,

As the summer war became

A winter war - a call for a truce

By the Vatican came and went,

So they sat and shot, with no end

In sight along a stale western front.

Perhaps the Popes wishes

Had not been not quite forgotten,

As men of opposites, that fought

Each other found themselves

Sometimes only yards apart -

Giving, between bouts of fighting,

Raised shouts of conversations.

A barrage that began, could

End with Tommy calling out

To Fritz ‘missed!’ or ‘left abit.’

Black humour was characteristic,

To make it through a day -

And such banter was to effect,

A particular celebratory day.

In December’s war, rain

Had fallen for most of the month

Rain and rain upon wet mud,

Soon turned to sludge, perhaps

The time of Christmas days,

Was to pass as dank and drizzly,

In needs of shelter to stay dry.

Then the final element came,

With a drop in the temperature,

That brought the opening of eve

Of Christmas – in hour of stand to

The allied men emerged -

To a deep frosted landscape.

Underfoot came solid ground,

Baked crisp, iced with frost -

The silent night turned

To dawn of white, under limpid

Skies – each man shivered

With breathy clouds between

Smoking of cigarettes.

Chatter of voices, with chatter

Of cold – a day made sharper

With coats and balaclava -

And cigarettes lit close together.

Between the march of sentries

Quietness hung above coldness

As upon Ploegstreet near Ypres.

The day of 24 December,

Marked the last day of advent,

For German calendar, a special day

Back home - families would gather,

To share a grand meal and father

Christmas would then appear,

In delivery of gifts - as a reminder

Of home - the German soldier

Would share this with their enemy.

In the daily morning shouts,

Perhaps calls of ‘morning Fritz

Are you cold over there?’

‘Yah, might have been a reply.

‘We are very frosty here

We can smell your cookery

Of bacon and sausages.’

‘Expect you're jealous

Of our sausages, aye Fritz.

Maybe we should throw

One or two over to you.’

‘Ha your English sausages

Are nothing compared to ours.’

The calling out had begun -

In two days of unofficial truce,

While some sectors fought

Across certain parts of line -

The calling out continued:

‘Hay Tommy are you there.’

‘Here Fritz, not gone anywhere.’

‘Happy Christmas pudding.’

‘Happy pudding to you to.’

Then came the singing

A group of broken English

The result of much grinning

As they listened to the song

‘Do you know this one Fritz?’

‘While shepherds watch

Watch their flocks by night..’

Clapped hands followed,

By the request for cigarettes.

One lad shouts ‘Come over

Here Fritz.’ ‘No I get shot.’

‘No you wont  - I’ve got

Some fags for you.’

‘No – I meet you halfway.’

Despite others warnings

The lad grabbed his mates

Cigarettes and clambered

From the trench – he stopped.

It would be odd to be on the top.

He looked about across a space -

The face of earth, being crisp white

He took a step forward on the ice,

Another Tommy followed - in time

They shared a look face to face.

One smiled at the others fear.

‘Come on lets go and see Fritz.’

Almost with a flinch such men

Turned around in the frosty mist

Vulnerable above trench level.

Seemingly they were all alone -

The deep frost made a picture

Of an absent white Christmas

Against which a dark figure

Stood in the shape of a Hun.

He waved and started to walk

Forward - in leaving their guns,

The two British stepped across -

The three met between a roll

Of broken wire - the three looked

At each other and they stood,

To shake each other’s hand.

In regard of their opposing

Uniforms - one grey one khaki,

They saw each other blurred

By scarves, gloves and beard -

Still shivering, in what had

Been a farmers field - now

A land, which man avoided.

Cigarettes were offered,

And in gratitude exchanged

For cheese – one allied man,

Produced a postcard and asked

The German for his address

And name, by way of souvenir.

He explained he had been a waiter

In London, before any hint of war.

  

Aware that they were no longer

Alone –for others had come,

To appear from holes in the ground.

Slowly at first both sides stepped

Into the cold air, their sharpness

Of breath given by each exhale.

Each side regarded the other -

A nod and slight smile to follow

The lead of those first three

To meet in land of death –

About them the Germans

Came forth to find an 'Englisher'

Reaching out to shake his hand.

‘I think we may have started something,'

Said the ex-waiter to the ex-clerk.

‘I think we jolly well have.’ As men

Gathered round them - now talking,

Now exchanging some humble items -

Beer for cigarettes, cheese for bread.

One tall German came up and said,

‘It is Grismas – if you do not shoot,

We do not shoot today or tomorrow.

Is this to be agreed? ‘ All those about

Did so and shook hands on that. 

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File: Christmas Truce 1914 Operation Plum Puddings: A general overview. [online] Available at: < http://www.christmastruce.co.uk/article.html> Accessed: 24 December 2014].

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 24 December 2014). 

http://www.christmastruce.co.uk/article.html

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered