This was a letter to a German newspaper,
December, 1914: "Yesterday there was
a fierce and terrible onslaught"... ..."of Christmas packages
into our trenches."
"Yesterday there was
a fierce and terrible onslaught"... ..."of Christmas packages
into our trenches." "No man was spared." "In the confusion, one soldier suffered
a salami impaled straight into his stomach." "Another had raisins from an exploding
pastry fly directly into his eyes." "A third had the misfortune of having a bottle
of cognac fly into his mouth." This holiday special is brought to you
by World of Tanks. Use the invite code "ARMISTICE" if you are new player who
wants to check out the game. World War I was a letter-writing war,
one where pencil and paper were a soldier’s line of communication
with friends and family. And reading those letters
provides some insight into what life was like
in the trenches. So today, let’s read some excerpts
from those soldiers’ holiday letters. Of course, none of us at Extra Credits have ever experienced being deployed
over the holidays, so real quick, I want to hand the mic
to someone who has. Here’s Wargaming’s military specialist
Richard Cutland back again to give us
a little insight: In my 30 years of service,
I was extremely fortunate to only spend around six Christmases away
from home and family. The first was spent lying in a muddy ditch
in Northern Ireland, where we had been ordered to set up
an Observation Post to watch the comings and goings
of a known IRA terrorist. Cold, wet, hungry, and tired - watching someone else celebrate Christmas
with family and friends. It was certainly a low point for us all! As a young solider, the easiest thing to do
was not think about it. It was merely another day amongst
a multitude of "other days". The real heartbreak occurred
after marriage and children. It was wrenching to explain why daddy
would not be there on such a special day. Tales of "helping Santa at the North Pole"
or "having to feed the reindeer" quickly wore thin as my children
grew older and wiser. A soldier’s wife
has much to contend with, and my own wife’s angst and worry
during any Operational Tour was compounded
when I was away for the holidays. The Army always tried their best
if circumstances allowed. If you were near an HQ, the chefs would knock up a
Christmas dinner with all the trimmings. Well, perhaps not all...but they did
their best with what was available. Unfortunately, sitting with a hundred men
wearing paper hats was not quite the same
as Christmas Dinner with your family. Yet we were all aware it was necessary
to spend such periods away, and let’s face it,
it was part of the job. But it was always a killer to be told
that a deployment was imminent, and Christmas would be cancelled. So to all those servicemen and women
who find themselves away for this special time: I salute you and wish you and your family
peace and happiness. Thank you, Richard.
Let’s set the scene. It’s Boxing Day 1914, and private
Henry Williamson is writing home about the most extraordinary
Christmas of his life... "I am writing from the trenches." "In my mouth is a pipe
presented by the Princess Mary." "In the pipe is tobacco." "'Of course', you say.
But wait." "In the pipe is German tobacco,
from a German soldier." "Yes, a live German soldier
from his own trench." "On Christmas Eve,
both armies sang carols and cheered" "and there was very little firing." "The Germans called to our men
to come and fetch a cigar," "and our men told them
to come to us." "This went on for some time
until a bold Tommy crept out" "and stood between the trenches,
and a Saxon came to meet him." "They shook hands and laughed.
Thus the ice was broken." "Our men are speaking to them now." German corporal Josef Wenzl was similarly
amazed at the gathering. "What I believed to be madness
several hours ago" "I could see now with my own eyes." "Bavarians and English,
until then the greatest of enemies," "shook hands, talked
and exchanged items." "A single star stood still in the sky
directly above them," "interpreted by many
as a special sign from heaven." "More and more joined, and the entire line
greeted each other." "For the rest of my life
I shall never forget this scene." "Which goes to show that human feelings
continue to go on, even if," "in these times, men do not know anything
but killing and murdering." But not everyone held fire. British Rifleman John Erskine’s unit
was fraternizing in no man’s land when a soldier, disobeying his officer’s order,
shot one of the Germans. He writes
"The Germans immediately replied," "and instead of firing on
where the shot came from," "they fired at the first person they saw." "Unfortunately this happened to be one of
our corporals who was shot through the head." "A most regrettable fact
connected with the affair" "was that he has three brothers
in the battalion," "and it must have had
a disheartening effect on them." "The Germans apologised,
but it left a black mark on the day." Still, in many places the peace held
until the generals ended it with artillery. The spirit of the Christmas truce
would be rekindled the following year, albeit on a small scale. In December 1915, French soldier Louis Barthas
found himself in a spontaneous ceasefire when heavy rain forced both sides
to abandon their trenches... "Frenchmen and Germans looked at each
other, and saw that they were all men," "no different from one another." "They smiled, exchanged comments;
hands reached out and grasped." "We shared tobacco,
a canteen of coffee or pinard." "One day, a huge devil of a German stood up
on a mound and gave a speech," "which only the Germans could understand
word for word." "But everyone knew what it meant,
because he smashed his rifle on a tree stump," "breaking it in two." "Applause broke out on both sides." "Meanwhile, our big-shot leaders
were in a furor." "What in the Lord’s name would happen
if the soldiers refused to kill each other?" German soldier Hermann Baur, also present,
was thinking much the same. He wrote: "The infantry does not shoot
any more, just the crazy artillery"... "The masters make war,
they have a quarrel," "and the workers, the little men"... ..."have to stand there
fighting against each other." "Is that not a great stupidity?" Once again, senior officers broke the truce
with artillery and court-martial threats. The fighting began again, and Barthas
would spend three more Christmases at war. The same was true for many others. In fact, Christmas of 1916... brought Canadian infantryman John McLean
his first taste of combat. He wrote: "Dear Mother": "I haven’t written for over a week now,
but I couldn’t very well." "We went into the trenches on
Christmas Eve and were in for six days." "It was not too bad at all,
far better than I expected." "All our fellows came out fine
except Jack Ivnor," "he got a machine gun bullet
through the leg." "The noise was awful, but a person
will get used to that after a while." "I spent Christmas day in a dugout." "If I live to be 300 years old,
I will never forget this Christmas week." "One night I was going up a trench and saw
a big grey cat sitting on the parapet." "I would like to tell you more,
but I can do that when I get home." "Now you are doing too much worrying.
We are alright if a man is careful." A month later, he was dead. Meanwhile another Canadian, Jack Davey,
was having a bittersweet Christmas. He’d come home after months
in a POW camp, only to find himself
at a military hospital in Toronto, thousands of miles from his new fiancée.
He wrote to her on Boxing Day: "Darling Kitty, Many thanks for the letter
and the card with Christmas wishes." "We had quite a snowstorm
on Christmas Eve." "It’s quite a novelty to see
a real white Christmas." "Yesterday was a lovely day.
On the whole, I had a good time" "but I hope next year won’t be such a
disappointment for us, sweetheart." "Surely this rotten luck of being separated
at Christmas can’t go on forever." "One week has passed since
I was measured for my leg." "I wish I could have it by the New Year,
so I could start the year on both feet again." "It will soon be two years since
I walked like a human being." "It seems a long time to talk about it,
but I can picture those fields" "and imagine I can see the exact spot
where I fell" "as though it only happened yesterday." "I guess it will be a long day
before I forget it." "But I hope all the dark days
are behind us now, sweetheart." "We just have to be happy and live long
to make up for it all." As the war ended and veterans trickled home,
that’s exactly what they tried to do. Yet their holidays spent in the shadow
of dugouts would never fully leave them. There are so many letters like these. Honestly, deciding which ones to include
was the hardest part. But if this happened to capture your
imagination, try something later. When you go home for the holidays, ask your relatives if they have
any old letters lying around. It’s possible that the next story from the
trenches might come from your own family. Happy Holidays, everybody.
See you next year!
