Christmas in the Trenches: The Christmas Truce of 1914

[revelarts]

" ... John McCutcheon’s Christmas in the Trenches. This song describes an event from World War I commonly referred to as The Christmas Truce. We’ve seen it depicted recently in a for a UK supermarket chain.
The Christmas Truce was a real event. It took place December 24th of 1914, about 5 months after the start of Word War I. It’s said to have started on the Western Front in Belgium, when the Germans started singing Silent Night from their trenches. Silent night was originally a German song, but was very recognizable to the Allies across No Man’s Land, a 250 yard expanse between the opposing trenches.


The serene melody and illustration of the newly born infant Savior, sleeping in heavenly peace, contrasted greatly with the No Man’s Land that it drifted over. Pictures of No Man’s Land show a haunting expanse of abandoned equipment and barbed wire. It was pockmarked with shell holes from artillery fire filled with water, and littered with bodies of men that were shot as they crawled through the mud to obtain information from their enemy.
The Truce happened up and down the Western Front. Soldiers on both sides sang, in their native tongue, Christmas carols that were recognizable by Central and Allied troops. Graham Williams of the Fifth London Rifle Brigade recounted,

“First the Germans would sing one of their carols and then we would sing one of ours, until when we started up ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’ the Germans immediately joined in singing the same hymn to the Latin words Adeste Fideles. And I thought, well, this is really a most extraordinary thing – two nations both singing the same carol in the middle of a war.”

As soldiers crept out of their trenches, they began to see German soldiers carrying Christmas trees, and realized that this was not a trick. They met on No Man’s Land, exchanging things like chocolate, brandy, and tobacco. They even played soccer together. They also took time to bury their dead. Strangely enough, it wasn’t in a bitter manner. Soldiers they had called their enemy only moments ago were helping with the burial.
Soldiers were also surprised to meet enemy soldiers that could speak their own languages. They saw that these men didn’t want to be there as much as they didn’t want to be there. Soldiers on both sides saw the others as fathers and sons, just as they were...

https://www.anarchochristian.com/chr...truce-of-1914/


All that needs to happen for Wars to cease?

[revelarts]