Live and Let Live

[MelPack]

The subject of ‘live and let live’ has been discussed on various threads in the forum and elsewhere:

http://www.westernfront.co.uk/thegreatwar/...eandletlive.htm

I find the topic fascinating because such acts were not only carried out in direct defiance of the diktats of the General Staff concerning the maintenance of the ‘offensive spirit’ but also because they provide enduring proof that the common soldier could maintain his common humanity amidst the savagery of trench warfare.

My favourite anecdote is the following:

'We received the following message, tied to a stone, from the German trenches opposite: 'We are going to send a 40-pounder. We have been ordered to do this, but we don't want to. It will come this evening, and we will blow a whistle first to warn you so that you have time to take cover.' All happened as they said it would.'

Regimental War Diary, the Fifth Leicestershire

http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites...ont_live_2.html

The aforementioned example is probably an exception insofar as it was recorded in the Regimental War Diary. I suspect that most examples are only recorded in the private diaries of individuals that various members of the forum have undoubtedly encountered in their researches.

I would like to propose that this thread is maintained as a repository for examples of the phenomenon of ‘live and let live’ so that members can add to the thread as and when they encounter such examples. If a reference to the source can be added to the information then that would be even better and possibly allow for future serious research on the subject.

Regards

Mel

[dorrie]

i don't know whether you have read Tony Ashworths's book Trench Warfare 1914-1918 thsi deals with the Live and Let live system and make fascinating reading

dorrie

[Tom Morgan]

I think there was a general spirit of Live and Let Live in many parts of trench life, but examples tended to centre around a "common adversity" theme. So neither side routinely shelled the other during breakfast-time, for example. Or when the trenches were severely flooded, making life difficult enough as it was, and so on.

Tom

[Clive Maier]

There is a thread going on elsewhere in the forum about trench raids. I have always felt that these had little real value and were really intended to discourage live and let live.

[PhilB]

I suspect that a British soldier`s eagerness to "kill huns" was proportional to his distance from the front line. Culminating in the "Scarlet majors at the Base" Phil B

[curranl]

Hello All,

A slightly different perspective from J.F. Lucy, author of " There's a Devil in the Drum". Lucy was a Regular in the 2nd Royal Irish Rifles and says this:

" In November 1915 we went into the line near Armentieres and relieved a battalion of our New Army brigade lately come to France....................We were a bad lot to bring to that peaceful place. Incredibly we listened to stories of flat capped enemy troops who showed themselves at dawn and wished the British "Good Morning". Now we knew why the Regulars were broken up and we automatically did what was expected. There was no choice anyway. The morning greeters were shockingly killed off.

Our patrols got busy at night, and the boom of bombs broke the wierd stillness. Our raiding parties went over and brought back prisoners. Our first raid was a kind of picnic, and our men wandered about the enemy lines entirely unmolested, looking for loot, and were called back with difficulty. The garrison had fled in dismay at their approach. After that the Germans woke up and developed ordinary wartime behaviour. They brought up additional guns to shell us as a reprisal , but their second rate troops dared not attack or raid us. They identified us by some of our dead left behind in a raid on them and told us they knew we were one of the old Irish battalions. They shouted flatteries or taunted our men as the mood took them, but our chaps kept silent in silent in stationary warfare, according to the laws of an unwritten code. We had a lovely time in those trenches and we despised our opposite numbers"

Regards,

Liam.