Christmas Truce 1914

[Frank_East]

Today's D.T carries a report of a recent German published book entitled "The Small Peace in the Big War" by Michael Jurgs who has drawn on war diaries and letters from soldiers on both sides for the book.

Apparently the book has gripped the country and is a bestseller up to Christmas, highlighting the fact that it was German soldiers who initiated the temporary peace.

In it, the author alleges that that it was German initiatives at the front line which resulted in the unauthorised break in warfare for playing football and singing carols."The miracle is that the Germans started it.For the first time it wasn't the Germans who were waging war but starting a peace," Jurgs reports.

He relates that British newspapers covered the truce in great depth, relishing the "fair play" attitude it represented while German newspapers ignored it, feeling presumabily, that it betrayed a weakness in the Prussian army's renowned disciplinary strength.

Sir John French reaction to the truces it relates, was that he wrote afterwards "I issued immediate orders to prevent any recurrence of such conduct and called the local commanders to strict account"

Jungs goes on to say that on some sections of the front, instead of a lull in warfare lasting a matter of hours,some chose to fire over each other's heads until February 1915.

Jurgs suggests that had there been live television footage at the time and people had seen the pictures of this truce ,it would have been the end of the war.

Should be interesting ,a view from the other side.

Regards

Frank East

[AOK4]

I hope this quote "The soldiers used sticks of wood, their caps and steel helmets as goalposts." is an error by the journalist... There is indeed a lot of info to find about the German side of the truce if you know where to look.

IIRC the truce was a reaction to what the pope (Benedict XV?) had asked just earlier: that the guns would be silent for the Christmas time.

Jan

[Chris_B]

Der Kleine Frieden im Grossen Krieg by Michael Jürgs

This story appeared in the Guardian Newspaper on 11 November 2003.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/st...1082392,00.html

[Ste]

IIRC the truce was a reaction to what the pope (Benedict XV?) had asked just earlier: that the guns would be silent for the Christmas time.

Jan

I have read of the Pope making a formal appeal for a truce to cover Christmas, but that it was pretty much ignored by the combattant governments. I don;t know how widely this was reported in the press, not how many soldiers at the front were even aware of it.

The accounts I have read seem to indicate more social and emotional motivations, and personal religious conviction rather than a response to the Pope. It really did seem to happen spontaneously.

Cheers,

S