December 25: Christmas Truce (1914)
Prayer Idea
Pray for people to make choices that lead to peace.
History Note
During the first few months of World War I, soldiers on both sides hoped that the war would end soon and that they could survive and get home safely. They were glad when lulls in the fighting gave them an opportunity to relax. Throughout December of 1914, there were moments of peace when soldiers on opposing sides exchanged greetings and gifts, sang together, and even played games in no man’s land between their trenches.
In the days around Christmas, several of these incidents took place. Though there was not a formal ceasefire, groups of soldiers took the risk of communicating with their enemies. Officers on both sides frowned on fraternization. They did not want to give enemy soldiers access to information about their defenses. And if soldiers on different sides got to know each other one day, they might not want to shoot at each other the next day
Lieutenant C. H. Brewer was one British soldier who experienced this so-called Christmas Truce. He wrote a letter back home that was published in the Gloucester Journal on January 2, 1915. Brewer said:
Just a line to let you know how I spent one of the most remarkable Christmas Days it would be possible to have. I can’t say I wouldn’t have missed it for worlds, for I would have given anything to have spent it amongst you all at Gloucester . . .
We came into the trenches again on Christmas Eve. It was a lovely night, frosty and a clear half-moon. When we got here we found there was a telegraph fixed up between here and headquarters, and as there was no one to work it, I worked it for about a couple of hours.
We all stayed up till after 12 and wished each other “A merry Christmas and a better one next year.” The Germans were singing and playing mouth organs hard all Christmas Eve. Just opposite us they have got a Christmas tree stuck up on the parapet.
Early on Christmas morning they shouted across to us “A merry Christmas!” and asked if some of us would go half-way and meet them. We did, and it was the most extraordinary sight I have ever seen to see English and German soldiers shaking hands and exchanging cigars and cigarettes between the trenches. One of them gave me a cigar, but I did not smoke it as I was rather suspicious of them at the time.
Not a shot was fired all day, and everybody walked about on top of the trenches. The same happened yesterday, but to-day we have kept in our trenches, although no shots have been exchanged. They said they would not fire on us till we fired on them, but are keeping a very careful look out.
The Christmas Truce did not take place throughout the front lines. Dozens of soldiers were killed in fighting on Christmas Day. And even for those who experienced it, the peace did not last. After a few hours or at most a few days, the soldiers returned to their deadly jobs. The war dragged on for four more years. Millions more lives were lost.
But for a brief moment, during that Christmas season of 1914, soldiers paused and reflected on the angelic message announced at Jesus’s birth of peace on earth and goodwill toward men (Luke 2:14).
This is the cover from a January 1915 issue of The Illustrated London News that reported on the Christmas Truce.
Learn More
Sainsbury's is a British supermarket chain. On the 100th anniversary of the 1914 Christmas Truce, they created an advertisement that told the story. This video provides a look at the historical documentation that informed their creation.
Please Note: There is a mention of soldiers being killed.
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