The Christmas Truce

Well, I thought the same as everybody else. Everybody said ‘It’ll be over by Christmas and you’ve got to get out soon, otherwise you won’t see anything’. But I don’t know if it was my opinion, or if everybody was saying it. One certainly changed one’s mind when we found how well-organised Jerry was compared with us for instance.

Bill Haine, a British Soldier in WW1

Despite what many claimed at home, the war was not over by Christmas. Winter was setting in and the fighting had slowed even more than before. Whilst the Christmas Truce of 1914 is seen as a unique one, ceasefires had been occurring all over the Western Front. A “turn a blind eye” attitude was becoming common place, despite orders from command. The harsh winter was also getting to the soldiers. The feeling of the first Christmas away from home was beginning to set in so gifts were sent. Kaiser Wilhelm sent cigars for the officers and pipes for the ranks while Princess Mary of Harewood sent out cigarettes, sweets and cards.

On Christmas Eve, the rain that had been flooding trenches for weeks had finally stopped, and the ice froze the floor of the trenches over, reducing the risk of trench foot significantly. Soon, snow fell upon No Mans Land and the gun fire slowly but surely dwindled into silence. Filled with merriment and joy, the German’s began to sing Silent Night in their trenches. The British officers, hearing this, believed it to be a challenge and began singing their own carols back at the Germans. However, what began as a competition eventually turned into a harmonisation of English and German voices. Many officers met by the wire, agreeing not to exchange gunfire the next day. However, such friendliness was not shared with the French or Belgian troops, as they were under occupation by the Germans at the time. However, they did agree to stop shooting in order to bury their dead.

Christmas Day came. Many British soldiers looked over the parapet to see German Soldiers standing upright in No Mans Land. The two sides got out and buried their dead. The two sides found they shared a communal experience, of having had their friends die and being sick of the war. Extra gifts given to them by their wives and families were exchanged. One notable exchange was between Captain Edward Hulse of the Scots Guard and Lieutenant Thomas of the 15th Westphalians. Thomas gave Hulse a Victoria Cross and a series of letters belonging to an officer who had been killed in a German trench in a previous attack, hoping to have them returned to his family. Touched by his empathy, Hulse gave Thomas his scarf he had received the night prior. Not having anything to give back, Thomas ordered a German troop to find the gloves given to him by his family in order to give them to Hulse. Unfortunately, Hulse ended up being killed in action the following April at the Battle of Neuve-Chappelle while trying to help his commanding officer. Thomas’ fate remains unknown

German and British troops playing football together on the battlefield

The most famous part of this truce were the football matches played between the two sides. Both sides brought out their own footballs, playing kick-about between the two trenches. However, not all was done with best intentions. This time of peace was used to repair dugouts and spy on the enemy. Some were cautious, with incidents of people spotting daggers being drawn and British soldiers not wanting to smoke German cigarettes for fear of poisoning.

Eventually, high command stepped in, fearing that the war would not go on if their troops knew their enemy as people. For some, the armistice was swift and done with by Boxing Day. Others carried on, pushing until New Years Eve. German command dispatched snipers whilst the French ordered artillery barrages. For high command, they believed the war machine had to go on and all human connection must be stamped out. There was never another ceasefire like this, not just in this war but any war since then.

The Basics of Trench Warfare

Initially, many trenches of World War 1 were glorified foxholes. But once the war began to set in, these trenches became more complex and became a vast system behind the front lines, including reserve trenches, dugouts and medical areas behind the trenches.

Trench warfare would tend to be very repetitive in nature. A battle would start with a large artillery bombardment from one side against the other. Many of these artillery barrages would cause Shell Shock or, as modern physcologists have called it, PTSD.

A British soldier suffering from Shell Shock

Then waves of troops would come over through an area called No Mans Land, the term for the empty land between the two trenches, which was often ravished by craters, barbed wire and dead trees. The guns from the defending side would open fire, usually massacring the wave. They offending side would then usually send wave after wave until they either gave up or captured the trench. Tens of thousands of lives would be lost, only to gain a few metres of land.

The trenches were often very crudely designed, as many suspected the war would not be long. Many had open mud on the floor, which would mean diseases such as trench foot would be spread. Rats were common place as well. However, the German trenches were considered to be more sturdy, being deeper and wider than the Allied trenches, allowing for better movement and cover. German trenches averaged around 12 feet in depth, whilst British ones averaged around 6 or 7 feet deep.

A drawing of a German Trench from a book

For when artillery fire came, bunkers were dug in, with the German ones being characterised as a lot more homely and comfortable.

By 1915, the true nature of the war began to set in and the trench fixtures became a lot more permanent. Machine gun turrets were set up and, eventually, the German’s began using the new weapon, chlorine gas. Poison gas was a key element of the war, despite it being illegal. Both sides would use this weapon on each other. Many died due to gas attacks and those who survived suffered later in life.

German Soldiers releasing some mustard gas

The Schlieffen Plan

Tsar Nicholas ordered the mobilisation of troops on July 29th and Kaiser Wilhelm mobilised theirs on the 30th. Because Russia had such a large army to mobilise on such a large border, Germany believed they had to take out France first. Luckily, they had planned for this.

In 1906, Alfred Von Schliefen had devised a plan in case they needed to invade France. He proposed a plan of going through the Lowlands, of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, before attacking France from it’s northern border, encircling Paris, assuring a swift victory. The front could then be moved to Russia and their large army to focus on that front.

A photo of Schlieffen, 1906

The invasion of Belgium began. Having reassured it’s safety, Britain joins the war against Germany, sending troops down to France. However, the advance slows at the heavily fortified city of Liege. Once the city was captured, the German’s committed brutal war crimes against the civilian population. The Triple Alliance spread propaganda, denouncing the German’s actions in the Belgian cities, making many neutral countries opinions of Germany turn sour.

France began to make a push into the German territory but were pushed back at a heavy cost in the Battle of the Frontiers

A French army at the battle

The British troops eventually make an advance and fight with German troops at Mons. However, they were vastly outnumbered and had to retreat to the French frontline at the Marne River. It seemed as though the Schlieffen Plan would be a swift success.

However, the German’s needed to secure a naval port. The Allied Armies and the Germans quickly ran to the coast trying to flank one another, forming a full frontline, colliding at the First Battle of Ypres. However, due to some light tinkering from Helmuth von Moltke, the German line was under supplied so could not advance past this point for the meantime. The two lines began to dig in, building a network of trenches across the frontline.

Many believed that the plan itself was flawed and was destined to never work. Others claim that due to Moltke’s meddling, the plan failed. But no matter what you think was the cause for the Schlieffen Plan’s failure, the era of Trench Warfare had begun.

A photo of a British Trench

Hitler’s Time in WW1

On 28th of July 1914, Gavrilo Princip, member of the Serbian organisation “The Black Hand” shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and his wife in Bosnia, killing them both. Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for the assassination, so declared war. Russia had an alliance with Serbia, so declared war on Austria-Hungary. Germany had an alliance with Austria-Hungary, so declared war on Russia, thus bringing both Germany and Hitler into World War 1.

He was attached to the Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment 16 and was a runner on the Western Front in East Belgium. He was awarded an Iron Cross (2nd class) for his bravery, one of the highest awards given to soldiers in the German Army, similar to the Victoria Cross or Medal of Honour.

Hitler in a dugout in the war. He is furthest left.

During the Battle of the Somme in 1916, he suffered an injury from an artillery shell which wounded his left thigh. He was sent to hospital and returned in March 1917.

In September 1918, Hitler claimed that in a battle was unarmed and a rifle was pointed at him by Private Henry Tandey, one of the most highly decorated privates of the war, having gained a Victoria cross for his bravery at the fifth Battle of Ypres. He held his gun on Hitler but then told him to go. Hitler told this tale to Former Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain when he visited his house in Bavaria, saying “That man came so near to killing me that I thought I should never see Germany again,”. When first hearing this Tandey denied all claims but later on he says he remembers doing something like this and if it was Hitler he should’ve pulled the trigger, saying, “If only I had known what he would turn out to be […] When I saw all the people and women and children he had killed and wounded I was sorry to God I let him go.” when an interviewer went to his house in Coventry. The paper wrote “Nothing Henry did that night could ease his sickening sense of guilt. […] It was a stigma that Tandey lived with until his death […] He could have stopped this. He could have changed the course of history.” Tandey passed away in 1977 at his home in Coventry.

This is a painting at Hitler’s home in Bavaria which he showed to Prime Minister Chamberlain. Hitler claimed that the injured man being carried at the front of the line is him and the man carrying him is Tandey.

A month after he was nearly killed, Hitler was partially blinded by a mustard gas attack and was sent to hospital. It was during this time when he learnt of Germany’s defeat. Hitler said that when he learnt this he had a second wave of blindness. Hitler and many others believed that Germany had been stabbed in the back from the home front and Hitler blamed it on the Jews and Marxists. The terms of the Treaty of Versailles didn’t help matters, making the German people hate the countries that made them sign the Treaty even more than they already did.