December 1914.World War I had been raging for five months. Between minefields and barbed-wire fences,millions of soldiers faced each other in trenches along the Western Front,sometimes only some 30 meters apart. The combat zone stretched from the English Channel through Belgium and France to the Swiss border.
As the war dragged on, soldiers huddled in their dugouts, where rats, lice, the cold and poor food wore them down, and death hung over them. beyond the trenches, between the enemy lines, lay the muddy hell of no man’s land, where the bodies of fallen comrades lay out of reach.
Disillusionment at the front
The war had already claimed hundreds of thousands of lives – English, French, Belgian and German – torn apart by grenades, riddled with machine-gun fire and impaled in hand-to-hand bayonet combat. Many German soldiers had charged into battle, believing victory was within sight. They thought they would be home with their families by Christmas – at least that was what German emperor Wilhelm II had promised.The French and British had also believed their leaders when they said the troops would return home quickly.But disillusionment soon set in at the front. Every day, the men looked death in the face, even on December 24.How could anyone get into the Christmas spirit under such circumstances?
‘Silent Night, Holy Night’
then something unexpected happened. In the middle of the freezing December night, a single German soldier in the trenches near the Belgian town of Ypres began singing “Silent night.” More and more men joined in. The British on the other side of no man’s land could hardly believe their ears. “Silent Night” was also well known in England.
At first, the British did not trust “the Hun,” as they pejoratively called the Germans, and wondered whether they were being lured into a trap. But then they applauded and began to sing along. The Germans responded with calls of “Merry Christmas” and shouted, “We not shoot, you not shoot!” The first brave soldiers on both sides clambered out of the trenches, stood among the bodies of their dead comrades, and shook hands.
Similar scenes unfolded along much of the Western Front. At fleurbaix, near the English Channel, German soldiers placed decorated Christmas trees on the edge of their trenches. the shining lights came from candles, not muzzle flashes.
Christmas trees, gifts and soccer
The German High Command had thousands of trees delivered to the front line to boost morale. Leaders knew how tough it was for soldiers to be away from their loved ones on Christmas Eve.
Ordinarily, having bright candlelight visible to
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