CHRISTMAS IN THE TRENCHES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 64, 18 December 1946, Page 8 (Supplement)

CHRISTMAS IN THE TRENCHES

From time to time much is madein the press of the fact that a number of British soldiers, shared a meal with the. Germans in “No-man’s Land” on Christmas Day, 1914 ; but it is not often mentioned that the ceremony was repeated in 1915. I was at . the time in command of a company in the 9th Welsh Regiment (writes a correspondent of the Man- J Chester Guardian), and we were occupying some waterlogged breastworks in front of Vieille Chapelle. Christmas Day dawned grey and bleary, but we managed to get a little fire going .and to brew some * tea. One' man put his mess-tin of the scalding beverage on the parapet to* cool, when a “Jerry” popped his head up in their trenches some 30 1 yards away and asked for a drink of tea. A corporal, fearful of nothing, promptly scrambled over the top and' “Jerry” met him in the open. Tea was swapped for a cigar, and other Germans came out to be met by a number of Welshmen. There must have been at least a score of combatants scattered over the 30 yards of “No-man’s Land” sharing tea and cigars. An elegant German officer came out, to be ipet by a dishevelled Welsh subaltern, and conversation became general. Finally, when fraternisation reached the. Stage of swapping tunic buttons, the German officer blow a whistle, and . each side withdrew to its own tren-... ches. There was no rifle fire for the rest of the day, and in the evening these mutual enemies treated each other to a selection of Christmas carols. The Welshmen always said afterwards that it was the raucous . singing of the Germans that night . that re-started the war next morning.