A Holiday to Remember — Soldier's Letter From Front Recounts 1914 Christmas Truce

German troops in No Man's Land pose for British cameras during the 1914 Christmas Truce. — German and British troops in No Man’s Land during the 1914 Christmas Truce. Image courtesy WikiCommons Media.

“We were just going to fire on them when we saw they had no rifles, so one of our men went to meet them.”

The original letter penned by A.D. Chater.

(Originally published in MilitaryHistoryNow.com on Dec. 24, 2014)

BRITAIN’S ROYAL MAIL GROUP HAS unearthed a letter that reports first-hand the events surrounding the famous “Christmas Truce” of World War One.

The national postal carrier released the historic correspondence, which was written on Dec. 25, 1914 by an officer serving in Flanders, as part of a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the storied ceasefire. All along the Western Front during the war’s first Yuletide, British and German troops spontaneously lay down their weapons to met in No Man’s Land where they swapped handshakes and keepsakes.

In the document, a captain with the 2^nd Battalion of the Gordon Highlanders by the name of A.D. Chater describes events of the truce to his family in vivid (and touching) detail. Here is an excerpt.

Dearest Mother:

I am writing this in the trenches in my “dug out” – with a wood fire going and plenty of straw it is rather cosy, although it is freezing hard and real Christmas weather.

I think I have seen today one of the most extraordinary sights that anyone has ever seen. About 10 o’clock this morning I was peeping over the parapet when I saw a German, waving his arms, and presently two of them got out of their trench and came towards ours.

We were just going to fire on them when we saw they had no rifles, so one of our men went to meet them and in about two minutes the ground between the two lines of trenches was swarming with men and officers of both sides, shaking hands and wishing each other a happy Christmas.

For the rest of the day nobody has fired a shot and the men have been wandering about at will on the top of the parapet and carrying straw and firewood about in the open – we have also had joint burial parties with a service for some dead, some German and some ours, who were lying out between the lines.

Some of our officers were taking photos of English and German soldiers – the extraordinary truce has been quite impromptu – there was no previous arrangement and of course it had been decided that there was not to be any cessation of hostilities.

I went out myself and shook hands with several of their officers and men. From what I gathered most of them would be as glad to get home again as we should – we have had our pipes playing all day and everyone has been wandering about in the open unmolested but not of course as far as the enemies lines.

We can hear no firing going on along the front today except a little distant shelling. We are, at any rate, having another truce on New Year’s Day, as the Germans want to see how the photos come out.

For more on the letter visit Britain’s Royal Mail Group.

Happy Holidays
MilitaryHistoryNow.com