An Cosantóir

www.military.ie the defence forces magazine | 31 Many of those not engaged in burial duties fraternised with each other, exchanging family photographs and cigarettes and in some places play- ing football. Troops also exchanged uniform badges and buttons and other personal details with each other. Although as the day passed senior offi- cers on both sides indicated their disapprov- al of this fraternisation, at nightfall both sides returned to their respective trenches on the understanding that the day would be allowed to finish in tranquillity. Most of the day's activity was kept to the middle of no-man's land but some soldiers who crossed over into enemy lines were taken prisoner so that they could not bring back information on what they had seen. At the same time, some officers used the occa- sion to engage in intelligence gathering and the Public Records Office in London holds a number of reports by British officers describ- ing German positions, their weapons, units in the line, and their composition. One British officer donned a German uniform, entered the German trenches undetected and managed to locate a machine-gun post that was regularly causing ca- sualties to his unit, before making safety back to his own lines. There can be little doubt that Ger- man officers also used the occasion to engage in intelligence gathering on the British. It was a remarkable occurrence and years later British troops who took part in these events recalled how they discovered how much they had in common with their German opposi- tion. One British soldier who had been in the Frelkingen-Houplines sector said he "found it rather strange to go out and shake the hand of your enemy and wish him a Merry Christ- mas". A German soldier, who served near Armentières recalled troops from both sides emerging from their trenches on Christmas Day, gathering around a Christmas tree the Germans had erected on a parapet and sing- ing Christmas carols. The truce was by no means universal along the front. In sectors manned by French troops there was no let up in hostilities and in an area near Kemmel manned by British troops, while there was no shelling there was some sniping, with the unit commander reporting that they had managed to kill six German snipers. Further afield the Royal Naval Air Service mounted a Christmas Day air raid on the German Zeppelin airship sheds at Cuxhaven using seaplanes that were placed into the sea at a point north-east of Heligoland from specially constructed seaplane tenders. The intention was for the aircraft to attack their target, undertake a reconnaissance patrol, and return to the tenders for pick-up. However, two of the aircraft suffered engine problems and could not take off, while fog prevented the remaining seven from seeing their target. One pilot claimed that he had successfully attacked the target, although subsequent investigation revealed that he had in fact bombed a fish-processing factory. The crews of the seven aircraft that had embarked on the mission all made it back safely, and three of the aircraft were suc- cessfully recovered. On land, other than in the French sectors, Christmas Night passed off peacefully with no hostilities taking place, but the following day, St Stephen's Day, the end of the truce and the resumption of hostilities was marked at first light by the firing of signal flares and rifle shots on both sides. However, in some sectors the unofficial truce continued into the early days of the new year. Despite the truce, according to statistics published by His Majesty's Stationery Office in 1921, 41 British soldiers were killed in action on the front on Christmas Day 1914. When those who died of wounds, illness, and other causes are added in the figure rises to 69. Only nine days that month recorded worse casualties. When the story of the Christmas Day truce subse- quently broke in the British papers, it caught the public imagination and shook up the military establishment to the extent that it took steps to ensure that a similar Christmas suspension of hostilities was never to reoccur during the war. The Christmas Truce by Malcolm Brown & Shirley Eaton, Pan Books (1984) Silent Night - The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce by Stanley Weintraub, Penguin (2002) The Illustrated London News, January 9, 1915 The famous WWI football match of the Christmas Day truce. Photo: ALAMY

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