The Christman Truce
2nd
January 1915
I had looked
toward Corporal Duncan Keith, he was perplexed too. What was
that familiar heat which was diffused between battlefronts?
What were all voices singing something about an emotion
which I didn’t feel here? Also a German POW (prisoner of
war), who was near our war doctor, started to sing. What was
happening? Did anyone understand that we still were on war?
Our doubts were confirmed when the POW said that he was
singing a Christmas carol, so they didn’t want to make war,
to be alert and to be afraid at least for a night, Christmas
night. “We are English and English people don’t pull back”,
so Corporal Keith stood up and began to sing Silent Night,
like conducting. At the moment I was dazed by the behaviour
of Corporal Keith but then I understood and I started to
sing, actually we were shouting for freedom, for
frustration. We needed to shout, we deserved it! It was
amazing that we weren’t thinking of war. German troops saw
us and they didn’t reply with fire but with Stille Nacht, a
German version of Silent Night. There weren’t enemies, maybe
the only enemies were those generals who threw us here. Now
the German aim was to continue the “party” so they screamed
“Niemandsland Niemandsland!” and they went out of the
trench. “Shall we go to No Man’s Land? What shall we do? Is
it an ambush?” But Sergen Igram assured us that the intetion
was good and it was the Christmas night when everything can
happen. So the veterans had taken wishy, chocolate and dried
meat as presents for the enemies. When we arrived at the
centre of the place, the gloominess wasn't there, and I saw
Private Lloyd who hugged a German, maybe it was a truce! In
the night we played cards, sang, drank and wept over the
dead friends. We were united, so the doctors shared their
medications while others like me wrote this night in their
diary, never to forget it! We decided to extend the truce
until the end of the year. The football match was
outstanding; as usual Germany won, the match could keep on
forever but Private Franly missed a goal and the ball went
out of the field. It is amazing when you wake up without any
problems. Can we wake up all days like now? But on 28th
December a mail arrived at Major Grean. The BritishGenerals
didn’t allow this situation any longer! So the bombardaments
were resumed and we all went back to the trench, it was
blood-filled again. While I was listening to Sergent Igram,
I remebered that night when we stopped the world war for a
week.
Private Gordon Freeman’s Journal
On 3rd
January Private Freeman was shot, before he had killed a
German who had beaten Freeman at poker.
noni_peers