Ifi


-.+ ■ • 14


fveptiser.co.uk ' V , CHRISTMAS TRUCE


25 with a thick mist...but the sound of bombardment


on


The day the FirstWorld Wargunsfell silent has fallen into folklore but heart-rending letters from Lancashire sol­ diers on thejrontline reveal the poignant reality of the Christmas Day truce of1914. Mike Hill reports.


» )


y December 1914 three battalions ofLancashire


) soldiers were de­ ployed to the bat-


tlefields of France to face the German onslaught. N ic k n am ed th e .‘Old Contemptibles’.the ist Loyals and 1st and 2nd East Lanca- shires were all regular Army battalions with their regimen­ tal headquarters at Fulwood Barracks in Preston.. The East Lancs were based


on the west side of the bar-- racks’ square which lies be­ yond the imposing gate; with the Loyals housed on the east. When December 25 ar­


rived, the'ist Battalion Loyal North Lancashire Regiment was out of the trenches and resting in billets at Es'sars, in northern France. These.were the soldiers


drawn mainly from Preston and considered the district’s > own regiment, while the East Lancs battalions came from Chorley, Blackburn, Burnley and Accrington. For the men of the 1st East


Lancs there was no such res­ pite expected. They had left for France on August 21 soon after the decla-


rationofwar and by December were dug in on the front line at Le Gheer, near Ploegsteert Wood, dubbed “Plugstreet” by the Tommies, south of Ypres. Meanwhile, the 2nd East


Lancs were in the trench­ es close to Neuve Chappelle which was to be the site of the first great battle of the First World War three months later. For them there was no frat­


ernising with the enemy on Christmas Day.


As the regiment’s official •


history records: “Christmas. Day was spent in the trench­ es and was uneventful. No at­ tempt was made by either side to inaugurate an ‘Unofficial


Armistice’. There was a con­ siderable amount of singing in the German lines, but the battalion was unable to join in the concert, for no gramo­ phone records of the ‘Hymn of Hate’, with which it was in­ tended to regale the Hun, were obtainable.” • But for the soldiers on


Plugstreet the day saw a re­ markable display of human­ ity which has gone down in history. Dawn broke on December


"25 with a thick mist shrouding the battlefield but the sound


: of military-bombardment was notably absent from the morning area.


' By 10am, as the. view


cleared, sporadic truces broke out along stretches of the Western Front. One such tale was told by


the commanding officer of the 1st East Lancs, Colonel Law­ rence, who wrote the follow­ ing on Christmas Day. “This morning I went up to


the trenches and wished every man a Happy Christmas. As I was coming away, at noon, there was a sudden hurrah and rush and our men and the Germans both started run­ ning to one another and met halfway and shook hands. “I did not like it at first and


ordered my men back but was told they wanted a truce for the day to bury their dead. I agreed to that and, after or­ dering half the men to keep a smart look out in the trenches with their rifles ready, I went forward and joined the crowd. I met a Saxon who talked English well and who inter­ preted for me while 1 held a' court of admiring men and NCOs. “I said if they would have an


armistice on New Year’s Day we would play them at foot­ ball between our lines. A lot of their dead were lying about


. ..... v . '


--------- ,• -


• i s ! ,


w r !™ am n l ! ! lh l^ h a! 0\ EaS^ n.laS!l[re-Re9inlentinArmentierespicturedontheirwaytothetrenchBsatLeGheerin1914-Itishi9hlylikelythatsomeifnotallofthesenien wereamong those whotookpart in theChristmasTruce. This picture was takenbyMajorT.S. Lambert (inset)


, n ImagecourtesyofLancashirelnfantryMuseum ! l in front of our trenches and


they thanked us for allowing them io bury. “All the German dead were


collected and buried and their Captain read a burial service over them in German and in English as many of our men were looking on. At 2pm he blew a whistle and all the Germans bolted back to their trenches. “In the afternoon at 3pm


, 1ST BAXTALION.


and 1.1. 'W. A. Salt: j iu IU ' K. Y. Farter. 'lA F. D HughA' I .t . l l .'T . MacMiiUcn. Ca'p.A St ’ t a i l , r..i^jwun*.. 1.1. ■>. a. Ltooo, LL H. W.Canlwi


OFFICERS OFTHEBATTALION ON EMBARKATiok i' **i*'J'-*‘ C


Capt.C* H. \Valkrr(A-S.C.). CapL 1L K. Coventry.: Cant, ft riarKm. - i . n r- . i . . . . ‘ ^ ' • l" ' ’ -


our doctor thought he would go and see the Germans so boldly walked down the road to their trenches and talked to them; they were very full of the football idea of mine on New Year’s Day. I said if they would like another armistice then I would turn out a team, and play them among theshell holes and they were quite keen. Happily there won’t be any obstacles like dead Ger­ mans lying about unless they try on another attack before then. I wonder if the game will come off. “These Saxons are the


Pictured above are the officers of the 1st Battalion East Lancashire Regiment who embarked for France on August 21,1914. Lieutenant C.E.M. Richards ispicturedinset.


same crowd we have always hacloppositeus.Mostofthem


ImagacourtesyofLancashirelnfantryMuseum


are quite young, 18 to 25. The trenches that our men went into were" up to the knee in water so they are far worse off


*ss


than our men.” But not all of Col


L aw ren c e ’s men werethrilledbythe Christmas Truce. R e c o r d s


show Lieuten­ ant C.E.M. Ri* , .ch a rd s , an


i'li&i-


m 53


J * ',


P i w s i i t i M f p M E The entrance to Fulwood Barracks pictured about the time of the First World War*


officer in 1st Battalion East Lancashire R e g im en t ,


welcomed the


. “return ofgood old sniping” late


on Christmas Day, "just to make sure that the war was still


on.”


That evening, however, Lt Richards received a signal


- from Battalion Headquarters - -quitepossiblyffomColLaw- rence - telling him to make a football pitch in No Man’s Land by filling up shell holes etc. and to challenge the en­ emy to a football match on Januaiyi.' Richards recalled, “I was


furious and took no action at all.”


But over time his views


mellowed. . “1 wish I had kept that sig­


nal,” he wroteyears later. “Stu­ pidly I destroyed it, I was so angry. It would nowhave been a good souvenir.” Fellow officer Second Lieu­


tenant P. H.T. Hoare recalled a rather amusing moment dur­ ing the ceasefire in a letter to his family. He wrote: “This has been


the most extraordinary Christmas I’ve ever had. This morning after putting wire out in the night in front of the trenches, I slept from 4 to 6 and from 7 to 8.1 had break­ fast. There was a thick fog this morning so we could walk about anywhere without be­ ing sniped at. “As we were fixing up our


trenches and putting out more wire and the fog was getting thinner, we saw the Germans doing the same and we both looked on. No shots fired. Then somehow we all came outofthe trenches andwalked to each other. It was a most ex­ traordinary sight. “We talked to their offic­


ers, exchanged cigarettes and shook hands, they were Sax­ ons, and awfully nice. They buried some of their dead. They looked simply awful, it nearly did for me. They had been there a long time, luckily it was freezing, or they would have fallen to pieces. . “One of the funniest things


-v,;8 ,


v i ‘


.


r~ * v _ ,


‘ . . ■ J' .-.S- 'J


companied by uncalled for bursts of machine gun and rifle fire. It looks bad for the morrow as we were hoping to have a peaceful Christmas Day.


“Old Jim gets ‘seen off’just


after 11pm by a stray bullet. What a Christmas for his wife and kiddies. Has mankind for­ gotten the Shepherds, the Mqji and the Child that was born in the manger because there was no room for him in the inns of Bethlehem? “At midnight firing ceased


S*1 U KJk


as if by mutual consent. As I stood on the fire step, gazing out into No Man’s Land with


ConventatLeGheer,south east cornerofPloegsteertWood.Takenby Captain E.C.Hopkinson(below),ofthe1st Battalion East Lancashire Regiment on ChristmasDay,1914,duringtheunofficialtruce.ThetrenchintheforegroundistheBritishfrontline.


that happened was when a hare was put up and both ar­ mies chased it shouting and laughing.'It is odd after they havebothbeenhereforweeks fighting each other. “They looked very fit. Not


a shot has been fired since. I am writing this in our cellar which is company headquar­ ters. Tea is just coming. I am going to be put on machine gun in a day or two I believe. “It is much colder today


which is better, as the mud gets hard and one can keep dry. Some trenches, commu­ nication ones, are nearly knee deep in mud and water and one’s feet are never dry, and


generally very cold in spite o f a ll the clothes we , wear. We all look most odd cove red j with mud * and u n ­ shaved and unwashed till we are re lieved every four days.


“But as I shall be


trench a little


-


d u g o u t about 6’ x 4’ cut in the s i d e of the


trench with a


roofand abo ut , ’6” high


__ ____


machine gun officer I shall always be here I suppose. Everybody is sick of it all, simply long for peace. I sleep


> >- on s t r aw quite comfort­ able with a mac­ intosh-sheet and one


blanket. I must stop for tea now. I’ve had tea and am now writing this in my dugout. I go


ImagecourtesyoflmperialWarMuseum


back to the cellar for drinks about 8 pm. No shots are be­ ing fired at all here. I can hear some big guns firing miles away every now and then.” Lt Hoare’s diary carries


added sadness as The History of the East Lancashire Regi­ ment records he was fatally injured the following month, one of2imentodiein January. The diaries of Private Ed­


ward Roe, of the 1st Battalion East Lancashire Regiment, paint perhaps the most poign­ ant picture of the day. He wrote: “Christmas


Eve. Both sides sang Christ­ mas carols in their respective trenches. The carols were ac­


- the point of a spare bayonet underneath my chin in case I might doze, I prayed to God (if there was a God) in his in­ finite goodness and mercy to end this slaughter and misery and bring peace and goodwill to all mankind. “Someone has started play­


ing ‘Home Sweet Home’ on a mouth organ, away down the


trench on my right. Another fellow starts ‘Keep the Home FiresBurning’onmyleft.They


join in the chorus - the mock­ ery of it all.


.'■ / “At 5am word has passed


down the trench that the Hampshires and the Ger-


-manswereout fraternising in No Man’s Land. ‘Impossible, whose leg are you pulling?’ ‘If you don’t believe me, go down and see for yourself’. And there they were, sure enough, British and German warriors in No Man’s Land, unarmed, talking to each other and ex­ changing souvenirs. There is a Chris t after a l l.’


CONTINUED OVERLEAF „ j . ; ^ , . a / , _ - f ^ \\ mm ■ fern Msk. }' « 1 i - L HgJpFrtoeaArS M *"r**B t + £ r ® I


fm M i


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26