I


16 h i


I CUTHER0EADVER1ISER&TIMES


www.clitheroeadvertis8r.co.uk Thursday, December25,2014 Thursday,December25,2014 www.clitheroeadverUser.co.uk a s


c * aft


i 1 > V A . >M - »


a. t fr t >


,


♦**„ r ^ *


a M M ' - - ' W aw sB^rmssiSx


.... . • - - ' S M H I


Q U, . “Presently the Germans on


our front get up on their trench parapets and commence to wavetheirarmstous. Wedothe same(arid)in20secondsweare out in No Man’s Land talking to the Germans, or trying to. “Theygaveusbottlesofwine


... and cigars; we gave them tins of jam, bully, mufflers, tobacco etc. I annexed a tin of raspberry from the sergeant’s dug-out and; gave it to a stodgy and bespecta- cledSaxon.


■ • “In return he gave me a . . PhotocourtesyofUncashirelnfantryMuseum


leather case containing five cigars, they were a Christmas present he received from Baden Baden. The line was all confu-


ThelstBattalionEastLancashireRegimentfacingtheenemyatSolesmes sion; no sentries and no oniein onAugust25,1914.


, . possession of arms.. “A party of Saxons have al­ n .. 4m ML BritishandGerman troops meetinginNo-Man'sLandduringtheunofficial truce. (British troopsfromtheNorthumberlandHussars, 7th Division, Bridoux-RougeBancSector) Image courtesy of Imperial War Museum North


ready commenced to bury some of their dead which have been lying in the mangel wurzel field since we made our first coun­ ter-attack in October. “ We were thankful for that at least, for when the wind blew


in the direction of our trenches it made us sick with the foetid atmosphere of decaying bodies.


3 “The awful slaughter had :.-been unable to check the spirit


’ ;'of Christmas. We could stand upright and smoke, drawwater and rations in security. “Would it not be splendid if


it were always like this, but then no one would be getting killed


andthewarwouldlastforever.” Burnley’s Pte Harold Picker­


ing, of 1st East Lancashire Regi­ ment, showed a bit more cheer


in a letter home to his family: “Didyou enjoyyourself all right


at Christmas? I enjoyed myself all right. “We did not fire a single


shot on Christmas Day. We and the Germans came out of our


trenches and met each other halfway.


“We shook hands with each other and they gave us ciga­


rettes and cigars and we sang together. They wanted to play us at football, but we had no


ball. It made me think the war was over.” SadlyColLawrence’sdreams


of a football match were dashed with the resumption of hostili­


ties between the two sides after the truce ended. -


The colonel wrote home in


the New Year to share his dis­ appointment at the turn of the |


events. Hewrote:“Wellwenevergot |


offour football match. TheGer- mans were not for it and have I been sniping all day. General I


Wilson, commanding IV Divi-'l sion, and his Chief Staff Officer r


'turned up at 11am to see it but were disappointed and vari­ ous other fellows turned up but


they had to return without any


excitement. “Colonel Seely also turned


up in the afternoon to wish us a


Happy New Year. We sat up last night to see the New Year in and drank to sweethearts and wives |


and our noble selves. “At 11pm firing broke out all


along the line. It appears that


the German time is one hour ahead of ours so they out of gaiety put two shells into our convent which is a buildingjust behind our trenches and put their rifles in the air and fired afeudejoiel . “A regiment on our right re­


plied to the fire with maxims and rifles and it sounded like a regular engagement but af­ ter 20 minutes it all died down and the Germans began blow­ ing bugles and penny whistles and yelling. Then both sides


wished each other a Happy New Year.” Army records show almost


100 bodies were buried in one mass grave on Christmas Day by soldiers from the 1st East Lancs and their German foes


underthe command ofCaptain E.C.Hopkinson. Mostofthedead were G er-


man but some Brits were laid to rest alongside the enemy. Early in January the Second


Army issued an order forbid­ ding all informal undertakings with the enemy under penalty of trial by court martial bring­ ing to a close perhaps the most remarkable chapter in British military history.


; ; - - r


• WiththankstotheLancashife Infantry Museum (www.lanca- shireirfantrymuseum.org.uk), IWM North, part o f Imperial War Museums, Roger Goodwin and local historian Keith John­ son fo r their kind help in re-, searching this article.


' J t t 7 -T ~J~r ~j A-rr* « pf1 ‘ (■ >' *' y L j ^ ' * * <"*-


. Trenches at Le Gheer occupied by 1st Battalion East Lancashire Regiment Itwasfrom these trenches that the East Lancs (proud cap b a d e e ' 1 ■.: .picturedinsetlwentforwardtomeettheGennansinNoMan’sLand.Notetheroughandstillrudimentarynatureofthetrenchesjfar


.3 ' narrower, less developed andorganised than thesophistlcatedversionswhlchappearedlaterinthewar.Hie photos were taken by Tv, MaJorT.S.Umbertin1914andarepublishodforthefir^timecourtesyofLancashir8lnfantryMuseum '


^ '; : r ; ■ ; v, m


1


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