veteran’s corner
Tom Krabbenhoft
In our society few things change our landscape, shopping and culture as much as Christmas. Who doesn’t notice the Christmas decorations at our retail places? It seems they appear on the 5th of July. The spirit of Christmas even has a presence on the battlefield.
WW1 stands as one of the bloodiest conflicts in all of humankind. 1914-1918 saw the death of eight and a half million soldiers and almost one million civilians. The fighting was amongst the bloodiest ever. Hand-to-hand combat ruled the day when weapons were made to kill at a short distance. The unsanitary conditions of “no man’s land” (the area between enemy lines where the majority of the killing took place) wet, cold, vermin. Even the smallest cut was doomed for infection.
It was never all quiet on the western front. Except that one night that ensued into the next few days. The day was 24 December, 1914, Christmas eve.
It started in the evening when the British heard a noise, and the noise continued. It was Christmas carols in German. Personally I like to imagine it was “Oh Tannenbaum”. Not believing his own ears he called to fellow soldiers for audio confirmation. This carried on for a while. Suddenly an English voice with a heavy German accent bellowed “come here”! A British Sergeant yelled back “you come halfway I’ll come halfway.”
Amazingly a few German and British troops nervously made their way to the middle of no-man’s-land. They shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. Soon goods were swapped; cigarettes, a bit of brandy and mostly uneasy smiles. The Germans hung dozens of candles from pine trees adding to the unreal Christmas Eve.
The next day Christmas, troops from both sides nervously exited their foxholes. The undeclared truce held.
They met in the middle and ate, drank a bit, joked, exchanged gifts, chatted and laughed. They passed just about everything back and forth except death.
They helped gather each other’s dead off the field. According to several diary accounts one British soldier set up a make shift barbershop, cutting hair for cigarettes.
A soccer ball appeared from the British lines. To the delight of the troops, soccer was the way differences were being settled. A monument to the soccer games between enemies was erected on 11 November 2008. Descendants of the soldiers from both sides were there for the dedication.
The truce lasted several days.
Leadership on both sides was enraged at the truce. After all, what kind of war can you have if the participants don’t kill each other? Moving forward, leadership on both sides implemented extreme punishment for such actions in the future.
One German Corporal not on the front line is quoted as saying “such a thing should not happen at wartime”. Adolf Hilter.
The Christmas truce is one of the most fabled and unbelievable war time occurrences. Ordinary men chose humanity over death for a short time.
No such event has ever occurred since.
There is one instance in WW2. A German mother found herself with rival enemies at her doorstep. She brought them together for a meager Christmas meal.
We will honor her story near mother’s day.
Tom Krabbenhoft belongs to many Veterans and service organizations; he is a Realtor referral agent with Coldwell Banker Element Realty. Story ideas or comments 11btwk@gmail.com.