SOLDIERS' CHRISTMAS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 13 February 1915, Page 8

SOLDIERS' CHRISTMAS

- trtjce in the trenches. - Cigarettes exchanged. ' -s- : ':: no firing for a day. ■""" r •"Whatever the Prussian militarists wished in the matter, they were unable, to control the strong religious and festive feeling -which characterises both British; and Germans in regard to the celebra-, tion of Christmas, and along the whole; battle-front, from the North Sea to Al 7 ! sace, the combatants did pretty much as they wished ou Christmas Day. Accounts from all along the line show that wher-j ever Prussians held the front killing! continued as usual, but the Saxons and: other German troops observed a trace,, and frequently themselves took the-iin-1 tiative, so that the day was spent fby both sides fraternising with the eneniyl between the trenches. J | v THE PRUSSIAN TOUCH. |

At Nancv Christmas morning was Tudely violated by a Taube and a Zeppelinv which' flew across from Metz, and; dropped bombs on the city, making a special target of the cathedral, which they knew would be crowded with worshippers at the hour of the attack. But; even into this work the - Germans impartr, ed the Christmas touch, for they dropped their photographs on Nancy with the.; greeting "Frohliche Weuinachten. _ • I On : the Yser, too, (where the revived; Belgians are now gallantly holding the line and steadily pushing forward, there was no truce, for here, too, tho sweet spirit of Prussia sets the keynote. Early in - the morning the cannonade menced with" fury, and the Germans' launched an attack on. the recently-won. trenches of the Allies. The counter : attack, however, succeeded in advancing the front of "the. Allies a little more. V • Interesting in the light they threw on human nature were the scenes on which the cold moon looked down on the longdrawn, enow-covered fighting trenche*>| Though there axe no, correspondents at the front; the military post office, perfavour of the,.censor, has already 'fur;-. nished full and graphic narratives from individual soldiers. The work, of the A.S.C.. is so excellent and methodical that every man in the trenches received his Christmas hampers with and there .is a chorus of evidence that' all fed probably as well as they would have done at home. Every man, received a Christmas card from the King and Queen, and a Christmas package from Princess Mary's fund; needless to say, most of these were posted straight back tb England to be preserved as keepsakes. GOODWILL TO MEN. The rapprochement along th.e lines began differentlv in different places. An artillery officer says, that at 6 o'clock on Christmas Eve "things went positivsly dead; there was not a sound. Even cur own. pet sniper went off duty." ->H evening the .British officers sat round a fire, .and about 11 o'clock a very- excited infantry officer came in and said, that ill fighting'was off; the men were?fraternising in between the trenches. Earlier in the evening they had heard the Ger-. mans calling" out: "You English, vhy don't yon come out?" But wags m the British -trenches had replied with cies of "Waiter!" . . ' > The report turned out to-be true. Lne soldiers on both sides had agreed; that there should be no firing untft.midmght oh" Christmas Day, and there they were walking, about -unarmed far nevoid thf ir own - trenches and entanglements. Vext morning, the colonel and nfc»i2r officers "came-out to see the fun." British and Germane Jwere digging graves" together between the trenches to bury Ueir It was agreed that if a single shot was fo*e?f itwas not to be taken as an • act ofwar, and an apology was 16 be accepted. Firing would not ue resumed -without due warning on both sides. The only thing that was forbidden, was to make any improvement in. the "wire* entanglements. The Germans wtailed a 48. hours' truce, but the Btitisb etuck out for 24 hours. :- ■ . : "We all walked out, and one of their officers came to meet us. "We all saluted, shook hands, and exchanged cigarettes. Unfortunatelv, they understood no French or Ehglisn, we <*>?ld not muster a word of - German between us. EinaMv: "they got a man. out of the trenches who had lived for some years in America, and he acted as interpreter. ThVofficer& were little more than boys, and one of them had already been wounded-" They: were intensely polite, r ,'. and the?a 'w;as any amount of clicking of heele.'--'-The-soldiers all 'seemed, rather young, but- they did not appear very despondent or underfed. After,lunch; 1 wemV back to the observation-post. , The road-along, th,ere is,,as a-rule, rather infested with bullets ;-it-seemed so strange to-, walk along it and never hear the whisper M one.' "•■SiNG TO US, ENGLISHMEN!" At another spot the truce started bi the opposing compahies wishing - eacn other a-Happy Christmas. Shortly afterwards, the Germans shouted, "English men, sing to ns." V ■ . , ' "We got out our. hymn books, : says i private of the Queen's Westminster* "stuck "candles on the tops of the tren ches, and sang 'Lead, Kindly Light, •Abide With Me,' and *While Shepherd* Watched Their Flocks by Night,' Thej gave us three cheers, and we then askec them to sing to us, which they did. Son* of pur chaps went out as far as the wun entanglement, '. met some of the Germans and arranged net to shoot on Christina Davy, which was agreed to." - . '"The Saxons, took some of the BritisJ into their trenches and entertained then to lunch. They joined together in a sing song, taking turns, and ending with *Go< Save the King,' in .-which the Saxon joined most heartily. The British wer sent away with a bottle of wine to drin the King's health, but they were .warn ed against the regiment on their left The warning was a good one, too, fo whfcn some" of the British soldiers g« out/of their trenches "the enemy"—non thought U> be Prussians-r-told them to g back-, and .fired' on them before they xt gained their trenches."

'• Vgod save the king. " I -;=.-■,; j- :;•?•■_•;...'•' I * At another point, on Christmas Eve, a band was heard playing in the Saxon t'tenchls 70 yards away: "Our chaps, the London! Rifle Brigade, cheered and shout-' ed to item.- After some time they stood.j *oa> : fche J - : top >of their.: .trenches, ' and - we did~ jikgwise.* 'We: mutually-agreed to cissSe- aU/nigtit we sang arid shouted Ao-'each "other. To cap' every-tJiing-'th«r"baml played *Gbd Save the King;! -."Vfchen daylight came - two of our fellows/ af(-the invitation of the enemy, left* the trenches, 'met half-way, and drank-.tog|ther.- '-That completed itThey would .not .fire if we did ndt fire; "io&after that me strolled,about to"t f iach other:.; It - was' difficuly to >vere at, war. . •> sang .and played 'Home, Swcefc^Home,'..Tipperary,' etc., .theJ British "replying "in kind., to the best of their ability 7rifl£ ; "'Deutscnland über Alles f ' I Cigarettes,-<rigaxs, addresses;* "etc., -were exchanged, Snd ; every -one, friend arid j foet One pfrtbe Ger- ] mari.offic^t&ok:a-Tohbtograph" of Engjish zsii "a^-^^nv^ wit*. eifiHaneed''c?,p£ *ftd feelsets." • • On-:Cnnst-n*as-;Ev& ?ti;^G^^a3ass""burne4- ;; coloured £&>*& '.land- xsiadtes" '*&i&g .tie spa- of; ,the:lr allowed' us>ttf=buTy, all oaf: dead

'them, with hats in hand, brought in one of our dead officers from behind their trench, bo that we could bury him decently." The Queen's Westminsters are evidently facing a German regiment which is less sure of itself: "After a time we shouted out to them to send a man halfway and we would send one to meet him with some 'cigs.' After a little hesitation they did so, but were evidently nervous, as our man found three of the others waiting for him, and even then they would not allow another of our lot to go out. One of our officers arranged that neither side would fire until toI night, bat they fired a few shots, which 1 am glad to say our fellows ignored."