WW1 Christmas Truce: Silent Night - Extra History - Part 1 — Transcript

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1. 0:00Christmas Eve, 1914.
2. 0:03The war was supposed to be over by now.
3. 0:11This holiday special is brought to you by World of Tanks.
4. 0:15Use the invite code "ARMISTICE"
5. 0:16if you are new player who wants to check out the game.
6. 0:20The Christmas Truce is one of the most poignant events of the First World War.
7. 0:24A time when men rose above the madness of the conflict
8. 0:28and, for just a moment, saw each other as fellow humans.
9. 0:32This is an event that definitely DID happen.
10. 0:35Thousands of men laid down arms in the truce,
11. 0:37but a century of retellings has also kinda sanded down its rough edges
12. 0:42and oversimplified its messy reality.
13. 0:44Indeed, this event wasn’t just the result of pure human spirit and holiday cheer.
14. 0:49It was a host of unique factors that drove these enemies
15. 0:53to spontaneously declare peace in no man’s land.
16. 0:56And really, it may not have been all that spontaneous.
17. 0:59Small armistices were happening every day.
18. 1:02As frontline troops became accustomed to the rhythms of trench warfare,
19. 1:06they learned that looking the other way now and then
20. 1:09could bring a shred of safety and calm to their lives.
21. 1:12The armies ate meals at the same time, which became a daily ceasefire.
22. 1:17Patrols frequently ignored each other, adopting a live-and-let-live attitude.
23. 1:22Troops often shouted to each other across the lines.
24. 1:24After all, the Autumn battles had passed, and both sides were waiting out the winter.
25. 1:29In reality, the weather was the primary enemy for both sides.
26. 1:33The high water table at Flanders
27. 1:35meant that the trenches were always filling with water,
28. 1:39sometimes collapsing and burying men inside.
29. 1:42Soldiers leaned against the walls to sleep, trying to keep themselves out of the wet.
30. 1:47Food supplies had to be hung up on dugout ceilings.
31. 1:50And that winter had been particularly miserable.
32. 1:53Weeks of rain flooded the dugouts.
33. 1:55The mud pulled men down like quicksand.
34. 1:58Now, British Field Marshal Sir John French had noticed the hands-off attitude
35. 2:03his men were developing toward the enemy,
36. 2:05and so he ordered attacks in late December to boost morale.
37. 2:09This resulted in heavy British losses.
38. 2:11Concerned about possible fraternization over the holiday,
39. 2:15he issued orders that no unofficial armistice would be tolerated.
40. 2:19Morale was much better over in the German trenches.
41. 2:22After all, they were winning,
42. 2:24but many men were also experiencing their first holiday away from home.
43. 2:28Knowing this would be difficult,
44. 2:30commanders brought Christmas to the trenches,
45. 2:32shipping thousands of presents to the field.
46. 2:35Each man received a gift from the Kaiser,
47. 2:37cigar boxes for NCOs, a pipe with the crown prince on it for the ranks.
48. 2:42The British, for their part, received a brass box from Princess Mary
49. 2:46filled with cigarettes, tobacco, a Christmas card, and sweets.
50. 2:49And then there were personal packages.
51. 2:51Enterprises sprang up on the home front,
52. 2:54offering family members a chance to send gift boxes to the troops.
53. 2:58British soldiers received plum puddings and thousand-count boxes of cigarettes.
54. 3:03German and Austrian troops were bombarded
55. 3:05with chocolate, salami, and cognac.
56. 3:08Both sides received winter clothing.
57. 3:10In truth, though? The gifts were kind of a nuisance.
58. 3:13I mean, there was nowhere to put it all.
59. 3:15Soldiers had nowhere to store a thousand extra cigarettes.
60. 3:19But that Christmas Eve delivered a true gift:
61. 3:22the rain stopped and the trenches drained.
62. 3:25Dry cold froze the mud into a hard surface, almost like a floor.
63. 3:30Snow dusted the countryside.
64. 3:32That afternoon, the gunfire dwindled, and in some sectors it stopped entirely.
65. 3:37The weather just seemed too nice for it.
66. 3:39The Germans, stuffed with Christmas chocolate and cheered by the weather,
67. 3:43started putting lit tannenbaum on their trench parapets.
68. 3:46And then, the German line started singing.
69. 3:50Over on the British parapets,
70. 3:51watchmen of the Scots Guards saw lines of lights along the enemy trench.
71. 3:55At first, they suspected an attack. But then,
72. 3:58they heard an ethereal sound drifting across no man’s land:
73. 4:02Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht.
74. 4:04The original, Austrian version of Silent Night.
75. 4:07Sensing a challenge, Guards officer Lieutenant Sir Edward Hulse
76. 4:11decided they should drown this out with their own carol.
77. 4:14The sides went back and forth,
78. 4:16but soon, the competition merged into a harmony
79. 4:19of Good King Wenceslaus and Auld Lang Syne.
80. 4:22Men began shouting Christmas greetings across the line,
81. 4:25jokingly, at first.
82. 4:27A few even stepped out to talk.
83. 4:29Hulse didn’t know it,
84. 4:30but the same thing was happening up and down the entire British line.
85. 4:34Agreements formed. In some sectors, the officers met at the wire and shook hands,
86. 4:39agreeing to cease hostilities the next day.
87. 4:42In other areas, the ranks took the lead,
88. 4:44Germans shouting across no man’s land,
89. 4:47“English! Tomorrow if you no shoot, we no shoot!”
90. 4:50At times, it was just one brave soul,
91. 4:53walking into no man’s land waving a newspaper.
92. 4:56These overtures were extremely dangerous.
93. 5:00Though peace was breaking out in certain areas, it didn’t happen everywhere.
94. 5:04One British regiment responded to German carolling with a machine gun blast.
95. 5:08Some unarmed soldiers were gunned down trying to broker this holiday armistice.
96. 5:13But in most sectors, the ceasefire held.
97. 5:16This truce mostly happened between German and British units.
98. 5:19The French and the Belgians, whose countries were under German occupation,
99. 5:23were... less inclined.
100. 5:25There were agreements to bury the dead and cease hostilities,
101. 5:28but not as much fraternization.
102. 5:30Yet a Bavarian unit held fire during a French mass,
103. 5:34and both sides halted fighting long enough for a guest,
104. 5:37a soloist from the Paris opera, to make a performance.
105. 5:40British Indian troops, who were unfamiliar with this whole “Christmas” deal,
106. 5:45saw the lit German trees and thought of their own holiday of Diwali.
107. 5:49They held fire but also held position...
108. 5:52until some Germans tempted them out of the trench with cigars and cigarettes.
109. 5:56Soon, the men were smoking together on the parapet.
110. 5:59That Christmas night, the troops slept in sublime quiet.
111. 6:04Christmas Day dawned bright and cold,
112. 6:07the sky clear for the first time in weeks.
113. 6:10To their shock, British troops looked across no man’s land
114. 6:13to see the Germans walking around on their parapets.
115. 6:16Such a thing was suicidal in daylight,
116. 6:19and that gesture of trust, more than anything, lured a few British out.
117. 6:23It was heaven to at last stand up straight and walk on solid earth.
118. 6:27Some had ventured into no man’s land on Christmas Eve,
119. 6:30but in daylight, it was impossible to ignore the bodies lying between the trenches.
120. 6:35The two sides buried their dead in common graves,
121. 6:38grieving side-by-side in joint services,
122. 6:41listening to the faraway sounds of battle from other sectors.
123. 6:44And that shared experience broke down the wall.
124. 6:48Soldiers milled about together in no man’s land,
125. 6:51swapping overabundant gifts from home.
126. 6:53British beef for uniform buttons.
127. 6:56Chocolate cake for barrels of beer.
128. 6:58They exchanged hats. One German barber gave haircuts.
129. 7:01The men chatted. After all, they shared so much in common.
130. 7:05They’d lived in the same fields under the same rain, and were equally sick of war.
131. 7:10Besides, they were curious.
132. 7:12What was life like on the other side? Who were these enemies?
133. 7:15One British officer was perplexed to learn
134. 7:18that his new German friend believed the armies of the Kaiser fought for freedom.
135. 7:22That was impossible, the officer responded, we’re fighting for freedom.
136. 7:27Amid this, Lieutenant Hulse found himself
137. 7:29talking to Lieutenant Thomas of the 15th Westphalians,
138. 7:32who had something to pass on: a Victoria Cross and a packet of letters.
139. 7:37An English officer had died in the German trench during the last attack.
140. 7:41Perhaps he could give these to the man’s family?
141. 7:44Touched, Hulse removed his own silk scarf,
142. 7:46a gift from home, and presented it in thanks.
143. 7:49Thomas, embarrassed that he had nothing to give in return,
144. 7:52sent a soldier to fetch the fur gloves his family had sent.
145. 7:56Up and down the line, men started bringing out footballs.
146. 7:59Kickabouts broke out, with men from both sides chasing the ball
147. 8:03among shell holes and sliding on the frozen ground.
148. 8:06In one sector, a group of Highlanders challenged a Saxon regiment,
149. 8:10who burst out laughing whenever a kilt flew up during play.
150. 8:13But not all this activity was goodwill.
151. 8:16On both sides, a few used the gatherings to reconnoiter enemy trenches,
152. 8:20and both sides used the time to repair dugouts.
153. 8:23Of course, for some, this fraternization appeared false.
154. 8:26One British soldier flashed his squadmate a hidden dagger,
155. 8:30while another refused to smoke German cigarettes, fearing they might be poisoned.
156. 8:34When one squad of Bavarians discussed whether to meet the British,
157. 8:38their corporal snapped at them.
158. 8:40“Such a thing should not happen in wartime."
159. 8:42"Have you no German sense of honour left at all?”
160. 8:44They weren’t surprised.
161. 8:46The night before, this same soldier had refused to join the unit’s Christmas service.
162. 8:50Corporal Hitler was odd like that.
163. 8:52But his disapproval reflected the generals’ view.
164. 8:55This was exactly the situation that Field Marshal French had feared.
165. 8:59Commanders dispatched senior officers to threaten disciplinary action
166. 9:03and insist the men restart the war.
167. 9:05In some sectors, the armistice came to an orderly close.
168. 9:09Officers from both sides saluted and fired revolvers into the air,
169. 9:13signaling that the war was back on.
170. 9:15In a few places, troops resisted until nearly to New Year’s Eve.
171. 9:19But the generals would not have it.
172. 9:21German command dispatched snipers to break the ceasefire.
173. 9:25French ordered an artillery barrage,
174. 9:27letting the machinery of war roll over the human connections of the frontline troops.
175. 9:32Nothing like this Christmas Truce would happen again.
176. 9:35The generals wouldn’t allow it.
177. 9:37On Christmas Eve, 1915, British officers ordered a 24-hour artillery barrage.
178. 9:43Men who tried to form a truce were court-martialed.
179. 9:45Machine guns drowned out German carols.
180. 9:48The generals needn’t have bothered.
181. 9:50The spirit of that truce was unique to 1914, a symptom of a young war.
182. 9:56By Christmas 1915, those troops had experienced chlorine gas,
183. 10:00and creeping bombardments. Zeppelins were bombing London.
184. 10:04The Battle of Verdun would end just before the holiday,
185. 10:07leaving 750,000 casualties.
186. 10:10Indeed, many of the men who celebrated in no man’s land that day
187. 10:14would never see another Christmas.
188. 10:16One of those unlucky ones was Lieutenant Sir Edward Hulse,
189. 10:19who had sung carols and given a German officer his silk scarf.
190. 10:23He died three months later while trying save a wounded comrade. He was 25.
191. 10:28Yet, Hulse is not remembered today for his military achievements,
192. 10:33or even the book of letters his friends published after his death.
193. 10:36He, and so many others, are remembered for a victory entirely their own,
194. 10:41when a group of brave men ventured into the line of fire,
195. 10:44trusting their enemies not to shoot,
196. 10:47and believing that humanity was better than the bonfire it had built for itself.
197. 10:52Happy Holidays, everybody.