Richard's Ramblings

Historical Fiction and Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction, Book Reviews and ruminations on life

  • Home
  • About
  • Shield Maiden
  • The Amber Treasure
  • Tomorrow’s Guardian

14

Sep

Xmas Day 1914: where was the Truce?

Posted by rdenning  Published in history, world war 1

I was recently in Belgium for a holiday. My son has been studying World War 1 history at school so we decided to visit the locations around Ypres that featured in the war. One site everyone was keen to see was the location of the Xmas day truce of 1914.

What was the truce?

 

By Christmas 1914, World War 1 was 4 months old. The front in Flanders around Ypres was pretty static with the race for the sea that established the salient at Ypres in the past and the great battle of Passchendaele in the future. That Christmas for the only time in the war a brief truce occured up and down the line. It did not occur everywhere and was definately not official but, in a few locations, tentative ceasefires were agreed formally or informally and soldiers emerged cautiously to search no-mans-land for the dead. In some places exchanges of conversation started up, food was passed around and then alcohol, carols were sung and then …somewhere… maybe in several places… someone got out a football!

Bruce Bairnsfather’s map showing the turnip field where he met Germans on Christmas Day 1914.

In one location near the vilage of St Yvon a certain (then) Seargent Bruce Bairnsfather of the Warwickshires was posted. He was injured not long after Christmas and took up drawing cartoons which in time became a definitive account of life in the trenches. He also drew a map of the exact location of the truce he was part of and recorded much of what went on.

“Christmas morning I awoke very early, and emerged from my dug-out into the trench. It was a perfect day. A beautiful, cloudless blue sky. The ground hard and white, fading off towards the wood in a thin low-lying mist. It was such a day as is invariably depicted by artists on Christmas cards—the ideal Christmas Day of fiction.

“Fancy all this hate, war, and discomfort on a day like this!” I thought to myself. The whole spirit of Christmas seemed to be there, so much so that I remember thinking, “This indescribable something in the air, this Peace and Goodwill feeling, surely will have some effect on the situation here to-day!” And I wasn’t far wrong; it did around us, anyway, and I have always been so glad to think of my luck in, firstly, being actually in the trenches on Christmas Day, and, secondly, being on the spot where quite a unique little episode took place

“Everything looked merry and bright that morning—the discomforts seemed to be less, somehow; they seemed to have epitomized themselves in intense, frosty cold. It was just the sort of day for Peace to be declared. It would have made such a good finale…”

“Walking about the trench a little later, … we suddenly became aware of the fact that we were seeing a lot of evidences of Germans. Heads were bobbing about and showing over their parapet in a most reckless way, and, as we looked, this phenomenon became more and more pronounced.

“A complete Boche figure suddenly appeared on the parapet, and looked about itself. This complaint became infectious. It didn’t take “Our Bert” long to be up on the skyline (it is one long grind to ever keep him off it). This was the signal for more Boche anatomy to be disclosed, and this was replied to by all our Alf’s and Bill’s, until, in less time than it takes to tell, half a dozen or so of each of the belligerents were outside their trenches and were advancing towards each other in no-man’s land.”

“A strange sight, truly!”

“I clambered up and over our parapet, and moved out across the field to look. Clad in a muddy suit of khaki and wearing a sheepskin coat and Balaclava helmet, I joined the throng about half-way across to the German trenches.“

An incident from the truce recorded by the cartoonist.

The turnip field where he met Germans on Christmas Day 1914.

Bairnfather’s map is so accurate and detailed that it is easy with a good map to locate the spot where this all happened. Indeed today (unlike 10 years ago when I visited before) the spot is marked on google maps.

This is the cottage built on the site of the original building where Bainfather lived.

The same road exists as did in 1914 with a bend in it and on the bend is a cottage located exactly where the one where Bairnfather lived.

The pond on the map still exists.

The map recorded a pond and that is still there.

 

The UEFA monument to the Christmas Day football of 1914 at St Yvon. There is much debate as to actually where the football occured with various locations mentioned by various soldiers. On his original map of the truce location, Bairnsfather did not mention football but later in interviews just before he died said they did occur here. His maps give us a firm location of the truce so UEFA decided it was a fair choice for their memorial to the football that occured this day somewhere in the area.

I recreate the incident with the help of my father.

 

Near to the location of the truce is the town of Mesen that was occupied by the Germans for much of the period. Another memorial to the incident is located in the square there. As we left the area we stopped briedly there and somehow this photo happened!

 

Share

Tags: 1914, Christmas Truce, St Yvon, World War1

no comment

Available Free on Amazon

Book 1 of the Northern Crown Series

Available Free on Amazon

Book 1 of the Nine Worlds Series.

Get my blog updates by email

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Contact me:

Email me on r.denning@btinternet.com

Previous Posts

  • July 2019 (1)
  • June 2019 (1)
  • September 2018 (1)
  • June 2018 (1)
  • January 2018 (1)
  • November 2017 (1)
  • September 2017 (2)
  • August 2017 (1)
  • July 2017 (2)
  • June 2017 (2)
  • January 2017 (2)
  • August 2016 (1)
  • November 2015 (1)
  • March 2015 (1)
  • January 2015 (1)
  • October 2014 (3)
  • September 2014 (2)
  • August 2014 (2)
  • July 2014 (1)
  • June 2014 (2)
  • April 2014 (3)
  • March 2014 (1)
  • January 2014 (7)
  • December 2013 (3)
  • November 2013 (1)
  • October 2013 (2)
  • September 2013 (4)
  • August 2013 (1)
  • July 2013 (2)
  • June 2013 (7)
  • May 2013 (1)
  • April 2013 (1)
  • March 2013 (2)
  • February 2013 (3)
  • January 2013 (5)
  • December 2012 (4)
  • November 2012 (6)
  • October 2012 (2)
  • September 2012 (9)
  • August 2012 (3)
  • July 2012 (2)
  • June 2012 (2)
  • May 2012 (1)
  • April 2012 (3)
  • March 2012 (1)
  • February 2012 (2)
  • January 2012 (3)
  • December 2011 (6)
  • November 2011 (6)
  • October 2011 (8)
  • September 2011 (9)
  • August 2011 (16)
  • July 2011 (19)
  • June 2011 (6)
  • May 2011 (3)
  • April 2011 (3)
  • March 2011 (5)
  • February 2011 (3)
  • January 2011 (4)
  • December 2010 (2)
  • November 2010 (3)
  • October 2010 (2)
  • September 2010 (1)
  • July 2010 (2)
  • June 2010 (3)
  • May 2010 (1)
  • April 2010 (6)
  • March 2010 (5)
  • February 2010 (6)

Categrories

  • 17th Century History (19)
  • 17th Century London (13)
  • 18th Century (1)
  • Anglo Saxon Survival Guide (12)
  • Anglo Saxons (72)
  • Bernard Cornwell (1)
  • blog tour (5)
  • Book Review (5)
  • british traditions (1)
  • Character sketch (7)
  • charity (1)
  • Christmas (3)
  • Dark Age (34)
  • demons (3)
  • e-books (10)
  • Edinburgh Fringe (2)
  • entertainment (4)
  • exhibitions (1)
  • fantasy (4)
  • festivals (7)
  • Food and Drink (4)
  • games (8)
  • gardens (1)
  • Great Fire of London (11)
  • Guest Posts (3)
  • halloween (1)
  • Helen Hollick (4)
  • Historical Fiction (25)
  • Historical Figures (8)
  • history (41)
  • Ireland (2)
  • Iron Age (1)
  • Kindle (4)
  • legend (2)
  • libraries (3)
  • London Book Fair (2)
  • marketing (3)
  • Mercia Books (7)
  • Middle Earth (1)
  • museum (1)
  • music (1)
  • My Books (28)
  • mythology (11)
  • Napoleonic Wars (5)
  • National Trust (2)
  • Northumbria (4)
  • Nottingham (1)
  • Orkney (4)
  • Publishing (31)
  • richard denning (53)
  • rituals (3)
  • Romans (2)
  • runes (1)
  • saint (1)
  • school visits (1)
  • sci fi (5)
  • scotland (4)
  • Selfpublishing (26)
  • Short Story (1)
  • stars (1)
  • The Amber Treasure (24)
  • The Last Seal (34)
  • Time Travel (9)
  • Tomorrow's Guardian (16)
  • Uncategorized (88)
  • valentine's day (1)
  • Viking (2)
  • Wales (1)
  • warfare (7)
  • world war 1 (1)
  • writers (6)
  • Yesterday's Treasures (6)

Tags

17th Century aethelfrith Alexander the Great Amazon Anglo-Saxon Anglo Saxons bernicia Blog Tour Book Review Character Sketch Dark Age Decade a week deira entertainment food gods Great Fire of London Helen Hollick Historical Fiction historical research history Kindle mythology Northumbria Old English Orkney richard denning riddles runes saxons Sea Witch seax self publishing Selfpublishing Short Story six sentence sunday Staffordshire Horde The Amber Treasure The Great Fire of London 1666 The Last Seal Time Travel Tomorrow's Guardian Vikings warriors writing

Admin

  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.org

Recent Entries

  • The Franks Casket
  • Writing – Making your Mark
  • Xmas Day 1914: where was the Truce?
  • Where’s the Hill? The Mystery of Abingdon
  • Glendalough: The valley of two lakes
  • Place of the Caves – beneath the City of Nottingham
  • To chance your arm – the door of reconciliation
  • The Galloway Hoard – the Viking treasure trove
  • A visit to Bletchley Park
  • Visit to Birsay – one time capital of the Orkneys

Recent Comments

  • rdenning in Writing - Making your Mark
  • rdenning in Writing - Making your Mark
  • Koni Billings in Writing - Making your Mark
  • Steve in Writing - Making your Mark
  • Interview with Author Richard Denni… in The Amber Treasure
  • rdenning in Anglo-Saxon Hall at The British Musuem
  • rdenning in The 17th Century in 26 Words
  • rdenning in Its a Monster! The past and future of UKGE
  • Cabe in Its a Monster! The past and future of UKGE
  • Ros Jackson in The 17th Century in 26 Words
  • Random Selection of Posts

    • Gunpowder and Sorcery in 1666
    • What did the Anglo-Saxons do for fun?
    • Where’s the Hill? The Mystery of Abingdon
    • Mid summers Day
    • The 17th Century in 26 Words
    • Once and Future King -Origins of the Welsh Dragon
    • Arms and Armour in Anglo Saxon Times
© 2008 Richard's Ramblings is proudly powered by WordPress
Theme designed by Roam2Rome