Silent Night (edition 2002)

The Christmas truce of WWI has gained fame through movies and historical fiction but how does one separate truth from fiction? This is a wonderful work based on research of journals and letters written by the soldiers and officers who were there when it happened.

Only a few months into the First World War, troops from Scotland, India, Germany, France, Prussia, England and Belgium on the rain soaked battlefields of Flanders were already sick of the soggy, cold and muddy conditions of war. They were in the front line and under constant fire from, their trenches were constantly flooding, they had nowhere dry to sleep, rats were running around, they were surrounded by filth and now dead bodies of their fallen comrades.

By tacit understanding and overtures started apparently by the Germans who took Christmas extremely seriously and were shipped little Christmas trees which they lit with candles and then placed on their parapets, there was less fighting in the days coming up to Christmas Eve. Some soldiers clearly started to adopt a live and let live attitude to the war, trading vocal insults with the opposite enemy but without much heat behind their words. Then signboards with Christmas greetings went up and responded to by the opposite side. Some soldiers and officers gradually stood on their parapets, clearly unarmed, and asked for a truce to celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. They understood that the war would have to resume at some point, but they just wanted to celebrate Christmas and to bury their dead.

I had previously thought that the Christmas Truce took place only between a particular German troop and an opposing English platoon. It came as a surprise to me to learn that this truce was conducted across multiple sections of the Flanders and between the Germans and some of their enemies even up to New Year's. Not all embraced the truce and there were a few French and German officers who spurned overtures.

The emerging stories highlighted that decisions for wars are often decided on by leaders sitting far away from the action while those on the front line bear the worst consequences of their decisions. ( )

During World War I, German, French, British and Belgian soldiers found solace in the “enemy” for a brief period. On Christmas Eve in 1914 the men were dug into miserable trenches, up to their ankles in mud and filth. Despite warnings from their superiors and even at the risk of losing their own lives, the soldiers declared a momentary truce and enjoyed the holiday.

They crossed into no man’s land and swapped cigarettes and food. They ever played soccer and buried their dead. This occurred all along the front, with different groups of men deciding to initiate a cease-fire.

Weintaub’s book is wonderfully researched, pulling information from soldiers’ letters, newspaper articles, etc. he recreates the scenes. The details are what really stuck with me, a German soldier giving a British soldier buttons from his uniform, a soldier who was accidently shot in the midst of the peace. The event itself is so unbelievable that’s it’s fascinating to read about, but the author’s writing is a bit dry. To me, it was still worth it, because it shows a gleaming light of humanity in the face of an awful war, but it’s not a page-turner. ( )

I had heard about the Christmas truce of December, 1914 but I did not realize how extensive it was. According to Weintaub, instances of fraternization by German soldiers with French, English and Scottish soldiers occurred all along the Front and were usually initiated by the Germans- especially the men from Saxony. Using soldiers letters to home or in some cases to newspapers at home, military unit histories, and soldier memoirs, Weitraub explains how the events were started and what the soldiers did when they met in the No Man's Land between the lines. He also adds a chapter on how the story has been mythologized in modern culture by giving examples of modern songs such as Christmas in the Trenches to show the story has been altered to suit story lines. Apparently there is a Garth Brooks song that has American soldiers participating in this event, a historical moment that could not have occurred since no American units fought at the front until 1918. He concludes with speculation on how world history would have been different if the politicians had followed the soldiers' actions and stopped the war in December 1914. ( )

I read this book for my NF readers' group ... it was an OK book, stimulated some discussion ... but not the best book we've selected. ( )

I picked up Stanley Weintraub's brief account of the 1914 Christmas truce after setting it down without completing it a couple of years ago. It is a good account of this odd anomaly of the Great War. Weintraub does a fine job of setting the scene: soldiers a settling down into their trenches, replete with the discomfort of the wet winter weather, the rats, bad food, and the nearness of the enemy lines divided by a No Man's Land littered with bodies-friends and foes alike. He contrasts this with the incongruities of the Christmas season-British and German soldiers alike receive government-sponsored goodies from home, which, while appreciated, do little to alleviate the suffering of those in the trenches-they don't drain the trenches, some waist high in mud, they don't reduce the danger from sniper's bullets or artillery shells.

That is left to the men themselves. From December 24th through December 26th, chiefly German and British soldiers informally agree to a lull in the fighting, first to bury their dead, and then to trade petty luxuries, souvenirs, trade pleasantries, and even to kick around a football. What the governments and generals will not do, the front line troops do themselves. Weintraub, importantly, points out that the truce wasn't universal, but many, many units in the trenches sent home accounts of the several days of quiet and fraternization.

If the book has a failing it is not fully exploring the fear of the governments and the generals that the truce could lead to an outbreak of peace-and what they did to insure it did not happen again.

Well told, with an eye to humanize an inhuman conflict. A special nod goes to Weintraub's use of English, German and French source. ( )