I am a British soldier in a front line trench at Ypres, Belgium on Christmas Eve 1914. The night is cold and crisp. As I sit in the muddy trench I spot lights being held by German soldiers in their trench thirty yards in front of me. I aimed my rifle as the German soldiers stood up. I did not shoot.
Earlier that night we had heard strange noises coming from the German trench. They were singing Christmas carols. From somewhere down the line, I heard other people singing in English. The British were singing back! The Germans applauded and this singing went on for some time.
But this was a new state of affairs, the Germans were actually standing up in their trench, holding up small trees covered with candles. I decided to put down my rifle and join in the singing. As we bid good night to the German soldiers, I wondered what tomorrow, Christmas Day, would bring.
Today is Christmas Day 1914. We curiously poked our heads above the trench, but nobody shot at us. We saw Germans clambering out of their trench and so we hopped out and moved towards them. We would meet in the middle of No-Man’s land.
We greeted the Germans by shaking hands with them. We started talking and making friends with the Germans. Five months into World War 1 and something unbelievable is happening. We are actually greeting our enemy like brothers in No-Man’s land.
No-Man’s land was littered with dead bodies of British and German soldiers. Together with the Germans we buried them in a one huge grave. We then said prayers in both English and German at their funeral service.
We showed each other photographs of our families, swapped cigars and cigarettes, and wine and beer. We even played a football match against the Germans which they won. We spent the whole of Christmas Day with the Germans in No-Man’s land.
This event, The Christmas Truce, took place in many places along the frontline. In some places the truce lasted a day, in other places several days. However, it did come to an end.
In my sector of the frontline, our officers agreed that the war should be restarted by my officer firing his pistol in the air, the German officer then fired his pistol and saluted back. The war was back on, but we didn’t fire on our new friends.
In other areas the war was restarted by snipers, angry officers, or artillery fire.
There was no Christmas Truce in 1915, not with the gas attacks and heavy losses of men. Anyway, both high commands had ordered their soldiers not to communicate with the enemy. The Germans were told they would be shot if they got out of their trenches.
1916 saw two major battles, Verdun and the Somme, in which up to a million men died. 1917 saw Paschendele and slaughter in the mud. 1918 was the most costly year of the war so far as lives were concerned. I did not celebrate any Christmas after 1916 because what remained of me, Private Jalal Hussain, lay scattered across the fields of Flanders, yet another victim of the so called war to end all wars.