SILENT NIGHT
By Christine Walker
World War 1, also known as the ‘Great War,’ was fought between the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria & the Ottoman Empire and the Allied Powers of Great Britain, France, Russia, Japan, Italy, Romania, Canada and eventually the United States who entered the war in 1917. The Great War was an especially brutal and bloody war, utilizing trench warfare tactics. At the wars end, it is estimated that over 16 million soldiers lost their life.
Just six months in, the bodies of dead soldiers from both sides littered the western front, the weather was bitter cold and damp, the kind of cold that makes it impossible to get or stay warm. Rations were difficult to get because the supply trucks were being bombarded with artillery fire from the opposite sides.
Throughout human history, there are, on rare occasions, a moment in time when faith and humanity poke through the apogee of division and war. The following story, while not only inspirational, but also absolutely true, shows us one of these rare moments.
On Christmas Eve in 1914, in a remote field in Belgium our story begins. Allied Forces were on one side, German Forces on the other…and in between was ‘no man’s land.’ And out of the darkness, like the fog settling overhead, so too did an eerie silence fall on the frozen battlefield… when just mere minutes ago were the constant sounds of gunfire and artillery fire, now … nothing.
Then… the sweet soft melody of a very familiar tune broke the silence from the German trenches…
“Stille Nacht, Helige Nacht, Alles Schlaft, einsam wacht” and then a chorus from the allied trenches joined in… “Silent Night, Holy Night, All is calm, all is bright…”
As this simple familiar Christmas carol was being sung, there was peace. Suddenly, it was “a beautiful moonlit night, frost on the ground, white almost everywhere,” as recalled by Pvt. Albert Moren of the Second Queens Regiment.
Another soldier, Graham Williams of the 5th London Rifle Brigade describes in a letter home, “First the Germans would sing one of their carols and then we would one of ours, until when we started up ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’ the Germans immediately joined in singing the same hymn to the Latin words ‘Adeste Fideles.’ And I thought, well, this is really a most extraordinary thing – two nations both singing the same carol in the middle of a war.”
There was no official truce, no orders coming down from the top on either side, but according to historians, this unofficial Christmas truce extended to an estimated 100,000 troops along the 500-mile western front.
Even more astounding, is the next morning, one account recalls German troops holding up a sign that read “You no shoot, we no shoot.” Exhausted, battle-weary soldiers on both sides began to hesitantly climb out of the trenches. They met in ‘No man’s land’ shaking hands, exchanging cigarettes, buttons and other small gifts, and even having a friendly ‘football’ game (that’s Soccer for us Yanks).
It also gave them the opportunity to properly honor and bury their dead, some of whom had been laying in the field for weeks.
Alfred Anderson, of the 5th Battalion the Black Watch, “It was a short peace in a terrible war,” he later remembered during a newspaper interview.
WWI German Veteran, Stephan Westmann, said in an BBC interview in 1961, "We were civilized people, after all. But I felt that the culture we boasted so much about is only a very thin lacquer which chips off the very moment we come in contact with cruel things like real war."
And British Soldier, Murdoch Wood, speaking in 1930 said, “I then came to the conclusion that I have held very firmly ever since, that if we had been left to ourselves, there would never have been another shot fired.”
There is a time for every season under Heaven… a time for war, and a time for peace. And while yet again it may seem that darkness has enveloped our world, it is important to remember that all it takes is one spark to be a light in the dark, hope is not lost and peace within ourselves and our community is possible… all it takes is one simple act of faith to see the humanity in each other to change everything.
Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright.
Round yon virgin, mother, and child. Holy infant so tender and mild.
Sleep in Heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.