H de Buriatte [X550/1/81]
Friday 25th
December 1914: The commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion has been speaking
with our news desk, telling us something which, to our minds, is not only
strange and noteworthy but quite wonderful in the light it throws on our human
condition. The battalion is in front line trenches near Fleurbaix and last
night, about eight o’clock, the Germans were heard singing in their trenches
celebrating the fact that it was Christmas Eve.
There were
numerous lights on their parapets apparently suspended from Christmas trees. A
voice shouted from their trenches in English and could be heard quite
distinctly: "I want to arrange to bury the dead. Will someone come out and meet me?" A number of dead bodies, naturally, litter no man’s land
between the two front lines at any one time, sometimes more, sometimes fewer,
depending on whether there has been an attack, or whether a raid or patrol has
been intercepted or whether man have been killed in the dangerous nightly task
of checking the barbed wire in front of their own trenches.
In the
event the commanding officer despatched Second Lieutenant H. de Buriatte with
three men under a flag of truce. In the middle of no man’s land they met with
five Germans, the leader of whom spoke excellent English but was not an
officer. He said he had lived in Brighton and in Canada. This German said they
wished to bury about twenty four of their dead but would not do so at night as they were
afraid that their artillery might open fire as they were jumpy about activity
in no man’s land under cover of darkness. They could not stop their artillery
doing this and it would not be fair to our men! As a result it was decided that no
arrangement was made at the time.
Second
Lieutenant de Buriatte struck up a conversation with the German, who gave him a
postcard with the following information. The addressee was in the 12th Company,
3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 26th Infantry Brigade, VII Army Corps.
The men also had the number 15 on their shoulder straps. The red band round
their Caps was covered with grey cloth. This is astounding as such information
is usually just the sort of thing that one side seeks to hide from another!
At ten
o’clock this morning a German officer and two men, all of whom were unarmed,
came out of their trenches with a white flag and were met by Captain H. C. Jackson
and asked to be permitted to bury their dead. The Bedfords said they would not fire till 11.30
to give them time to go about their mournful task and this was done. The
commanding officer of 2nd Battalion explained: “My men had already buried some of
the dead last night. It was noticed that the German trenches were strongly
held, there being a large number of men sitting on the parapet during the time
the bodies were being buried. The men were a young lot from 19-25 years, well
turned out and clean. I had given strict orders that none of my men were to go
towards the enemy's lines without definite orders and that no one except those
on duty were to be looking over the parapet. No Germans were allowed to come
near our trenches. The German
wire was closely inspected”.
During
this time of unofficial truce, one of the 2nd Battalion’s Company Sergeant
Majors was speaking to a German when an elderly officer passed. This German
said they were very comfortable in a nice village behind but did not give the
name! He seemed surprised that our troops were not an elderly Reserve class.
The general impression was that the Germans had had enough and were anxious for
the War to come to an end. Such events as this, we understand, have taken place
all over those sectors of the front line held by or men, but not in those areas
held by the French. The Germans’ behaviour seems extraordinary but the C. O. of
the 2nd Battalion explains that a large percentage of the 15th Infantry
Regiment seem to originate from Saxony.
Apparently it is well known that the Saxons do not make very efficient or
aggressive soldiers, in contrast to the swaggering Prussians or the murderous
men from Württemburg. This reminds us that Germany
was a group of different states – Bavaria, Westphalia, Prussia,
Saxony, Württemburg and so on until formed
together in a single nation state as recently as 1871.
The colonel
of the 1st Battalion reports the receipt of Christmas cards from Their Majesties
the King and Queen, which were distributed to all ranks of the Battalion as
were brass tins containing chocolate or tobacco and other comforts – a present
from Her Royal Highness Princess Mary. For them too it has been a quiet day,
the Germans semaphoring over that they were not going to fire. No mention is
made of any fraternisation with the enemy and so, presumably, there has been
none.
We
understand that fraternisation, such as that between 2nd Battalion and the
German 15th Regiment has caused dismay in the upper echelons of the British
Expeditionary Force. No doubt the top brass will feel it is something
calculated to diminish the men’s martial spirit. In some cases, we believe,
British units have engaged their enemies opposite in impromptu games of football
in no man’s land!
No doubt
there are two views to be taken of this. One view is that it is indeed to be
deplored - a war for the very existence of civilization is under way. The
Germans are the men who have committed acts of barbarism on civilians in both Belgium and France – mass murder, rape, looting
and arson. Our men will need to be tough indeed to deal defeat to such a foe.
The other view is that the men on both sides are just that – men, with all
their faults and virtues – some, on both sides, will be very bad characters
indeed, others will be full of decency, most will be somewhere in between,
veering from one to the other at different times. Christmas marks the birth of
our Saviour who died for all our sins, so a cessation of killing at such a time
is a thing to be treasured – showing that there is still some spirit of peace
abroad in the world. We invite readers to decide their own view for themselves.
Sources: X550/2/5;
X550/3/wd
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