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00:00The First World War begins in August 1914.
00:16Ten million men are about to die.
00:21Running up out of your secure area and exposing yourself to enemy fire,
00:24this was the most terrifying thing that anybody could imagine.
00:27Thoughts of a quick victory soon failed.
00:30They were promised that the war would be over by Christmas.
00:33And the Western Front becomes the deadliest place on earth.
00:37The weather certainly becomes a bigger enemy than the enemy.
00:42Then in December, there is an extraordinary victory.
00:48It is not a victory of generals or of weapons.
00:51What if they decide not to fight it?
00:55What are we going to do then?
00:56It's a victory, the likes of which will not be seen again.
01:00The Great War, as World War I is known,
01:16has gone down in history as the prime example of the brutality and senselessness of total war.
01:23The fighting is at its most savage in the thin strip of land between Germany, France and Belgium.
01:29The war zone known forever as the Western Front.
01:33As the fighting begins, everyone believes it will be over in just a few months.
01:41But the roots of the war lie in over 200 years of European history.
01:46By the end of the 19th century, an uneasy peace was maintained between Britain, France and Germany
01:54by a complex structure of alliances with their European neighbours.
01:57But by 1910, Germany felt surrounded by its rivals and began making long-range plans of war.
02:06As H.G. Wells wrote,
02:08On June 28th, 1914, Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip kills Austro-Hungarian crown prince Franz Ferdinand.
02:25By the time he is buried, Europe is thrown into turmoil.
02:33By August 3rd, Germany declares war against Russia and France,
02:38and England is drawn in when Germany invades Belgium.
02:42The original plan that the Germans had, the strategic plan,
02:45which made a lot of sense on a piece of paper, was called the Schlieffen Plan.
02:49And the idea was that the Germans would come down through Belgium and take Paris, take France.
02:56What they didn't count on was the Belgians resisting,
02:59and the French and the British mobilizing to stop them.
03:03From the start, both sides think they will achieve a swift victory.
03:08There is almost a carnival spirit in the beginning.
03:12The First World War began as not only the war that would end all wars,
03:18but also, the First World War was seen as a big picnic,
03:21and it would all be over by Christmas.
03:25August 7th, 1914.
03:29The first British expeditionary forces crossed the channel to join the French army
03:33in an attempt to halt the German advance.
03:37By this time, the Germans have conquered most of Belgium and the French border area.
03:42But after six weeks of furious fighting,
03:49they are stopped in their tracks.
03:53So the Schlieffen Plan, when it was as simple as a drawing on a blackboard,
03:57was described as a revolving door motion.
04:00The Germans would come down, they would quickly sweep through France,
04:02and then they would be able to go and take on the Russians.
04:05But the problem was that when the British and the French came to stop them,
04:08the revolving door jammed, and it jammed permanently.
04:14All along the Belgian-French border, the Allies dig in,
04:18bringing men and materials up to the front to hold the line.
04:221914, it's very, very primitive.
04:25Both sides have just dug in,
04:27wherever they've just happened to come to rest, if you like,
04:29after the early opening battles.
04:31Trenches are just cut through muddy fields.
04:35In Flanders, certainly around Plug Street,
04:37the water table is very, very high.
04:39So three and a half feet down, you strike water.
04:42Tactically, the Germans always occupy the high ground,
04:44so we find ourselves left in a dip.
04:46Men, literally, almost up to their necks in water.
04:49Now, that's no condition to fight.
04:51When people first arrived in the trenches,
04:54it was a shocking, arresting, frightening environment.
04:58It's a subterranean world.
05:01You're in these trenches that are cut in the ground,
05:03lined with planks on the floors.
05:05There's barbed wire up above.
05:07You can't see over the trench,
05:09and if you do go up and look over,
05:11there's a good chance you'll get your head shot off.
05:14By the time the trenches are all dug,
05:17the trench system stretches 600 miles from the North Sea
05:21all the way down to Switzerland,
05:22and trench warfare has become a military science.
05:28The reality on the ground is very different from the ideal.
05:33The weather certainly becomes a bigger enemy than the enemy
05:37because every day, you know,
05:39maybe there's an amount of danger from the enemy,
05:42but there's definitely going to be the enemy of cold and wet.
05:45By late fall, the trench lines are firmly established.
05:54The Germans can advance no further,
05:56but nor can the Allies drive them back.
06:00It's clear to everyone
06:01that no one will be home by Christmas.
06:07The war has already reached stalemate,
06:10and as morale drops, winter kicks in with a vengeance.
06:13Many of the regiments along the Western Front
06:21recorded more deaths in November, December, January of 1914
06:25to frostbite and to gangrene, things like that,
06:29to trench foot than they did to enemy fire.
06:34Trench foot is something that happens
06:35if your feet are permanently immersed in water
06:37and they never dried off.
06:39Things would just get gangrenous,
06:40and the toes would drop off,
06:41and they'd go black and all sorts of things like that.
06:44The adverse conditions and the stagnant campaign
06:47are sapping the will of their troops to fight,
06:50despite their best efforts to demonize the enemy.
06:55There was a definite explosion of propaganda
06:58during the First World War,
06:59like nothing that had ever been seen before,
07:01and this was something that happened on all sides of the war,
07:05in newspapers, in popular magazines,
07:07wartime propaganda,
07:08seeking to turn the Germans and the British
07:11against one another.
07:12And thus you had stories about the German soldiers
07:15bayoneting Belgian babies and raping women
07:18and having mass graves and what have you.
07:20The reason for that was that the men needed to be motivated,
07:22the nation needed to be motivated.
07:24You needed a kind of deep moral hatred of the enemy
07:29in order to sustain the kind of war that it was.
07:31You couldn't just think of him as your opponent
07:33in a sporting match.
07:35You needed to want to kill him.
07:38But in the mud of the Western Front,
07:40the motivation to fight is fast subsiding.
07:43In a misguided attempt to boost morale,
07:48the Allies launch a huge offensive on December 19th.
08:01This offensive has the opposite effect.
08:05Both Allied and German troops are slaughtered
08:07in the largest numbers of the war so far.
08:09When I go to places where it was a battlefield,
08:15I can imagine young boys in the mud,
08:19bad weather.
08:22Sometimes I have the feeling
08:24that there are ghosts around here
08:27that are still here somewhere.
08:31Christmas is six days away.
08:36They were promised that the war would be over by Christmas.
08:38This is really the crucial point
08:41in the beginning of the First World War.
08:44If it didn't end then,
08:46it would last for a very long time.
08:50Both sides make tremendous efforts
08:52to bring Christmas cheer to their demoralized troops.
08:57All 355,000 British soldiers at the Western Front
09:01are sent a Christmas present from Princess Mary.
09:04At home, the British public is encouraged
09:07to send the boys at the front
09:09all sorts of special cards, letters, and presents.
09:13And it's the same for the Germans.
09:17There is an avalanche of warm winter clothing,
09:21food treats, tobacco, cigars, and letters.
09:24Letters. Letters.
09:25This makes some soldiers even more homesick.
09:30Headquarters is very aware that during this period
09:33the troops might let their guard down.
09:36Word is sent to the front warning of this danger.
09:39The sole object of war becomes obscured,
09:43and officers and men sink into military lethargy,
09:47from which it is difficult to arouse them
09:48when a moment for great sacrifices again arises.
09:57As night falls on Christmas Eve,
10:00the concerns of headquarters seem prophetic.
10:09Something strange is happening over at the German lines.
10:12Sounds of some sort are drifting
10:21across the dark no-man's land.
10:25Sounds no one has ever heard before in this war.
10:30It's the sound of singing.
10:35The Germans must be playing a trick.
10:42On Christmas Eve, 1914,
10:49in the fifth month of World War I,
10:52Allied soldiers are surprised
10:54by what they are hearing
10:55over from the German trenches.
11:01They are astonished by what they see.
11:06At first, everyone assumes
11:09it must be some German trick.
11:10And that was how it started on Christmas night,
11:14with the lights on the German trench
11:16and songs being sung back and forth.
11:19It was pretty much a German tradition,
11:21Christmas trees, St. Nicholas.
11:23It's something the Germans had always celebrated
11:25and something that we'd picked up in more recent times,
11:27so to them it meant a lot more.
11:31They had been drinking,
11:32which was something that the British
11:33did discourage from the front line,
11:35so maybe it was just that the Germans
11:36were in more of a festive mood than we were.
11:40Private Frank Sumter
11:42is one of the first
11:43to recognise what they are singing.
11:45And then we heard the Germans singing
11:47Silent Night, Holy Night.
11:49Our boys said, let's join in.
11:51So we joined in with a song.
11:52Silent night, holy night,
11:58In some places, there were actually instances
12:12where both sides of the Western Front,
12:15on both sides of No Man's Land,
12:17were singing the same hymn or carol,
12:19but in different languages at the same time.
12:20One description of this night's events
12:24comes from British Lieutenant Bruce Bairn's father,
12:28a well-known artist of World War I.
12:32Well, my father was actually there that night.
12:36He heard some sounds going on the evening before,
12:39singing from the other side,
12:41singing Christmas carols,
12:43and made him wonder what was going on.
12:46And he must have wondered
12:47what was going to happen the next day.
12:48After all, he knew it was going to be Christmas Day.
12:52Bruce Bairn's father
12:53writes about waking up that Christmas morning.
12:56It was the sort of day for peace to be declared.
13:01It would have made such a good finale.
13:03I should have liked the appearance of a small figure
13:05running across the mud and waving something.
13:08He gets closer.
13:09A telegraph boy with a wire.
13:11He hands it to me.
13:12With trembling fingers, I open it.
13:15War off. Return home. George Rex.
13:18But no.
13:19It was a nice, fine day.
13:20That was all.
13:23He probably did not think seriously
13:25that something like that would really happen.
13:28It was just a happy fantasy.
13:31But then the reality that did take place
13:34was just as amazing or more so.
13:39The British sentries don't know what to make
13:41of what's happening across the narrow no-man's land.
13:55Peter impacts.
14:02There was no interest in him,
14:03but he turned out to themost mystery
14:04that it ti bén when he was in the sky.
14:08He forced redeeming the dinosaurs to understand
14:11what he made of.
14:13He kept riots in the environment then
14:13and he forced to unfold what he promised.
14:15He tried to catch a closeoretically.
14:17And I got his pockets.
14:18But he then turned out to me
14:20in order for the little monkey earth
14:21that didn't have a chance of timing.
14:22The Christmas tree was unknown in the rest of Europe.
14:49The Allied soldiers, they were amazed to see Christmas trees with lights on top, and they would wonder, what was it for, what is it about?
14:58The atmosphere must have been very special, and I think that added a lot to the fact that the truces did happen.
15:07Private Leslie Walkington was there.
15:11So then we began to pop our heads over the side and jump down quickly in case they shot, but they didn't shoot.
15:19And then we saw a German standing up waving his arms, and we didn't shoot.
15:28You don't know what's going to happen.
15:31You have been told you have to come here, and those people you're facing are your enemies, and you have to kill them.
15:38But really, all those young boys, they were not made to kill each other.
15:46They were afraid of each other.
15:48So, of course, that boy said, well, if he can do it, we can do it.
16:09So Sergeant Major said, get down.
16:10So the boy said, oh, no, shut up, Sergeant, it's Christmas time.
16:15So we all jumped up, and we all went forward.
16:18So we all jumped up, and we all jumped up, and we all jumped up.
16:48First, they were afraid of each other, and then they started to talk, and shaking hands, and once they did that, it just seemed to be friends.
17:00The British khaki and the German grey are soon gathering, all mingled together.
17:07Would you believe it?
17:09By mutual consent, our battalion, and the Germans opposite, had a little armistice.
17:18It was really funny to see the hated antagonists standing in groups, laughing and talking and shaking hands.
17:29These men have no idea that this moment is going to resound through history.
17:42This museum in the Belgian town of Ypres is only five miles away from where British and German soldiers took part in the Christmas truce.
17:54I always was interested in the people who were in those trenches, and that's how I got involved with this museum in the end.
18:03The statues behind me, my idea was that the figure had to break through their own mind frame.
18:11They were told that these were enemies, and all of a sudden, they decided they were equals in human beings rather than being soldiers in a war.
18:20This Christmas Day scene is exactly what the British High Command is worried about.
18:24Friendly intercourse with the enemy and unofficial armistice, however tempting and occasionally amusing they may be, are absolutely prohibited.
18:36We impress on all subordinates the absolute necessity of encouraging the offensive spirit of the troops by every means in their power.
18:46These men in no man's land are as much at risk from their own officers as they are from the enemy.
18:54Both sides are well aware that consorting with the enemy is only one step away from treason, a crime punishable by court-martial and execution.
19:16It's Christmas Day, 1914, five months into World War I, and something unbelievable is happening.
19:25Soldiers from both sides are shaking hands and making friends.
19:32Headquarters is furious about this and has ordered the officers at the front to take names.
19:39While some men in the trenches aren't happy with this turn of events, many officers, in fact, are taking part.
19:45Of course, there were instances along the Western Front of truces happening with the tacit approval of officers.
19:53Whether they came out and said so or not, it was something that they allowed to happen.
19:57And I think that you can also make an argument that it may have been in the strategic interests of officers to allow their men this break, this respite,
20:05to allow them a couple of days to feel human again.
20:08Either way, there are still some bitter realities to deal with.
20:14No man's land was littered with human remains.
20:28And this was something which, to some extent, the men in the trenches had been able to ignore.
20:35Unless you went over the top, you didn't necessarily have to look at these bodies,
20:39these bodies of people you knew, people you'd lived side by side with in the trenches.
20:43So, when people actually did tentatively make their way out on Christmas morning,
20:48what they found was a massive grave.
20:52And so, at first, there was this grim task of going out and retrieving bodies
20:56and finding a place to bury them and laying them to rest.
21:00British Corporal Robert Renton described this scene.
21:05There were two dead Frenchmen between our lines, and the Germans helped us dig the grave.
21:10One of the officers held a service over one of the graves.
21:12It was a sight worth seeing, and not easily forgotten.
21:15Both German and British paying respects to the French dead.
21:18The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
21:22The Lord from thy style, they come.
21:28Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of the dead,
21:33I will be here to the valley of the shadow of the dead.
21:36I will be here to the valley of the cross.
21:38I will be here to the valley of the cross.
21:40I will be here to the valley of the cross.
21:42And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
21:51Amen.
21:52And I will be here to the house of the Lord forever.
21:57Amen.
22:00Christmas truce, 1914.
22:10Christmas truce, 1914.
22:13I'm glad I came.
22:16It's a place a lot of people ought to come to.
22:19This was where really it was ground zero.
22:22Yes, I don't suppose it's changed a great deal since then.
22:33I've got a book with a map in it of the area around here where the action took place that my father described way back in 1919.
22:42It shows two or three roads and the area of the area of the British lines and the German lines, a fairly short distance apart, though I can't tell exactly how far.
22:53When I was still a child, my father sometimes used to tell me and my father about the Christmas truce held between British and German soldiers at Christmas 1914.
23:12It was a very pleasant conversation, and how wondrous it was that these men, who must stand against each other as enemies, could make peace for once at Christmas.
23:29Meeting each other at such close quarters makes for a problem that high command is only too aware of.
23:39Every other war proves undoubtedly that troops and trenches in close proximity to the enemy slide very easily, if permitted, into a live and let live theory of life.
23:50By Christmas 1914, every soldier knew that the enemy was sharing the same misery as they were, so they had this common experience.
24:06Mr. Zemesh, how do you do? Very nice to meet you.
24:13My father and your father spoke together.
24:20Mr. Zemesh, how do you do? Very nice to meet you.
24:21Mr. Zemesh, how do you do? Very nice to meet you.
24:22Mr. Zemesh, how do you do? Very nice to meet you.
24:23Mr. Zemesh, how do you do? Very nice to meet you.
24:24Mr. Zemesh, how do you do? Very nice to meet you.
24:25Mr. Zemesh, how do you do? Very nice to meet you.
24:26Mr. Zemesh, how do you do? Very nice to meet you.
24:27Mr. Zemesh, how do you do? Very nice to meet you.
24:28Mr. Zemesh, how do you do? Very nice to meet you.
24:29Mr. Zemesh, how do you do? Very nice to meet you.
24:30Mr. Zemesh, how do you do? Very nice to meet you.
24:31the fraternization between British and German soldiers.
24:47My father described seeing a German soldier cutting the hair of a British soldier.
24:54They traded cigarettes for cigars and chocolates for other food.
25:04Lieutenant Bruce Bain's father's drawing of that day
25:07tells a story that he often told his daughter
25:10of how he snipped off a German's buttons as souvenirs.
25:14Another British soldier who was there, Leslie Walkington, writes home that day.
25:19My dear father, mother and girls,
25:26just allowing to let you know that I have had quite a merry Christmas
25:31to talk about peace and goodwill.
25:33I never saw a friendlier sight.
25:37One of their officers took a photo of a group of intermingled troops.
25:42People from both sides met in no man's land
25:47and we spent the day there and we swapped cigarettes.
25:53It was really rather like a crowd at a football match, you know.
25:59We exchanged odd little bits of food
26:02just like a lot of boys from neighbouring schools.
26:09They were not nearly so strong-looking as Englishmen was.
26:15The First World War still had the remnants of an old warfare
26:18that we can't even really identify anymore.
26:20When there were clear rules of war, there was a code of conduct.
26:24The British thought of it very much in sporting terms,
26:28that this person on the other side of the trench wasn't your enemy,
26:31it was your opponent.
26:33And there were certain codes, certain behaviours,
26:36certain standards that you had to uphold and that you would uphold.
26:44British soldier George Jameson also remembers this day.
26:48There was no doubt about it.
26:49They were absolutely astounded at what it is.
26:51They've got a footfall out there.
26:53They're kicking it around.
26:54They're having a marvellous time.
26:55It must have been wonderful for those guys
27:03to go over that no man's land
27:05which was not yet pockmarked
27:08and not the moon crater landscape
27:11that we all know from later in the war.
27:16Whilst peace has broken out in many places
27:19this Christmas day in 1914,
27:21war, as usual, continues to rage
27:24in many other areas of the Western Front.
27:28The British Army lost a lot of soldiers that day
27:30and a lot of men killed in action.
27:32You know, whether it was shell fire or rifle fire.
27:36Some men had gone over to fraternise with the Germans
27:38and had been taken prisoner and disappeared.
27:40Some NCOs had been over to meet the Germans
27:44and on their way back a German sniper shot them.
27:47Some areas the divisional commander had said,
27:49you know, there will be no fraternisation
27:51and good regular soldiers that they were
27:53had stuck to that and didn't participate
27:55and if the Germans popped up
27:56they would shoot at them.
28:07Even in the trenches emptied out
28:09by people playing football.
28:12Some remember there is a war on.
28:18The game presents an opportunity
28:20to wander over to the enemy trenches
28:23and take a look at how they are laid out
28:25and where the gun emplacements are.
28:34This isn't always successful
28:36but it is certainly worth a try.
28:44The other football game
28:46which was a proper football game
28:47between a Saxon regiment
28:49and Scottish blokes
28:52witnessed by Semish
28:54refereed by, I think,
28:57the German officer.
28:59And I don't know if this has anything to do with it
29:02but the Germans won.
29:06We Germans really roared
29:14when the Scots revealed
29:15they wore no drawers under their kilts
29:18and we hooted and whistled
29:19every time we caught an impotent glimpse
29:22of a posterior belonging
29:24to one of yesterday's enemies.
29:28This Christmas Day
29:29has been wonderful
29:30even miraculous.
29:31Men on both sides
29:36go to sleep that night
29:37wondering if they will wake up
29:39the next morning
29:40to renewed fighting
29:41or a continued effort
29:43to defy the war.
29:44It's December 26th, 1914,
30:02the morning after.
30:05Christmas Day has now passed
30:07but the truce lingers on.
30:10The biggest problem
30:11with a truce of this kind
30:12was that
30:13if the guys got used
30:16to the idea
30:17of not fighting
30:18how on earth
30:19are you going to make them
30:20go back and start doing it again?
30:21It's a very real danger.
30:23If it spreads
30:23there's a huge amount of men there
30:25who once they've got a taste
30:26for the fact
30:27well actually
30:27we don't really need
30:28to fight after all.
30:29General Sir Horace Smith Dorian
30:32sends out a blunt edict.
30:34On Christmas Day
30:35a friendly gathering
30:36has taken place
30:37of Germans and British
30:38on the neutral ground
30:40between the two lines.
30:42Many officers
30:43have taken part in it.
30:44I am calling
30:45for particulars
30:46as to names of officers
30:47in units
30:48which took part
30:49in this gathering
30:49with a view
30:50to disciplinary action.
30:53The fear of punishment
30:54is enough
30:55to get most of the soldiers
30:56back to fighting.
30:57But some are still reluctant
31:00to go back to war.
31:02They are making a choice
31:03between orders from above
31:04and their own
31:06newfound feelings
31:07of fellowship
31:08with their opponents.
31:10A lot of the soldiers
31:12by then
31:13were volunteers
31:15not just professional soldiers.
31:18So they had
31:18a whole shared experience
31:20that they felt
31:21that they shared
31:22with the enemy
31:23and they would have
31:25more in common
31:26with the enemy
31:26private
31:27than they would
31:28with their own commands.
31:31It was one thing
31:32when the British
31:33and Germans
31:34were facing each other
31:35on either side
31:36of no man's land
31:36and thinking
31:37oh the guy
31:38on the other side
31:38isn't that bad.
31:39He's dealing
31:39with the same rain
31:40I am.
31:41He's dealing
31:42with his trench
31:42collapsing
31:43just like I am.
31:44His rations
31:44can't be very good.
31:45He must have trouble
31:46finding a place
31:46to sleep at night.
31:47It's another thing
31:48altogether
31:48when you meet him
31:49in no man's land
31:50and you discover
31:50that he used to work
31:51as a waiter
31:52at a restaurant
31:53that perhaps
31:54you've eaten at
31:54or as in one case
31:56he was your barber
31:57back in London.
31:58It becomes much more difficult
31:59to demonize these men.
32:01As Private Frank Sumter
32:03of Southgate Road
32:04in Islington remembers.
32:05We shook hands
32:06in between
32:07and I had the experience
32:09of talking to one German.
32:11This father said to me
32:12you know
32:12Southgate Road
32:13in Islington
32:14I said yes
32:15my uncle had a
32:16shoe repairing shop
32:17next door.
32:18He said that's funny
32:19he said there's a barber's
32:20shop on the other side
32:21where I used to work.
32:23So you know
32:24it's still ironic
32:25when you think about it
32:26that
32:26he must have shaved
32:29my uncle at times
32:31and yet
32:32my bullet
32:33might have found him
32:33and his bullet
32:35might find me.
32:38This new feeling
32:39of fellowship
32:39has some remarkable
32:40examples
32:41like the back
32:42and forth trading
32:43of a German helmet.
32:45In the exchange
32:47at Christmas
32:47somebody got
32:48a picklehaube helmet
32:50as a souvenir.
32:51Now the German
32:51who had given
32:52the picklehaube
32:53in exchange for
32:54no doubt
32:55a lot
32:56of tickler's jam
32:58says
32:58I'm going to have
33:00a big parade tomorrow
33:02I need my helmet
33:03and so
33:05the trust
33:06is this big
33:06that this guy
33:07brings back
33:09the helmet
33:09and then he said
33:11after the parade
33:12is over
33:13you're going to
33:14get your helmet back.
33:17The next day
33:18the picklehaube
33:19is duly returned.
33:21It is an example
33:21of just how much
33:22trust has built up
33:23between the troops
33:24on the ground.
33:26And so there was
33:26a wave of letters
33:27talking about
33:28the humanity
33:29of the Germans
33:29that went back
33:30to London
33:31and presumably
33:33back to Germany.
33:35These letters
33:35are all describing
33:36things that sound
33:37very strange
33:38to the people
33:39back at home.
33:40This isn't at all
33:41what they have been
33:42taught to think
33:42about the enemy.
33:44So as the Christmas
33:45truce gets reported
33:46in the press
33:47the story seizes
33:48the public's imagination.
33:52Meanwhile
33:53the officers
33:54at the front line
33:55are trying to restore
33:56discipline.
33:56It doesn't always
33:58work
33:58as British
33:59Private Archibald
34:00Stanley remembers.
34:01One of these
34:02knobs
34:03of people
34:04that's just
34:04got his commission
34:05you know
34:07Katie Carroll
34:08as his name was.
34:11Stand to!
34:12And he come up
34:13and he said
34:14this has got to cease.
34:15Shake it!
34:17The officer
34:17wants to fire
34:18on unarmed men.
34:21All right
34:21he said
34:21give them a volley.
34:23We didn't take
34:24any notice.
34:25Didn't fire that
34:26them.
34:26We never fired
34:27at the jailers.
34:28It just doesn't
34:29seem like fair play.
34:31Although we were
34:32at war
34:32I thought
34:33they were a bit
34:33wicked you know
34:34taking advantage
34:35like that.
34:37How amazingly
34:38difficult
34:39it must have been
34:39for these people
34:40to pick up
34:41shooting again
34:41with any kind
34:43of vigour
34:44to try and kill
34:44people in the
34:45opposite trench
34:46that they'd just
34:46celebrated Christmas
34:47with two days
34:48before.
34:50Tremendous pressure
34:51begins to be
34:52exerted to get
34:53their war back
34:53on track.
34:56Orders and threats
34:57from the high
34:58commands begin
34:58to rain down
34:59on the men
34:59at the front lines.
35:04Commanders at the
35:05front have to get
35:05their men back
35:06into the fight
35:07by any means
35:08possible.
35:09The godfather
35:10of my wife
35:10was sent out
35:11in one of
35:12the listening posts.
35:14The whole front
35:14is silent
35:15and the Germans
35:17opposite start singing.
35:19When all of a sudden
35:20Urbain Crevet,
35:22my wife's godfather,
35:24remembers the very
35:27strict order
35:28given to him
35:29by his officer
35:30saying you have
35:31to report everything
35:33so he picks up
35:34the field telephone
35:35and dutifully
35:38reports back
35:39that the Germans
35:41are singing songs
35:42opposite.
35:43And then he says
35:46I still hold
35:48the horn
35:49of the telephone
35:49in my hands
35:50when the shelling
35:51starts.
35:53Within minutes
35:54the complete
35:56place is shot
35:56to pieces.
35:57No doubt
35:58many Germans
35:58have died there
35:59and he hears
36:00from the screaming
36:00a lot of them
36:01have been wounded
36:02and all he hears
36:03is the wounded.
36:05Private Archibald
36:07Stanley remembers
36:08how his officer
36:09put an end
36:09to their armistice.
36:10Well if you're
36:11knocking around
36:12this fella
36:12come up the next
36:13day
36:13he said
36:14you've still got
36:14the armistice.
36:16The officer knows
36:17exactly how to
36:18end the armistice.
36:20Picked up
36:21as well
36:21and shot
36:22one of those
36:22Germans dead.
36:27That was the end.
36:28That finished it.
36:29That war started
36:30again.
36:31Never finished
36:31in 1918
36:32did it?
36:33The mechanics
36:37of the war
36:38are thus
36:39that it's
36:40very hard
36:41as an individual
36:41as a group
36:42of individuals
36:43to stop it.
36:46It doesn't take
36:47long until
36:48the Christmas truce
36:49is just a memory
36:50and the worst
36:52is yet to come.
36:52By the middle
37:02of January
37:031915
37:04the holiday
37:05fraternizing
37:06between opposing
37:06armies
37:07known as
37:08the Christmas truce
37:08has ended
37:09almost everywhere.
37:11The year that
37:12follows does not
37:12provide the decisive
37:13breakthrough
37:14that the warring
37:15nations expect.
37:17Trench lines
37:17stay virtually
37:18where they started.
37:19It is a year
37:20of terrible losses.
37:22Millions dying
37:23and poison gas
37:24is used
37:25for the first
37:25time in war.
37:28By the time
37:29Christmas comes
37:30round again
37:30men on every
37:32side of the front
37:32are desperate
37:33and demoralized.
37:35The commands
37:36on both sides
37:37are very aware
37:38that conditions
37:39are right for the
37:39men to want
37:40to lay down
37:40their arms again
37:41at Christmas.
37:44Britain's new
37:45commander-in-chief
37:46Sir Douglas Hague
37:47gives new orders.
37:49The brigadier
37:49wishes to give you
37:50the strictest orders
37:51that any man
37:52attempting to
37:52communicate
37:53either by signal
37:54or by word of mouth
37:55or by any other means
37:57with the enemy
37:57is to be seriously
37:59punished.
38:01The German troops
38:02are issued
38:02an even clearer order.
38:05Any attempt
38:06at fraternization
38:07with the enemy
38:07such as occurred
38:08last year at Christmas
38:09will be considered
38:10as high treason.
38:11General headquarters
38:12have issued instructions
38:13that fire will be
38:14opened on every man
38:15who leaves the trench
38:16and moves in the
38:17direction of the enemy
38:18with our daughters.
38:21Ultimately,
38:22Christmas Day
38:23is just like
38:23any other day
38:24and in subsequent
38:24years of the war
38:25the fighting
38:25just carried on.
38:26There was a few
38:28places in 1915
38:29where both sides
38:30did stop
38:31and half-heartedly
38:32try and recreate it
38:33but there was never
38:34any specific attempt
38:35to do that.
38:37As the war
38:38now progresses
38:38even soccer
38:39takes on
38:40a different significance.
38:41One year later
38:44a Captain Neville
38:46is to become
38:46famous posthumously
38:47for trying to use
38:49a soccer ball
38:50to motivate his troops
38:51to go over the top
38:52to certain death.
38:55It is the end
38:56of an era.
38:57The beginning of the war
38:58it looked somewhat
38:59like wars
39:00that had preceded it.
39:02Officers came in
39:03on horseback.
39:05Men were on foot
39:06but bear in mind
39:07there hadn't been
39:08a major war in Europe
39:09for the better part
39:10of a century
39:11when you went to war
39:12in 1914.
39:14So you have a war
39:15that with a few new
39:15weapons in 1914
39:16looked like old wars.
39:17They had machine guns
39:18and shells
39:19and things like that
39:19but the real
39:20technological advances
39:22of the war
39:23didn't come until later.
39:25The tank,
39:26chemical weapons,
39:29strafing from airplanes.
39:30By the end of the war
39:30it was unrecognizable.
39:32It was modern war
39:33to some extent
39:35as we know it today.
39:40Today all around
39:42the Belgian town
39:43of Ypres
39:43it is easy
39:45to see the scars
39:46of the battles
39:46of World War I.
39:48Going around
39:48the countryside
39:49you'd find
39:50shrapnel bullets,
39:52pieces of rusty metal
39:54that belong to the war.
39:56You go out
39:57on your bike
39:57and you try
39:58and discover it yourself
39:59and it starts
40:01always with the cemeteries
40:02because there are
40:03so many around.
40:04So you try
40:05to understand them
40:07and so then
40:07you realize
40:08that it was
40:09probably the last war
40:11that didn't pay
40:12any attention
40:13whatsoever
40:14to the loss
40:16of human life.
40:17I see always
40:32the same reaction.
40:34They look
40:35very sad
40:36because of course
40:37the people I take
40:38to places like that
40:39are people
40:40who think back
40:41at relatives
40:42and how much
40:44they had to suffer.
40:47and why was it
40:48not possible
40:49to keep that peace
40:51after Christmas?
40:55The First World War
40:57is like four years
40:58of hell
40:59and there's just
41:00one day
41:01during these four years
41:03there's a sparkle
41:04of hope
41:04and of humanity
41:06and that's what
41:08the Christmas Truce is.
41:10Some people say
41:11that the 20th century
41:12started in 1914
41:13not 1900.
41:15What's interesting
41:15about the Christmas Truce
41:16is you seem to be
41:17right there
41:18on a fault line
41:19and that's the sense
41:20you get
41:20when you read
41:20the writings
41:21of these men
41:22who looking back
41:23in Christmas 1915
41:24Christmas 1916
41:25think how could
41:27that have happened?
41:28What did we have
41:28then that we don't
41:29have now?
41:31I think in a very
41:32individual way
41:33it makes you think
41:35what should I have done?
41:37What would I have done?
41:40In similar circumstances
41:42which hopefully
41:43then leads
41:44to the next question
41:45what will I do
41:49when they ask me
41:50to decide
41:50about war and peace
41:51next time?
41:53Lest we forget
41:55in the Belgian town
41:57of Ypres
41:57World War I
41:59is remembered
42:00every single night
42:01of every year.
42:03by Mrs. Barbara
42:05Little John
42:06daughter of
42:07Bruce Baird's father
42:09Captain Baird's father
42:11who took part
42:11in the famous
42:12Truce at
42:13Brook Street
42:14in December
42:151914
42:16she will be
42:18accompanied
42:18by
42:19Rudolph Zemich
42:21the son
42:22of
42:23Kurt Zemich
42:24whose father
42:26also
42:26participated
42:27at
42:28the
42:29Truce
42:29at
42:30Buck Street
42:30It must be
42:32amazing
42:33for
42:35the descendants
42:36of
42:37Germans
42:38and British
42:40who squared off
42:42across
42:42no man's land
42:43to come back
42:43now
42:44at the beginning
42:45of the 21st century
42:46stand on that same
42:48scarred battlefield
42:49and think about
42:51that distance
42:52that their
42:53ancestors
42:54overcame
42:55in some ways
42:57they're standing there
42:58across the wasteland
42:59of the 20th century
43:00across everything
43:02that the first
43:03world war wrought
43:04because as we know
43:06the western front
43:07was just the beginning
43:08of it
43:08and now we can
43:13look back
43:13and things are mended
43:14and we can come together
43:16and shake hands again
43:17but no man's land
43:19is still there
43:19and we can
43:20see you next time
43:23and we can
43:23see you next time
43:24and see you next time
43:25¶¶
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