Norfolk Chronicle and Norwich Gazette

January 1st, 1915: Cromer man's baptism of fire - L Corp W Balls in the trenches - Boxing Day chat with the Germans. Lance Corporal Walter Balls of B Company 1st Norfolk Regiment recently joined British Expeditionary Force in France, and a letter which he has just sent to an old friend, Mr Roy Read, will be of much interest to his many local friends.
...On Christmas Day things were very quiet. I don't think there was a rifle shot on either side near us. At night we could hear them singing in the trenches quite plain, so we got a good fire up and did ditto - carols and songs, A1. I should have told you that every night we slip across the field to a farm and get enough water to last til the next night. On Boxing morning we could see the Germans on top of their trenches walking about. So we did ditto. Some of them came across so some of us went half way to meet them and shake hands with them. One could speak English well. He told us they did not want to fight. One of the officers snapped one of our chaps with a small camera. He told us they were the 45th and 49th regiments and they fought with us at ----- and ------; they were "driven to the firing line" to use his own words "death in front and death behind". They were going back to a concert. After that I had a look around the farm. I was tobacco on half of the field and potatoes the other half. About a dozen bullocks etc laid about the field killed, we buried them later. On Christmas Day we had photos of the King and Queen from them and Princess Mary pipe tobacco and fags. I shall send them home if I can.

January 1st, 1915: Amusing trench incident. "Tommy" and "Fritz" exchange presents. One of the oddities of the war in the Western battlefields at all events (says the Daily Chronicle) is the close proximity of the opposing forces in the trenches, thus giving opportunities for conversation. But the record must surely be made by an incident described in a letter from Private H Scrutton, Essex Regiment, to relatives at Wood Green, Norwich. He writes:- As I told you before our trenches are only 30 or 40 yards away from the Germans. This led to an exciting incident the other day. Our fellows have been in the habit of shouting across to the enemy and we used to get answers from them. We were told to get into conversation with them and this is what happened:-
From out trenches: "Good morning Fritz." (No answer).
"Good morning Fritz." (Still no answer).
"GOOD MORNING FRITZ."
From German trenches: "Good morning."
From our trench: "How are you?"
"All right."
"Come over here, Fritz."
"No. If I come I get shot."
"No you won't. Come on."
"No fear."
"Come and get some fags, Fritz."
"No. You come half way and I meet you."
"All right."
One of our fellows thereupon stuffed his pocket with fags and got over the trench.. The German got over his trench, and right enough they met half way and shook hands, Fitz taking the fags and giving cheese in exchange. It was good to see the Germans standing on top of their trenches and the English also, with caps waving in the air, all cheering. About 18 of our men went half way and met about the same number of Germans. This lasted about half an hour when each side returned to their trenches to shoot at each other again. What I have written is the truth but don't think we got chums as two of our fellows were killed the same night, and I don't know how many of them.
NB There is no indication of the date this happened.

January 1: Christmas Truce. Mingling with the enemy Further details are to hand of the truce that was declared between the English and German troops in certain districts in Flanders during Christmas. Rifleman E Newell of the Queen's Westminsters, writing to his father on December 28th, says:-
We have spent rather an extraordinary Christmas here. We had a kind of mutual armistice with the Germans in the trenches in front of us. As no shots were fired on Christmas Eve, some of our felloows got up on the parapet and shouted out things to the Germans, and they answered, some in English; and getting bolder we got up on the ground in front of the trenches and sang carols and paraded up and down in front of the trenches singing. Some of the fellows went across and met some Germans half way and exchanged souvenirs. Two of our men went too far and went into their trenches and haven't since returned, so I suppose they are prisosners. We were most of us up all Christmas Eve and had a merry time.
Christmas morning we got up on the parapet again and we were not fired on, and we saw some Germans coming out of their trenches and we went across and spoke to them. Most of the other fellows folowed till practically all the battalion were out in front chatting with the Germans who had come out also..We arranged with them not to fire until they started. It was most extraordinary to see all the fellows strolling about as if in Hyde Park chatting to Germans and searching for pieces of shells on the ground where they wouldn't dare to show themselves in the ordinary way.
The Germans were a Saxon crew and seemed quite a decent lot. Rather funny, some of them lived in London and were in business in the city, and one of them found that he went up to the city in the same train as one of our fellows. Another lived in Finchley and so on. They wanted to play us football, but unfortunately we hadn't got one. Two regulars had a bike race on the road between trenches on old bikes without tyres; rather funny. This went on all day practically, and at night there wasn't a shot fired.
Exchanging cigars: Writing to relatives in Jarrow, a soldier at the front states that on Christmas Eve an infantryman went into the German trenches and arranged a truce for 24 hours. He received drinks and cigars, and was escorted half way back by a German. On Christmas morning, British and Germans left their trenches, exchanged greetings, cigars and cigarettes and also names and addresses. That happened along most of the British front except where the Prussians opposed them. The writer tried to talk to the Germans, receiving a cigar from one and had his photo taken with a group of them. On the following day all was changed, and where there had been at peace they were again at war with guns roaring and rifles firing.
NB: Also reports in the same edition of fighting over the christmas period

January 8, 1915: Christmas at the front. German cigars for British tea Additional details of the remarkable Christmas scenes at the front and of the feelings entertained by Saxons in the German army towards the British are given in a letter written by an English officer on Boxing Day. He states: You said I should probably hardly know it was Christmas Day, but far from it; we had a most extraordinary day and quite different from others. On Christmas Eve our section of the line (and I think it was the same nearly all along) arranged an unofficial armistice, each side agreeing not to shoot if the other did not. That night lots of English and Germans met between the two lines and had talks; the Germans giving boxes of cigars to our men and we giving them hot tea. On Christmas morning there were a hard frost and a think mist. When the mist lifted they saw Germans sitting all long the top of the parapet, so our men got right out in front of the trenches and they did likewise and met in the middle. Neither side would let the other over the half way line. When I went down to the trenches instead of walking miles underground or under water we walked up over ground as everybody else was doing the same. When we got up there just behind our trenches, which are only 200 yards from the Germans we found a game of football going on, and further on there were bicycle races on bikes without tyres found in the ruins of the house. Looking across to the Deutschers' line they were walking about anywhere and everywhere. After a bit, two officers came out and had a talk. Really it was a most extraordinary sight for as a rule one didn't see a soul; everyone is underground and if you wanted to look over to the enemy you took jolly good care not to poke your head right over but look very cautiously. One of my men - the one who got the DCM - was given some sweets and a pair of braces by a German. Some of them really were most friendly and said they did not want to fight us at all and bear us no hatred. They are still the Saxon Corps opposed to us. Today is almost as usual with guns shooting on both sides, but there is not much sniping.

Norwich Eastern Daily Press, Friday, 1st January 1915: The Eye Witness at the Front: Christmas has come and gone but it has brought no modification of the situation...
Too Friendly
In our centre the only incident was the capture of two of the enemy who came across to our trenches uninvited ostensibly to wish us the compliments of the season.

Friday 1st January: The Christmas Day Tuce. London Territorials Story. Writing to friends in North Wales, a gentleman who is serving at the front in the City of London Territorials, states: "It was a memorable Christmas Day in our trenches as we had a truce with the enemy from Christmas Eve till Boxing Day morning, not a shot being fired. Quite a change, no lead firing about. The truce came about in this way. The germans started singing and lighting candles about 7.30 Christmas Eve and one of them challenged anyone of us to go across for a bottle of wine. One of our fellows accepted the challenge and took a big cape to exchange. That started the ball rolling. We then went halfway to shake hands and exchange greetings with them.There were ten dead Germans in a ditch in front of the trench and we helped to bury those and I could have had a helmet but I did not fancy taking one off the corpse. They were trapped one night trying to get at our outpost trench some time ago. The Germans seem to be very nice chaps and they were awfully sick of the war. We were out of the trenches nearly all Christmas Day collecting souvenirs."

Champagne - turkey - Plum Pudding: An officer of the ASCM whose home is at Great Ormesby writes on December 26th. "We had a very jolly Christmas and everything went off splendidly - champagne, turkey, plum puddings and many luxuries. In fact I have seldom sat down to such a spread. Singsong in afternoon and again in evening. We've about one dozen puddings to account for yet. The mantel piece is covered with cards. We've been working like sin till the 24th when our division came into reserve. The Army celebrated Christmas by a most violent and sanguinary attack on - at 2am. A cheerful way of spending the great peace day!

How We Spent Christmas:Private F. Asker, 1st Bedfords, writing to his mother in Norwich says: "On Christmas night about 7pm the Germans in the trenches started to sing carols and then our chaps would cheer them. And then we would sing and they would cheer us, and that was how we spent Christmas."
The popular impression that our men in the trenches were all feasting on plum puddings and other delicacies of the season does not appear to be actual fact. "I got some bully beef on Christmas Day" said one of them "and nothing else except a biscuit." But it does seem to be true as some of our letters from the front have alleged that there was a cerain amount of fraternisation during the festival of peace and goodwill. "There was plenty of cases" said a young fellow with frost-bitten feet "in which English and Germans advanced to each other's trenches, exchanged gifts of cigarettes and so forth, shook hands and even sung together.Some of the Germs told our fellows that they were dead sick of the war and would be glad to be out of it."

January 11th: Matters of the Moment: Probably the most amazing question asked between the British and German troops who chatted during the Christmas Day Truce was "By how many Germans was London taken?" Captain J R Somers-Smith of the London Brigade relates that this question was asked him in all seriousness by one of the Germans and that several actually believed London had been captured.

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