Christmas in the Trenches Read online

  Soon after ‘Stand Down’ the Commanding Officer . . . came to wish us all a Happy Christmas and expressed sorrow that he could not drink our health because his bottle of whisky had been mislaid. Afterwards it was found that some of our Platoon had found it and drunk it. It was surprising the CO never smelt it but if he guessed what had happened to his whisky he was sporting enough not to notice or say anything about it. He was a very fine man and a very good officer.

  Christmas Day passed off very quietly but the next morning we had to carry two of the Lewis Gun Team down to the First Aid Post suffering from Trench Feet and they could not walk. We were allowed to go over the top but were under orders to come back by the trenches, but not liking the conditions in the trenches we disobeyed the order. Fortunately, we were not spotted by the CO, officers or German snipers. (Rfm Harry Gore)

  Troops coming out of the line just before Christmas hoped to spend a relatively comfortable time in huts or billets. However, the shortage of furniture and other comforts meant that any camp not permanently occupied was liable to be stripped of anything useful, leaving a rather desolate appearance to weary men returning from the front:

  Friday. Dec. 22nd

  Up and away at 9am and marched through mud to Aveluy reaching there at 12 noon. We found the camp which we left ten days ago fairly comfortable, an absolute wilderness. All the chairs, tables, beds etc have been pinched for some other camp. So we set to and started a pinching campaign. We visited other surrounding camps and within as hour had enough to make the place presentable again. I fear the people in the camps were all out on working parties for the day! They will have a shock on their return! (Capt James Wyatt, 2/4th Gloucesters)

  Signallers early on Christmas Day received messages of action at the front, which were probably formulated to prevent any feelings of goodwill from spreading across No Man’s Land. But apart from these brief reports there was little to spoil festivities:

  Very heavy strafe by our arty in Armentieres area. 2nd Anzacs made a raid and found enemy trenches deserted and were not able to bring back any identifications of any kind . . . I was on duty at 6.30. Took off Xmas message from Commander in chief wishing all ranks a happy Xmas and victorious New Year. At 1pm we sat down to a nice Xmas dinner of roast pork, potato, cabbage, stuffing, apple sauce, Xmas pudding, custard, stewed fruits (apricots, peaches, pears), biscuits, oranges, apples, nuts, several boxes of cigars, good cigs, beer for those who drunk it, citron (lemonade) and Grenadine (made from cherries) and soda water for the TTs. The aft was devoted to practising songs for the concert in the evening. 4.30 tea consisting of jellies, custard, stewed fruits as above, mince pies, and the rest as above. Concert commenced 6 o’ck and I had to give 5 songs. Some of the time was given to dancing and as we had some Belgian people in who had helped us with the preparations of the food they enjoyed it immensely. I made a few attempts and got on tolerably well towards learning. We packed up at 11.30 after which I went on duty all night. (Sapper David Doe, 51st Signal Company, RE)

  Where possible the inclusion of civilians in festivities appears to have been widespread from the number of entries in letters, diaries and memoirs. As well as being a way to ease the burden the war had placed on them, if only for a couple of days, the presence of French and Belgian civilians provided some continuity with peacetime Christmases through the inclusion of the elderly, women and children; all reminders of the people the soldiers had left at home. So, the chance to have Christmas dinner in a family environment was too good a chance to miss:

  When I awoke this morning my first thoughts were of the dear little girlies and I fancied I could see them running down to get their little stockings and bringing them up and turning them out on the bed. Of course they hung them up, didn’t they. I was with you too about midday and could see you all at dinner and imagined what all your thoughts would be. ‘I wonder what kind of Xmas dinner Mowbray is having’. Well dear, I can say I had the best dinner today I’ve had in the Army. We had roast pork, potatoes and cabbage, Fig pudding, Jam roll, Xmas pudding and Jelly. Of course that was of our own procuring and not Army rations. The Old Frenchman and his wife at the Farmstead sat down with us and there was 17 of us all told. She cooked the joint and vegetables for us and one of our fellows made the puddings. Of course the Xmas puddings were yours and one of the other fellows’ wives. The fellows wished ‘Good Luck’ to the makers of them so I pass it on to you and hope you will enjoy their wishes. We have not yet had our ‘Daily News’ pudding, but I think we shall be getting them in a day or so. It has not been a very nice day today – very windy and some rain, somewhat like last Xmas was if I remember aright . . . I have been very temperate, did have two small drops of port – there is only myself and one other young fellow who doesn’t take anything. He only has port and rum. If I drank beer I could have had plenty, but I am not sorry.3 (Pte Mowbray Meades, 2nd Middlesex)

  For soldiers from Australia and New Zealand, Christmas 1916 was their first on the Western Front. Though a good number had already experienced terrible winter conditions at Gallipoli the previous year, for new drafts the difference to home was marked, although the army did its best to give men a break from the conflict:

  I shall tell you how I spent Christmas; I guess very differently to anybody out in dear Australia. (Oh, lovely land of sunshine.) Well, we went to bed as soon as we could last night, as we were very tired, having been going from 7 o’clock in the morning till 8 at night, first with a load of coal and then with a very big load of rations, which we took to a spot over twenty miles away. We went to bed thinking, well, we had a chance of not being pulled out too early, as they said we were doing two days’ work in one, so as to have Christmas as free as possible. Imagine our feelings when at 3 o’clock this morning we were called up, to go out, and have breakfast after we had finished the job. It was pouring rain, dark, and as cold as charity. I thought, ‘A merry Xmas, and no mistake.’ We were up to our ankles in mud, and the engine was in a terrible starting humour. Well, the job was on coal, and we got finished and were back for breakfast at 11 o’clock, but it was a good breakfast. After the rain ceased and things had a more pleasant aspect I got to work on washing some clothes, which I had wanted to do for about five weeks . . . Well, I got to my washing and did it all, and then I sewed four of my brass buttons which had come off on to my Australian overcoat, and after that it was our great Christmas tea. It was in two of the huts, and electric light had been put on from the workshop. Long tables were up each side, and were decorated with fancy paper flags and Chinese lanterns, all got from the Expeditionary Force canteens. They looked really splendid. All of us sat down, and the N.C.O.s waited on us, and they did it well. I may say the whole thing was run and paid for by our own canteen. On the tables were apples, walnuts, dates, cake and bread. The first round was ham and turkey, roast beef, green peas (tinned) and cabbage, and as much as you could eat, and I have never tasted better turkey. For those who wanted it, there was as much French beer as they liked. As you can guess, a good many were having a hard job to balance theirs, and it set their tongues in great working order. After the meat came Christmas pudding and sauce. I can tell you it is the best meal I have had since I left home. Then we had some songs. There is a Sgt England here, and he has a most glorious voice. I fancy he was on the stage. He sang, ‘A Perfect Day,’ and sang it beautifully. I gave ‘Three for Jack’, and when I started I hadn’t the faintest idea what the words were, as it had never crossed my mind since goodness knows when, but I got through it without a bloomer, and we had no piano. Some others sang, drank and did otherwise, and all got a good hearing. The whole thing passed off splendidly, so our Christmas Day had a very bad beginning but a splendid ending. I forgot to tell you that every man got a bon-bon, and each had a paper cap inside. We all put them on, and you can’t imagine the funny sight it was. I saved mine and got a little flag and a tinsel flower off the decorations, also a lantern, and I am going to send them to you to keep as souvenirs of a Christmas spent with the British armi
es at the front, and at the very hottest front. By jove, our guns were sending over some Christmas greetings to Fritz last night, and are doing so now intermittently.4 (Driver Alan Gillespie, 2nd Ammunition Sub-Park Transport, AIF)

  For a lucky few the Christmas period coincided with their turn for home leave. The chance to return home was eagerly taken even if the journey to the Channel ports could take rather longer than anticipated:

  Monday, Dec. 25th

  Arrived at Candas at 12.30am. There we had to walk to the other station. On the way we all, about 300 of us, stopped at a Y.M.C.A. for some hot coffee. We went on to the other station from which the train should have started at 2.30am. The train however apparently went wrong somewhere; anyway we were told to go back to the Y.M.C.A. and return at 8.30am. We returned to the Y.M.C.A. and were all asleep when at 4.30am, a porter came to tell us that we were to go on by a special train coming up the line from Doullens. Just then I suddenly found out that I had left a rug in the last train. So with the idea that I had plenty of time I went off to the other station, found that the train had gone out, presumably with my rug, and returned as quickly as possible, just in time to see the special leave train disappearing up the line! Never mind, there is an ordinary train in the morning to Longpré and from there you can catch a Calais train. I lay down in the Station Master’s hut, and was soon asleep. I woke at 8am Xmas Day!!! The train left at 8.30am. I spent some hours in Longpré and got some food. Thence by slow train through Abbeville, Etaples and Boulogne to Calais. I spent the night in a hut prepared for officers on leave.

  Tuesday, Dec. 26th

  Awake at 7.30am and to breakfast at the Gare Maritime. There I found many I had left in the leave train I had missed the previous night. It seems the train got in so late, that they lost the leave boat in the afternoon. The boat left at 10am and we were all aboard by 9.45am. We had a very smooth crossing and reached Folkestone at 12 noon. The train went very slowly and only reached Victoria at 2.30pm. I caught the 3.35pm from Euston, and reached Northampton at 5.20pm after a journey of 48 hours. And so home once more. (Capt James Wyatt)

  The Britain to which Capt Wyatt returned had undergone a number of changes. Conscription had been introduced for all men aged between 18 and 45 years of age under a Military Service Bill of 25 January 1916. The following month, to increase government access to funds for the increasingly expensive war effort, a National Savings scheme was introduced. In May, daylight saving was brought in with the introduction of British summer time. Through this measure it was hoped to increase production in factories and munitions works. The year had also brought armed conflict to the British Isles when, on 24 April 1916, members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood seized the General Post Office in Dublin and declared an Irish Republic. British forces put down the uprising within a week as it had lacked popular support, with fewer than 2,000 people taking part. However, the execution of Irish rebel leaders won much sympathy for the republican cause, forcing the British government to maintain a sizeable garrison in Ireland for the remainder of the war and leading to civil war and ultimately independence in 1922. But, by Christmas 1916, the situation on the British home front appeared calm, Ireland was quiet, the Royal Navy’s victory at the Battle of Jutland (31 May–1 June) seemed to underline British dominance of the seas and military training camps were full of men being prepared to take their places in the front line for what were hoped to be the decisive battles of the coming year.

  At No. 2 Balloon School of Instruction, Lydd, new members of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) were looking forward to what would probably be their last Christmas before overseas service:

  I hope you will have a nice time at Xmas. As for myself it will be my own fault if I don’t as the week’s programme in Lydd is one continuous round of entertainments, bun fights, picture shows, sermons, lectures, dinners etc etc. I am sure we shall all be ill. We have a terrific feed in the camp on Xmas Day. Turkeys, fowls, puddings galore and everything everybody can think of – nothing to pay – all refreshments on – beer, cigarettes and so on. I tell you this is some Corps. We all went to church this morning and I must say I was proud to belong to the RFC, compared to the RGA, we fairly set the town agog. The drill and parade went off splendidly and numbers of the Lydd folk stood by and looked on almost amazed. The preacher gave a very good sermon and choked off the RGA men for coughing continuously in church – a very severe rebuke which they wont forget in a hurry . . . I have hardly done a stroke of work since I came back to camp – everything is at a standstill, all the heads having cleared off for a week or more . . . I went for a joy ride on my own motorbike on Friday to Ashford and spent nearly all day there – no one missed me and I never said a word to anybody. The camp is a picnic just now if it were not for the mud one could not possibly grumble. Have just done a 24 hours guard and came off at 9 o/c this morning. This is quite good because I shall not now get any more during the Xmas – my only fear was that I should be on Xmas or Boxing Day.5 (2 ACM Frank Haylett, RFC)

  In India too all appeared calm with little to threaten the smooth running of the Raj. For many troops, Christmas on the subcontinent appeared to usher in another round of ceremonials and social events:

  This week we have spent a good deal of time rehearsing ceremonial as 100 of my men have to take part in the Viceroy’s State entry into Calcutta tomorrow. They will be commanded by one of my subalterns as I have to attend at Government House for the reception. He is going to stay a few days in Calcutta and will then come out to Barrackpore for a fortnight. I have to attend all sorts of functions during the next week or two. On Saturday night I have to dine at the United Services Club, as the Viceroy is going to be present there: and on Boxing day there is a party at Government House Calcutta in his honour. When he comes out here there is sure to be a dinner party and a garden party which we shall have to attend.

  The men are going to have a jolly good time this Christmas: the people here are going to give them a first class dinner and then they are to have sports in the afternoon and a good tea. I am very glad indeed that so much is going to be done for them for they have worked well and deserve to be looked after this Christmas time, especially as the people round here are making fortunes out of the war. Fortt and I have been invited out to dinner on Christmas day by some very nice people and I think we shall have a jolly good time.6 (Capt James Mackie, 2/4th Somerset Light Infantry)

  Festivities did not end with the feast of six courses provided for the Somersets by the English community of Barrackpore:

  After dinner there were sports for us all which were awfully good fun. Some were mounted and some were on foot but all the events were amusing: perhaps the one which caused most fun was the bullock cart race. A bullock cart was provided for each competitor drawn by two bullocks and each man had to drive his lady partner to a certain point – you would have roared to see our frantic efforts to make the bullocks trot and when they did trot we could not make them go straight.

  One of the mounted races consisted of riding your pony at a gallop past a lady who threw you a ball. You had to catch the ball and then gallop on and put it into a bucket. I went in for it but was unable to catch the ball.7 (Capt James Mackie)

  In Mesopotamia, troops from India found themselves far removed from the style of peacetime soldiering that still persisted in their homeland. The early months of 1916 witnessed increasingly desperate attempts to relieve Townshend’s besieged garrison at Kut-al-Amara. Forces under Maj Gen Sir Fenton Aylmer and later Lt Gen Sir George Gorringe attempted to batter their way through strong entrenched Turkish positions along the Tigris. Although the Turks lost some ground, the relief force suffered heavy casualties as it fought its way over open ground in the face of heavy machine-gun and rifle fire. This and the inability to move reinforcements quickly to the front sealed the fate of Kut, which surrendered on 29 April. Turkish success here, coming just four months after the final evacuations at Gallipoli, was a severe blow to British prestige and many feared it would trigger an Islamic uprisi
ng against the British in the Middle East and even parts of India. However, by December such fears had receded. In Mesopotamia the British now poured in men and material ready for a major offensive that was launched on 13 December under the command of Maj Gen Sir Stanley Maude. In preparation for active operations, units were concentrated at forward defended camps on the Tigris such as Shaikh Saad. Forward of here were the opposing front lines where trench warfare was in progress. As Christmas approached, drafts for some units were still arriving. These troops were rushed up country as quickly as transport allowed:

  I was allotted quarters in a tent with an officer named Large of the Warwickshire Regiment, and an Australian named Lee of the 36th Sikhs. Both very jolly chaps and we made the best of things, and we used to dine at night together, off the concoctions our batmen hashed up for us. Christmas Day 1916 came along, and we played bridge most of the day, and had a special dinner in the evening, with whisky and beer to wash it down, whilst the Ghurka band played carols. Now and again a rifle shot rang out from a watchful sentry, who thought he could see something moving in the desert.

  Whilst in this camp the night was made hideous by the cries of hyenas and jackals, who faded away each morning at dawn, and when first heard reminded one of the wailing of lost souls. I had heard cats each night in England, but never anything like the row kicked up by these animals. (2/Lt Frederick Brown, 7th Gloucesters)

  Along the Euphrates other units were also settling down to Christmas. They had played a more passive role during the campaign, guarding against possible Turkish moves towards Qurna at the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris, the capture of which would cut Maude’s supply line and threaten the oil refineries to the south. At the town of Nasiriyah, which had been in British hands since 25 July 1915, troops of the 15th Division were engaged in a round of garrison guard duty and training, including inter-company competitions in trench digging, range finding, pack-mule loading, fire control and night marching. In between such activity, Pte Henry White (1/5th Queens) found time to rear chickens and ducks for Christmas dinner. On 25 December, the long-awaited meal was preceded by the receipt of gifts from a number of the battalion’s officers, many providing excellent additions to the coming meal: