When ‘Peace On Earth’ interrupted a war
Paul Harvey
You ever heard the fairy tales of Johannes Niemann? In particular, do you happen to know his story of the soldiers who wouldn't fight? It goes like this.
Once upon a time long, long ago, two mighty kingdoms went to war. Their armies fought for months, slaughtering one another quite efficiently through the interminable summer and the terrible fall. Then somebody remembered it was Christmas.
The sun shone brightly that December morning, but the mist was slow to clear, and when it did, it revealed yesterday's battlefield, thinly blanketed in white. The silence was broken by a voice, the voice of one of the soldiers calling out across the battlefield to his enemies, the voice, struggling in a language that was not its own, shouted, Come out, we want to talk. Moments later, two of yesterday's enemies were standing in the middle of the misty white battleground shaking hands and smiling.
Then there were two more, and then four more, until the place where their comrades had perished only hours before was teeming with a joyous throng of former foes. Nobody wanted to kill anybody, all agreed. So some exchanged gifts, cigars, candy, jars of jam, all of the modest treasures lonely soldiers come to prize.
Others serenaded new friends with carols in native tongues, while the rest cut little Christmas trees and adorned them with makeshift candles. And then one soldier brought out a big round ball, while his new companions from the other army laid out on the battlefield a playing field, and with the paraphernalia of a now abandoned war, the men fashioned a couple of goals, and for hours they played a wonderful game, which one team won, but nobody cared. Days passed.
The former enemies were now friends, playing games, repairing shelters, swapping stories, marveling together at the miracle of Christmas, which had made them all as one. More than a week went by before the generals showed up. Why aren't you fighting, they demanded.
The soldiers shrugged. We weren't angry at anyone, so we didn't want to fight any more. The generals were furious.
It's treason, they declared. They made all of their troops return to their battle formations and prepare to make war. For quite some time the new friends tried to make it look good, but their commanders eventually caught on and escalated their threats, so reluctantly today's friends became tomorrow's enemies once more.
You say you've never heard the fairy tales of Johannes Nieman? Perhaps that's because there are none. His story of the soldiers who wouldn't fight, that story is completely true, utterly factual. You see, he, Lieutenant Johannes Nieman of the 133rd Saxon Regiment, was one of those soldiers who laid down his weapons and befriended his foes.
A German soldier who, with the aid of his comrades and his British enemies, countless thousands, created something now called the most remarkable front-wide truce in military history. For the war that held its breath in its first Christmas season, the conflict very nearly smothered in its own infancy by the unexpected intrusion of peace on earth, that conflict would go on to extinguish 13 million lives and inflict agony on 26 million others, a mass murder snatched from the jaws of brotherhood by the generals and the politicians. We call it the First World War.
You've been reading about it since you were in school. But now, now you know the rest of the story.
Made by the British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s in partnership with The Royal British Legion, this short video commemorates the extraordinary events of Christmas Day, 1914, when the guns fell silent and two armies met in no-man’s land, sharing gifts – and even playing football together.
