CHRISTMAS IN WORLD WAR I

 

German airmen quaffing champagne and getting drunk as British troops lived in hell and misery of the trenches A remarkable photo album showing German airmen quaffing champagne and getting steaming drunk during the First World War have been come to light. The black and white snaps depict the men in uniform having a raucous time in their mess, far removed from the misery of the trenches on the Western Front. The officers of the Imperial German Flying Corps are seen smoking cigars and cigarettes and having a good old knees up in the incredibly rare photo collection which is being put up for auction. Rare collection of photos of Imperial German Flying Corps officers during WWI are being put up for auction in Essex Images show pilots drinking getting drunk and smoking cigars in their mess before flying into battle The Christmas truce was a series of widespread, unofficial ceasefires that took place along the Western Front around Christmas 1914, during World War I. Through the week leading up to Christmas, parties of German and British soldiers began to exchange seasonal greetings and songs between their trenches; on occasion, the tension was reduced to the point that individuals would walk across to talk to their opposite numbers bearing gifts. On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, many soldiers from both sides—as well as, to a lesser degree, from French units—independently ventured into "no man's land", where they mingled, exchanging food and souvenirs. As well as joint burial ceremonies, several meetings ended in carol-singing. Troops from both sides were also friendly enough to play games of soccer with one another. The truce is often seen as a symbolic moment of peace and humanity amidst one of the most violent events of modern history. It was not ubiquitous; in some regions of the front, fighting continued throughout the day, while in others, little more than an arrangement to recover bodies was made. The following year, a few units again arranged ceasefires with their opponents over Christmas, but the truces were not nearly as widespread as in 1914; this was, in part, due to strongly worded orders from the high commands of both sides prohibiting such fraternization. In 1916, after the unprecedentedly bloody battles of the Somme and Verdun, and the beginning of widespread poison gas use, soldiers on both sides increasingly viewed the other side as less than human, and no more Christmas truces were sought. In the early months of immobile trench warfare, the truces were not unique to the Christmas period, and reflected a growing mood of "live and let live", where infantry units in close proximity to each other would stop overtly aggressive behaviour, and often engage in small-scale fraternisation, engaging in conversation or bartering for cigarettes. In some sectors, there would be occasional ceasefires to allow soldiers to go between the lines and recover wounded or dead comrades, while in others, there would be a tacit agreement not to shoot while men rested, exercised, or worked in full view of the enemy. The Christmas truces were particularly significant due to the number of men involved and the level of their participation – even in very peaceful sectors, dozens of men openly congregating in daylight was remarkable. The truces of 1914, either those in December 25 or before the Christmas period that year, though remembered today with much sympathy, were in no way exceptions when we consider similar events the many warfare theatres the history recorded: during many previous armed conflicts such spontaneous truces arrived probably as frequent and "magically" as it was the case during the first year of hostilities in the World War A rip-roaring good time: Members of the Imperial German Flying Corps can be seen swigging champagne and smoking cigars in Christmas 1917 during the First World War.   The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce, and much of what follows is derived from that valuable source. The truce came as no surprise, Weintraub explains, as there were early indications that some of the fighting men might lay down their arms for a Christmas truce, particularly between the British and German lines near Ploegstreert Wood in Belgium. Many of these troops held no animosities toward each other and questioned their reasons for being involved in the war. The opposing trenches were close enough for them to see and hear each other preparing to celebrate the same Christian holiday, Christmas. Intelligence reports indicating friendly exchanges and the possibility of an informal truce prompted British Brigadier General G. T. Forrestier-Walker to issue an order forbidding the friendly exchanges. When Forrestier-Walker's directive didn't stop the friendly exchanges, the high command reacted by trying to step up the war, ordering attacks on German trenches. In general, these costly attacks failed not only militarily but also in terms of stopping the truce. The final attempt to prevent the truce came on Christmas Eve when the British high command issued a bogus intelligence report of a supposed impending German attack. Very few commanders believed this phony intelligence report, relying instead on their own intelligence information, which was that the German troops were in all-out preparation alright — to celebrate Christmas. During Christmas Eve, soldiers on both sides could hear numerous Christmas carols being sung in the trenches on the other side. One particularly solemn moment occurred in the trenches near Ploegstreert Wood. At 11:00 p.m., which was at midnight in Berlin, Germany, there was a booming baritone voice singing the beloved Christmas carol "Stille Nacht" ("Silent Night"). History has failed to record the name of this man who sang "Stille Nacht," but his singing of this beloved Christmas carol had an enormous psychological effect on the soldiers of both sides. Despite official pronouncements to the contrary, the soldiers in those trenches slept that night knowing in their hearts that a Christmas truce had begun. There were many Christmas carols, the singing of each hymn communicating peace amongst those who sang them and those who heard from opposing trenches, but "Silent Night" seems to be the one stood out the most. Soldiers sang Christmas carols again on Christmas morning. Soon sign boards began popping up from the trenches. Because there were more German soldiers who spoke English than English soldiers who spoke German, the predominant language used on the sign boards was English, sometimes broken English, such as, "You no fight, we no fight." Soon, soldiers emerged from the trenches advancing toward the opposing trenches armed not with weapons, but with gifts:  Tobacco products, chocolates, cakes, even sausages. The men met, exchanged gifts, and arranged for decent Christian burials of the dead who had fallen in what was no-man's-land only a few days earlier. The informal truce even included soccer games and beer drinking. Sadly, the news of the truce spread with unequal speed along the trenches on both sides and, consequently, there were a few casualties in some locations. In one sector, the German soldiers communicated their desire for a truce verbally, including an offer to share their beer. They then rolled a barrel of beer into the middle of no-man's land between them, and that's how the truce began in that sector. There were numerous acts of bravery by these men who were waging peace instead of war. One such hero was Alfred Kornitzke, a civilian pastry cook from Berlin, Germany, who was making marzipan balls in a German trench on Christmas Eve when enemy fire endangered him. He picked up a Christmas tree and, while still wearing his baker's hat, ran toward the enemy lines, which were manned by Algerians. When he got about half way across the no-man's land, he put the Christmas tree down and lit the candles. The astounded Algerians ceased fire. Kornitzke vowed that after the war he would become a missionary to the heathens saying, "For now I know how it's done." There were reports of participants in the truce as high as the rank of colonel. Of course, there were some who refused to participate in the truce. Among those was a German field messenger, Corporal Adolf Hitler. Corporal Hitler, an atheist, also refused to participate in the religious observances of Christmas that were held. As a retired military officer, I can tell you that one of the greatest fears a military officer has is that a direct order will be disobeyed en masse. The high commands of all participating countries in the war reacted decisively to restart the hostilities. There were visits directly to the trenches by high-ranking officers, even generals. From the German side came a report that the men were redressed by an officer who ordered the men in the foulest of language to start shooting, saying, "Fire, or we do — and not at the enemy!" The men in this case reportedly spent that day and the next firing their rifles, but deliberately firing above the opposing troops "wasting ammunition in trying to shoot the stars down from the sky." One technique used by military officers to break up groups of troublemakers is to transfer them to different units. In this case, the same tactic was used to break up the groups of soldiers who participated in the Christmas truce. Numerous units were transferred. Soldiers on both sides who refused to fire their weapons at each other soon found themselves transferred to different locations along the front and facing enemy soldiers who had not participated in the Christmas truce, who were firing at them. Additionally, the military leaders tried to keep the news of the truce from spreading. Despite these efforts at truth suppression, word of the truce did leak out, primarily via letters that soldiers wrote back home and from letters that were exchanged during the truce for soldiers who wanted to send letters to relatives on the other side. Some of these letters found their way into the hands of newspaper editors, though not in time to maintain the truce and allow for analytical minds to assess the necessity of the war. An event such as this does raise the question of freedom of the press in a war zone. The U.S. Constitution does not have a disclaimer exempting war zones from freedom of the press, yet it is almost universally believed that our news media should be in some form of obedience to our military when reporting news from war zones. After all, who would want to see a reporter disclose news of military value to an enemy? But the acts of truth suppression by military high commands and other high-level government leaders regarding the news of the Christmas Truce of 1914 cannot be defended in any terms of protecting military intelligence information from an enemy. This was a case of information control over military information for political purposes to keep the people from learning that a significant portion of a war had come to halt on its own. Eventually the high commands of the warring nations prevailed, and the hostilities resumed. The casualties once again mounted in the bloody war. Steps were taken to preclude further Christmas truces. Subsequent Christmases saw artillery barrages, trench raids, and mortar attacks. Despite the deliberate increases in hostilities during those Christmas seasons, there were some localized truces, but they were few in number and small in scope. In 1999, the Christmas Truce of 1914 was commemorated by a small group of re-enactors who, after spending a few nights in makeshift trenches in the area near Ploegstreert Wood, left behind a wooden cross. That wooden cross has since been fortified with a cement base by some of the local people and now stands as the only monument to the Christmas truce of 1914. This is a sad commentary on how governments build many monuments supposedly to honor military veterans, but somehow seem to do so in ways that glorify war. Perhaps there will be a 100th anniversary reenactment in 2014. I would like to suggest that a fitting monument would be that of three soldiers in German, British, and French uniforms of that era bearing gifts of tobacco, chocolate, and sausages — a modern reference to the wise men who visited the Christ child bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Wars, unlike chess where there is no pretense that the battle being waged is for the benefit of the board or the chess pieces, are typically portrayed as if they are for the benefit of a nation including her soldiers, although only a few actually are. At least in this case, the pawns in the game used their God-given wisdom to realize there was something really wrong and almost ended the war on their own. The spark that ignited World War I — the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by a Bosnian Serb — did not involve the national interests of other European countries. Yet when Austria attacked Serbia, holding Serbia responsible for the action of Ferdinand's assassin, leaders of other European powers plunged their nations into the war. Eventually the United States joined the conflict as well. In Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce, Weintraub delves a bit into alternative history and discusses subsequent historical events, such as the formation of the League of Nations, and how they might not have happened had World War I either never occurred or ended more quickly. The formation of the League of Nations (like the formation of the United Nations a generation later) was intended by its architects to provide the organizational framework for a future world government. But this early drive for world government was derailed when the U.S. Senate rejected U.S. membership in the League. John Birch Society founder Robert Welch repeatedly stated that World War I was not the genesis behind this drive for world government but that the war was actually a means employed by the internationalist-minded power elites to try to bring about their desired new world order. The Christmas Truce of 1914 is certainly in harmony with Welch's view. After all, why else would the leaders of the warring countries wait until after the Armistice in 1918 to form a League of Nations, supposedly for the purpose of ending wars, when World War I almost ended itself in 1914 and it was only after their deliberate efforts to restart the hostilities that the war continued? The Christmas Truce of 1914 indicates a total lack of legitimacy of World War I and, along with that, it shows the lack of necessity for the League of Nations and the United Nations. Dangerous job: It seems the German pilots adopted a similar philosophy to their British counterparts: 'Live for today, tomorrow we die' Finally found: The unique images of the German pilots kept in a 14inch by 12inch album were found in a box of personal effects inherited by a man in Essex from a relative. It is believed the album was kept by a British serviceman after the Germans surrendered in 1918 Coming just 11 years after the first ever flight by the Wright brothers, air warfare was a new but very risky concept during the First World War. It was said the men of the British Royal Flying Corps’ adopted the philosophy of ‘live for today, tomorrow we die’, such was the deadly nature of their job. And judging by the dozens of rare photos that have emerged, it seems their German counterparts also had a similar attitude to wartime life.   There are several group photos depicting the men guzzling bottles of champagne and glasses of beer and liquor. In one amusing image, all 10 German officers appear to be in a drunken stupour, with four of them hugging each other and singing out loud while another looks like he has passed out. In another, a line of four inebriated flyers lean to one side as they lose their balance while sitting for the camera. The large album contains about 130 snaps and others do show the serious side of the war. There is a poignant picture of the grave of one German airman with a plane propeller placed on it as a marker. Another photo shows two airmen wrapped up in large overcoats and scarfs as they prepare to climb into the exposed cockpit of their bi-plane and go into battle. Wartime life: German pilots can be seen drinking pints of beer while other play give a live performance on their instruments in this group photograph On a mission: Two unidentified German pilots pictured in front of their bi-plane in thick coats and scarves ahead of flying in to battle And several snaps some of the devastating damage to train lines and bridges as a result of air bombing over norther France. The identities of the airmen aren’t known although they were part of 24 and 54 squadrons of the German Flying Corps or the Die Fliegertruppen. It is known that some of the photos were taken in December 1917 as a Christmas tree and decorations can be seen in them. Some of the pilots' obvious mantra to live life to the fullest is not surprising considering the high mortality rate for those in the air force. During World War One, aircrew casualties, who were killed, missing or taken prisoner, totalled 8,604 and a further 7,302 were wounded. By the end of the war, the German Army Air Service possessed a total of 2,709 frontline aircraft, 56 airships, 186 balloon detachments and about 4,500 flying personnel. In total 3,126 aircraft, 546 balloons and 26 airships had been lost during the duration of the conflict. After the war ended in German defeat, the service was dissolved completely on May 8, 1920, under the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles, which demanded that its aeroplanes be completely destroyed. New insight: An Imperial German Flying Corps pilot pictured in his aircraft during World War One in a series of images that have only just come to light Memorial: A poignant photograph showing a plane propeller being use to mark a pilot's makeshift grave during the First World War The rare collection of photos contained in a 14ins by 12ins album was found in a box of personal effects inherited by a man in Essex from a late relative. It is thought the album was seized as a souvenir by a British serviceman after the Germans surrendered in 1918 and was kept in his family. It is being sold by Essex auctioneers Reeman Dansie and has a pre-sale estimate of £1,500. James Grinter, of Reeman Dansie, said: 'I have never seen anything like this photo album before. 'If it was a Royal Flying Corps album, then it would be rare but to have a German one from the same period is unheard of. 'The survival rate of these flyers was terrible and it looks like these men lived life to the full while they had the chance. 'It is a very important and historical record and is unusual because there are a lot of natural and relaxed pictures rather than the staged and formal photos of that period. 'It gives you a feel of what it was like to have been there. It wouldn’t surprise me if this album ended up going into a museum because it is so rare.'  The auction takes place on Thursday. Destruction: A photograph showing the damage from several bombs was also in the album alongside pictures of the pilots making merry. It is not known where this picture was taken In the midst of war: A bridge can be seen collapsing into a river after a bomb hit during World War One. It is not know where this image was taken In ruins: Weapons and equipment can be seen by a railway line which has been destroyed by a bomb during WWI. It is believed the image was taken by a German soldier If you know who any of the people pictured are, please get in touch by emailing editorial@dailymailonline.co.uk THE BEGINNINGS OF THE GERMAN AIR FORCE Legendary: German fighter pilot Baron Manfred von Richthofen, better known as the 'Red Baron', was considered to be one of the best flyers in World War One with 80 air combat victories to his name The Imperial German Flying Corps (IGFC) - Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches in German - was founded in 1910 when the Germany acquired its first military aircraft. They were initially responsible for reconnaissance and artillery spotting in support of armies on the ground, just as balloons had been used during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 and even as far back as the Napoleonic Wars. The IGFC formed the basis of what would become the German Air Force (Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte) in 1916, which was the air arm of the German army during World War One. The Air Force drastically expanded during the war to accommodate the new types of aircraft, doctrine, tactics and the needs of the ground troops, in particularly the artillery. During 1916, the German High Command, in response to the then current Allied air superiority, reorganised their forces by creating several types of specialist units in 1916. Most notable were the single seat fighter squadrons or 'Jastas' which is short for Jagdstaffel - literally meaning 'hunting squadron' - in order to counter the offensive operations of the Royal Flying Corps and the French Aviation Militaire. On June 24, 1917, the Luftstreitkräfte formed its first fighter wing, the Royal Prussian Jagdgeschwader I and more units quickly followed. And just like their British counterpart, the German Air Force had famous fighter pilots who inspired bravery in their comrades and struck fear into the heart of the enemy. And Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, better known as the Red Baron, was considered to be the best. The German fighter pilot is considered German's top ace of World War One - being officially credited with 80 air combat victories. Originally a cavalryman, Richthofen transferred to the Air Service in 1915, becoming one of the first members of Jasta 2 single seat fighter pilots in 1916. He quickly distinguished himself as a fighter pilot, and during 1917 became leader of Jasta 11 and then the larger unit Jagdgeschwader 1 - better known as the 'Flying Circus'. By 1918, he was regarded as a national hero in Germany, and was very well known by the other side. Richthofen was shot down and killed near Amiens on 21 April 1918. There has been considerable discussion and debate regarding aspects of his career, especially the circumstances of his death. He remains perhaps the most widely known fighter pilot of all time, and has been the subject of many books, films and other media. By the end of the war, the German Army Air Service possessed a total of 2,709 frontline aircraft, 56 airships, 186 balloon detachments and about 4,500 flying personnel. Casualties totalled 8,604 aircrew killed or missing or taken prisoner, 7,302 wounded with 3,126 aircraft, 546 balloons and 26 airships lost. Some 5,425 Allied aircraft and 614 kite balloons were destroyed. After the war ended in German defeat, the service was dissolved completely on May 8, 1920, under the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles, which demanded that its aeroplanes be completely destroyed. The Flying Circus: The Red Baron worked his way up through the ranks to become the leader of the German Air Force's largest squadron, Jagdgeschwader 1, pictured in 1917, which was otherwise known as The Flying Circus because of the bright colours of its aircraft