Christmas 1924, Pt. 2: No Man’s Land

At midnight
We heard laughing as we worked
We heard singing from the German lines, carols
The tunes of which we knew
I noticed a very bright light on a tall pole
Raised in their lines
Down opposite the East Lancs trench
In front of the convent
A Christmas tree

With lighted candles
Was set
On their parapet
The unreal moonlight life went on happily
Cries of "come on over, Tommy, we won't fire at you"
A dark figure approached me, hesitatingly
A trap?
I walkеd towards it with a bumping heart
"Merry Christmas, English friend"
Wе shook hands tremulously
Then I saw that the light on the pole
Was the Morning Star
The star in the east
It was Christmas morning
All Christmas day
Gray and khaki figures mingled and talked in no-man's-land
Picks and spades rang in the hard ground
It was strange to stare at the dead
We had only glimpsed at swiftly from the trenches
The shallowest graves were dug
Filled, and set with crosses
Knocked together from lengths of ration-box wood
Marked with indelible pencil "For king and country"
"Für Vaterland"
"und Freiheit"
Fatherland and freedom
"Freedom"?
Freedom?
How was this?
We were fighting for freedom
And our cause was just
We were defending Belgium, civilization
These fellows in gray
Were good fellows
They were, strangely
Just men like ourselves
"How can we lose the war, English comrade?
Our cause is just
We are ringed with enemies
The war was thrust on us
We are defending our parents, our homes, our German soil"
A most shaking, staggering thought
That both sides thought they were fighting for the same cause
The war was a terrible mistake
People at home did not know this
Then the idea came to the young and callow soldier
That if only he could tell them at home
What was really happening
And if the German soldiers told their people
The truth about us
The war would be over
But he hardly dared to think it
Even to himself

The next day was quiet
And the next
Waving hands from the trenches by day
Singing and reflected blaze of trench bonfires at night
It was a lovely time