Wartime Christmas

By Anthony Richards

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When I was asked to write a book examining how Christmas was experienced by people living through the First and Second World Wars, I saw it as a challenge. How did people go about celebrating a season constructed around peace and friendship when they were busy fighting a brutal war?

Strikingly, many of the characteristics of a wartime Christmas were shared across both eras. There were shortages of food and other resources; separation from loved ones; shared entertainment; and an overwhelming desire to spoil one’s selves despite the various obstacles placed by conflict. Even something as simple as Christmas shopping became a complicated exercise during wartime, as Rose Cottrell discovered in December 1940:

Christmas shopping in the blackout is the most terrible business of all, especially when one does not know what to buy. Of course the crowds in the High Street are awful, and one keeps bumping into people and falling off the pavement, and getting tied up with dogs, and in the drizzle of course some people had umbrellas up and they were death traps. It is impossible to look in shop windows once the blackout starts. We arrived back about 6.30 with not much to show for our pains.

For a population worn down by war, the celebration of Christmas could serve as a brief return to normality. It was as if normal rules no longer applied, with both combatants and civilians seizing any opportunity to return to their annual traditions and escape the stresses of everyday life

One of the most obvious examples of this can be seen during the famous Christmas Truce of 1914, in which soldiers stationed in the trenches of Flanders – largely British and German – chose to fraternise together openly between the trenches. 2nd Lieutenant Willy Spencer recalled the event in a letter home:

There was no firing, so by degrees each side began gradually showing more of themselves, and then two of their men came halfway and called for an officer. I went out and found that they were willing to have an armistice for four hours, and to carry our dead men back halfway for us to bury. This I arranged and then – can you imagine it? – both sides came out, met in the middle, shook hands, wished each other compliments of the season, and had a chat. A strange sight between two hostile lines.

The two sides shared meals, laughed and joked together and played football before returning to their trenches and resuming hostilities. The episode was only possible due to the independence enjoyed by frontline soldiers at that time; when this was later removed, it would be impractical for such a largescale truce to happen again. But it also reminds us of the power of Christmas, inspiring behaviours which at other times of the year would have been impossible to justify.

People would go out of their way to celebrate Christmas in whatever circumstances they found themselves, whether on the Home Front where real Christmas trees and elaborate decorations were a rare commodity; in prisoner of war camps where soldiers combined resources in order to put on impressive theatrical shows for their mutual entertainment; or during frontline service where traditional religious observance was nigh-on impossible.

Governments and war leaders from all the combative nations recognised the importance of allowing their populace the opportunity to celebrate the festive holiday, since it benefitted wartime morale. An annual return to a strong tradition centred on happiness was never more important, reminding communities that the privations and restrictions they were suffering throughout the rest of the year were worthwhile burdens. Leslie Smith felt this sense of seasonal inspiration during the Blitz on London in December 1940:

The Spirit of Britain we hear so much about was epitomised in the Christmas Tree on the top step of the entrance to St Paul’s with fairy lights bravely competing against a glow of more sinister import. Such is London – carrying on as before – wounded, but fighting back.

Although my book is primarily concerned with the British experience of Christmas, German accounts are also included to show that it was a shared one. Friends and enemies largely celebrated the same holiday, sometimes for different reasons but ultimately to find peace and normality during a time of chaos in their lives. I therefore hope that readers will enjoy hearing about those who lived through wartime Christmases of the past, as we continue our own seasonal traditions.