An interesting fact
Making do in the trenches on the western front
The Christmas truce of 1914 is legendary as a moment of festive goodwill. An unofficial ceasefire allowed soldiers along the western front to emerge from the trenches, meet enemy combatants, exchange gifts and even play games.
Fear of mutiny meant that a rerun was strongly discouraged by army authorities in subsequent years, but soldiers still marked each Christmas as it arrived in the trenches with Christmas parcels and extra rations. Foul weather, flooded dug-outs and constant danger took a toll on the Christmas spirit. The British press, keen to present an official, positive view of war, published photographs and illustrations of soldiers opening parcels from home, or cheerfully cooking their Christmas pudding in a pot made from a German helmet.
But a cartoon from the soldier-artist Bruce Bairnsfather suggests a less cheerful Christmas for many: the dawn of a glum Christmas day, far from home in a war-torn landscape.
historian Hannah Scally