A Christmas Truce

25^th Dec 1914 – A Christmas Truce

For Corporal John Graffham (My Great Grand Uncle in Law) serving with the 2^nd Battalion The Queens, Royal West Surrey Regiment Christmas day 100 years ago must have been a very strange experience indeed.

Earlier in the week on the 18^th December his battalion had supported a heavy attack on the German trenches in which the Warwicks, South Staffords and Royal Welch Fusiliers had received heavy casualties. The following day a local armistice occurred to collect the dead, during which time a officer from the South Staffords was killed by a sniper and two officers and seven stretcher bearers who had been enticed into the German Trenches and were taken prisoner. The armistice on the 19^th came to a swift end when the British shelled the German Trenches.

So one can only image the feelings and thoughts of John Graffham as the events of Christmas day 1914 unfolded. He had been involved in some of the heaviest fighting of the war over the last 3 months, with comrades being killed or wounded on a daily basis and yet.

Diary Extract – 25^th December 2^nd battalion the Queens Royal West Surrey

Xmas Day – At 11.0 am an armistice began – It started opposite the left of the Wiltshire Regt – the Regt on our right. Many German officers and men came out of their trenches to midway between the two lines – parties were sent out to collect and bury the dead who had been killed on the 18^th – graves were dug in the centre between the lines. 71 bodies were collected chiefly Warwicks….

…The Germans were nearly all belonging to the 55^th Regt – Several Staff officers also came over – these were quite a different class to the infantry officers, who were of a very low class. All professed themselves as confident as to their being able to end the war in their favour. They had no opinion of the Russians who they considered already beaten. All gave the appearance however of being fed up with the war. Armistice concluded at 4.0 pm with agreement to resume it at 9.0 am following morning as dead were not all buried.

The armistice at Christmas 1914 is one of the best known stories of World War One and even today is featuring in TV adverts. For John Joseph Graffham, my Great grand Uncle in law, 100 years ago today he experienced it with his own eyes.

No mention of Football though! More clearing and burying the dead, perhaps not a merry Christmas as the legends of the 1914 Christmas truce would make out.

Merry Christmas

Tony

Home by Christmas

23^rd December 1914

Home by Christmas

Private Charles Henry Bush (my 1^st Cousin 3 times removed) 100 years ago was serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) and had been out with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France since August 20^th.

Charles was serving at No 9 General Hospital, which had been initially established in Nantes at the outbreak of war and it had moved to Rouen in November 1914.

The common perception when war broke out in August 1914 was that the conflict would be all over by Christmas and everyone would be return home victorious.

How wrong that would prove to be! 

However, for Charles Bush, on the 23^rd December 1914, that situation was about to change. After 126 days in France, Charles, aged 36, was posted to New End Military Hospital, Hampsted and was home for Christmas Eve 1914.

New End Military Hospital

A huge change from the tented general hospitals based in Rouen. This new military hospital was established to cope with the ever increasing number of wounded servicemen from the front. Originally a Workhouse, which closed in January 1915 to become a military Hospital.

Tony

Life in the Trenches

9^th December 1914 

For Corporal John Graffham serving with the 2^nd Battalion The Queens, Royal West Surrey Regiment, the reality of life in the trenches was no doubt a vastly different experience than what anyone could have imagined the war would be like. The Battalion had just moved into the trenches West of La Boutillerie, Northern France and 100 years ago today the conditions for my Great Grand Uncle in law were far from ideal.

Battalion War Diary extract from 9^th December.

Trenches. The communication trenches very bad & in some places up to over knees. Three men had to be dug out of the mud last night (one man was rescued in the morning having been stuck in the mud all night. One man was killed by a sniper today whilst cutting branches of a tree). There are casualties reported daily the men prefer to walk in the open & be shot at than to walk along these terrible communication trenches. Strict orders have been issued about men exposing themselves. (A very dark night several messages came down that enemy were attacking our line eventually a report came in that the enemy were in our trenches. A star shell was fired & there was no sign of the enemy).

19 officers. 956 other ranks.

1 Killed 1 wounded 5 to hospital

How quickly the open warfare at the beginning of the War in 1914 had changed to the realities and conditions of trench warfare so associated with the conflict today. One can only imagine what my ancestors thoughts and daily experiences were. The constant daily danger and what he needs to do to survive, thoughts of home, Daisy his wife and his young son, Albert, only a few months old...

For reference - The man killed was Private John Holloran L/8459 he is commemorated on the Ploegsteert memorial (CWGC)

Tony