The 9th track on the album 'Love' by David Powell and The Speekers

No one really knows where it began, nor whether it spread or broke out simultaneously along the trenches. However, it is believed that about 100,000 soldiers, two-thirds of the troops, took part in the truce.

The majority talk of carol singing from the trenches on Christmas Eve.

Albert Moren of the Second Queens Regiment described “a beautiful moonlit night, frost on the ground, white almost everywhere”.

Graham Williams of the Fifth London Rifle Brigade said:

“First the Germans would sing one of their carols and then we would sing one of ours, until when we started up ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’ the Germans immediately joined in singing the same hymn to the Latin words Adeste Fideles. And I thought, well, this is really a most extraordinary thing ­– two nations both singing the same carol in the middle of a war.”

On Christmas Day, in some places, German soldiers came out from their trenches, calling out “Merry Christmas” in English. Some Germans held up signs reading “You no shoot, we no shoot.” Allied soldiers slowly came out into “no man’s land” to greet them.

During the day troops exchanged cigarettes, food, buttons and hats. Both sides were also able to bury their dead, whose bodies still lay between the trenches in “no man’s land”.

Murdoch M. Wood, a British soldier, speaking in 1930, said: “I then came to the conclusion that I have held very firmly ever since, that if we had been left to ourselves there would never have been another shot fired.”

Lyrics:
Moonlight
Frost white
Trenches, and
barbed wire
Christmas Eve, 1914
Christmas Eve, 1914

Live and let live
We, no shoot
You, no shoot
Christmas truce, 1914
Christmas truce, 1914

Sing a carol
And bury the dead
In no man’s land
In no man’s land
Christmas Day, 1914
Christmas Day, 1914

Come all ye faithful
Merry Christmas, 1914
Christmas Day, 1914
Christmas truce, 1914

Reviewed by Jeremy at Sleeping Bag Studios:

Amazing.  Every time I think that David Powell And The Speekers couldn’t possibly wow me any more than they already have, a track like...“Christmas Truce 1914” will come on to remind me that 'Love' is filled with depth from one side of its lineup straight through to the other. 

With a bit less involved in the background of “Christmas Truce 1914,” and a more stoic melody guiding us along that is more tangible and close to something people would be familiar with…you can hear the effect that combination has on the vocals we hear, and we can hear them more clearly as a result.  This would be another track that’s right up there with the best of the best on 'Love' in my opinion though…and I’d be willing to bet you’ll feel the same…that’s the way universal sound works y’all, and that’s exactly what this song has. 

I listen to a track like “Christmas Truce 1914” and no lie…I’m outright amazed…it’s absolutely stunning.  While the words might be sparse, you feel the weight of their importance and what’s being said…and overall, it feels like we’re witnessing a true tribute to a historical moment with everlasting meaning to it.

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