WW1 Christmas Truce
- Thread starter RollingBallofButcherKnives
- Start date
WW1 was crazy, most of the people on the field probably couldn't articulate a moral reason as to why they were fighting a war.
Listened to a podcast about it.
I seem to recall Military leaders from both sides threatened the men if something like this happened again. They didn’t want any friendliness to cloud the objectives.
Dan Carlin’s long podcasts on WWI are excellent.
I seem to recall Military leaders from both sides threatened the men if something like this happened again. They didn’t want any friendliness to cloud the objectives.
Dan Carlin’s long podcasts on WWI are excellent.
I've always been shocked at what WW1 soldiers had to deal with. They started the war using 18th century tactics, but against machine guns and long range artillery. Then had to deal with poison gas that was heavier than air and would persist in low lying areas, like trenches, dugouts and foxholes.
This is a good description of what the artillery was like. I've heard incoming and outgoing artillery (my dad was an Artillery officer), but nothing on the scale of a WW1 barrage. I'd suggest listening to the YT clip while reading, just to give a better understanding. The clip is a computer generated sound that's pretty close. And if you want the full effect, put earbuds or headphones on at full volume and understand real artillery is louder than that. And it would go on for hours. Preparatory fires involved MILLIONS of rounds.
The Christmas truce meant an escape from this.
angrystaffofficer.com
This is a good description of what the artillery was like. I've heard incoming and outgoing artillery (my dad was an Artillery officer), but nothing on the scale of a WW1 barrage. I'd suggest listening to the YT clip while reading, just to give a better understanding. The clip is a computer generated sound that's pretty close. And if you want the full effect, put earbuds or headphones on at full volume and understand real artillery is louder than that. And it would go on for hours. Preparatory fires involved MILLIONS of rounds.
The Christmas truce meant an escape from this.
Anatomy of a World War I Artillery Barrage
A lot has been said about the role of artillery in World War I, in both its intensity and ferocity. On the opening day of the Somme on July 1, 1916, British guns hurled 250,000 high explosive and s…
angrystaffofficer.com
I've always been shocked at what WW1 soldiers had to deal with. They started the war using 18th century tactics, but against machine guns and long range artillery. Then had to deal with poison gas that was heavier than air and would persist in low lying areas, like trenches, dugouts and foxholes.
This is a good description of what the artillery was like. I've heard incoming and outgoing artillery (my dad was an Artillery officer), but nothing on the scale of a WW1 barrage. I'd suggest listening to the YT clip while reading, just to give a better understanding. The clip is a computer generated sound that's pretty close. And if you want the full effect, put earbuds or headphones on at full volume and understand real artillery is louder than that. And it would go on for hours. Preparatory fires involved MILLIONS of rounds.
The Christmas truce meant an escape from this.
Anatomy of a World War I Artillery Barrage
A lot has been said about the role of artillery in World War I, in both its intensity and ferocity. On the opening day of the Somme on July 1, 1916, British guns hurled 250,000 high explosive and s…
Getting shelled would be terrifying AF anyway. Correct me if I'm wrong but you are basically taking cover as best you can and just waiting there and finding out if a shell lands on top of you and ends your existence on earth.
There's no easy description. It was decades of interrelated things happening, diplomatically and militarily, ending with the July Crisis that was started with Ferdinand's assassination.
Yeah
In WW1, the trenches were generally about 12-15 feet deep, and normally about 6-8 feet wide (some wider, some narrower). When a barrage would start, most of the rounds were hitting in front or behind the trench. And really, really loud, like loud enough a single round could momentarily drown out a rock concert.
In a small stretch, say a Battalion, (3 companies, around 100-120 men each), they would get 60-80 rounds per minute incoming...for hours. In a couple of instances, prep fires lasted days. Between the sound and the concussion, that the article details, guys in the trenches were taking a beating physically and mentally. Honestly, I've read elsewhere about it, and most men would reach the point of hoping a round would hit in the trench and end their misery.
We all know it was treaties that pulled so many countries in, but It took a whole documentary short I watched at the National WW1 Museum in Kansas City to explain why.
They also had a history lecture on the mystery of the soccer game the English and German troops were rumored to have played. Consensus was there was a kick about from troop reports, but not the organized match as depicted in popular culture.
Private Archibald Stanley remembers how his officer put an end to their armistice.
“Well, a few of them knocking around, this fella come up the next day. He says ‘you still got the armistice?’ He picked up his rifle and he shot one of those Germans dead.”
“Well, a few of them knocking around, this fella come up the next day. He says ‘you still got the armistice?’ He picked up his rifle and he shot one of those Germans dead.”
