The Christmas Truce of 1914 has passed now almost into legend. Great armies engaged on the Western Front in the bloodiest of all wars called a ceasefire and instead came together in a spirit of peace to exchange gifts, play football and sing carols. Diaries held at Dorset History Centre provide a first-hand account of this remarkable lull in the fighting.
Regimental Sergeant Major George Beck grew up in Warwickshire and in 1898, at the age of 18, he joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment as a private and a little more than a year later he found himself fighting in the Boer Wars in South Africa. He married and settled on Portland. At the outbreak of the First World War his regiment was sent to France and the now Quarter-Master Sergeant Beck began to keep a diary of his time in the trenches. His diaries are now held at the Dorset History Centre (ref. D/1820) and record the Christmas Truce.
He wrote on 24 December:
“Germans shout over to us and ask us to play them at football, and also not to fire and they would do likewise. At 2am (25) a German Band went along their trenches playing “Home Sweet Home” and “God Save the King” which sounded grand and made everyone think of home.”
On 25 December:
“Christmas Day. Not one shot was fired. English and German soldiers intermingled and exchanged souvenirs. Germans very eager to exchange almost anything for our “Bully Beef” and jam”
Beck’s granddaughter, Caroline Milverton said: “As my grandfather did not expect his diaries to be read by anyone other than himself or his family if he died while fighting, he had no reason to write anything but the facts; the Christmas Truce 1914 was a remarkable event.”
Promoted to Regimental Sergeant Major in 1915, George Beck survived the war earning the Military Cross, the Distinguished Service Medal and twice being mentioned in dispatches. He died in 1928 and was buried at St George’s churchyard on Portland with full military honours and an escort of 40 members of the bus company he had worked for.
The diaries of Regimental Sergeant-Major George Beck are being published by the Dorset History Centre exactly 100 years after they were written, with regular entries posted online giving a first-hand account of his remarkable story.
The diary entries are available to view on an online blog and on Twitter @RSM_GBeck.