The Christmas Truce - X Marks the Scot

Inchessi · #1 12-13-2009, 07:22 AM

I succumbed to boredom, actually to the concept of background noise, and turned on the TV. The show on the History Channel, much to my surprise was not about Hitler.

It encompassed the days leading up to the Christmas Truce of 1914. While the first pictures showing kilts were worn on corpses, they soon followed with a reenactment of a football game (soccer for my fellow Americans) between the British and the Germans.

At first glimpse, It looked as though some of the men were wearing long coats with high boots. A few movements of the men in question showed that the Scots were wearing a khakis cover over a Black Watch kilt. A German letter was read, and in it a German was explaining that they (the Germans) were surprised that the men wore a kilt. Not exactly his words. He also stated that during the football game some exposure was seen. This stunned the Germans at first, then every time following was met by whistles and good natured hooting.

tulloch · #2 12-13-2009, 07:50 AM

Amazing. Sorry I do not have the history channel for things like this. Maybe I can find it on dvd some time.

LANCER1562 · #3 12-13-2009, 08:43 AM

I have the DVD of "Joyux Noel (sp?)/ Merry Christmas" in which that scene is recreated although without the unintended exposure. A very moving film.

peacekeeper83 · #4 12-13-2009, 11:24 AM

You might find the History Channel has most of it's programs available on DVD. Check out their online site... they just might have it.

WClarkB · #5 12-13-2009, 12:00 PM

I am always a bit leery of the History Channel as I have found they do not fact check as well as they should (e.g. Constantinople's date of name change was off by about 500 years) but dramatization of the "Christmas between the lines" was indeed moving.

cajunscot · #6 12-13-2009, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peacekeeper83

You might find the History Channel has most of it's programs available on DVD. Check out their online site... they just might have it.

They do; It's in our library. The meeting between the son of a German soldier and Bruce Bairnsfather's* daughter at the Menin Gate was particularly moving.

*The creator of "Old Bill", the British WWI equivalent of Mauldin's Willie & Joe.

While the History Channel's track record can be spotty at times regarding historical accuracy, this one was pretty good.

T.

james a. husky · #7 12-13-2009, 05:36 PM

We do a lot of work with the History Channel at reenactments (RevWar and F&I War). They are all wonderful people.

The problem is that they are on a budget, and the things that are put in during editing... Well... they aren't always all that accurate! Programs are created with the wrong uniforms for the particular campaign, Regiments are shown that weren't even AT the particular battle being depicted, and sometimes, even the weapons are out of period. Lots of errors... not a problem for the average viewer, but really glaring for those who know.

The folks that muck through the bush with camera and sound equipment really do, however, give their best to getting LOT'S of "footage" with which to create a feature. It just doesn't always get put together correctly.

Jim aka kiltiemon

Lachlan09 · #8 12-13-2009, 11:34 PM

In Joyeux Nöel, the Royal Scots Fusiliers were portrayed. The Christmas truce was also portrayed in the film “Oh ! What A Lovely War !”. Among the dialogue, some of it humorous, they used extracts from letters of participants and witnesses to the events (eg the German who had a girlfriend and motor-bike in Suffolk, the football match etc). The Black Watch was represented, in goat-skin jerkins, scarves etc, swapping glugs of German Schnapps with Germans for “Scottish Schnapps”.

Winter in the trenches was always problematic for kilted troops. The static situation didn’t help them a lot. My Great Uncle, who was killed with the 8th Black Watch, 9th Scottish Division at Arras on 3rd May 1917, wrote a letter home in December 1915 on one very crowded sheet of YMCA paper (my family still has it). Amongst comments like his current duty being stationed in a listening sap in No-Man’s Land and what he calls “there’s a queer smell in the trenches”, he also asks that a pair of his old gardening trousers be sent out to him, so he can cut them at the knees to wear under his kilt in the bitterly cold weather. This was a pretty common solution to the problem. In fact, the Army ordered in Winter 1916 that kilted troops be issued khaki trousers and puttees for wear in the coldest part of the winter, which was apparently repeated in Winter 1917.

Kilts in WW1 have a chequered history (pun !) As you all know, they were "lice city" and soldiers spent many happy hours running lit candles up and down the recesses of the pleats, burning out the "chats" and their eggs.

English Bloke · #9 12-14-2009, 12:20 AM

The folk singer and broadcaster Mike Harding wrote a cracking song called 'Christmas 1914' :

http://www.mikeharding.co.uk/books/o.../xmas1914.html

It's also on Youtube if you want to hear it.

Inchessi · #10 12-14-2009, 02:20 PM

Ah ha! Mr. Lachlan09's
I do appreciate your input. I wondered about the white coats worn by some of the re-en actors. They tend to stand out, and not something I would be comfortable wearing knowing somebody was looking for me at the other end of a rifle. That being said, would the khaki covering over the kilts be for cold weather, or to protect the kilt? I had thought it was to blind in with the surroundings.