Christmas 1939
Like all wars, the Second World War was to be over by Christmas, unfortunately, it would see six before it finally ended in 1945.
Soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force celebrate Christmas in France
As 1939 came to a close Europe once again found itself at war, with Poland having been invaded and occupied by the Germans in September, the Soviets fighting in Finland, U-Boats again prowling the Atlantic, and the Western Front static, with German troops arrayed against Anglo-French forces in the so called “Phoney War”.
In Britain, King George VI read his annual Christmas Message over the radios of the BBC, live from Sandringham House in Norfolk. In it he expressed his sorrow that during the Christmas season, traditionally one of peace, was sullied by war once again. He stated his pride in the armies of the British Empire, and ended it with a hopeful quotation from the poen God Knows, by Minnie Haskins.
“I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year. “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown. “ And he replied. “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.
May that Almighty hand guide and uphold us all. “
George VI making a radio address in 1937
In Finland, which had been invaded by the USSR in November, the war for survival against the Soviet aggression continued on. On Christmas Day the Soviets launched an attack on Finnish lines at Kelja, advancing with heavy artillery support against the Finn positions, although all attacks are turned back by nightfall. It would prove to be only the first of three days of fierce fighting on the frozen fields of the Karelian Isthmus.
Finnish troops participate in a Christmas Service in 1939
In Western Europe, however, the fighting had yet to being. What the British called the Phoney War, the French the Drôle de guerre and the Germans the Sitzkrieg was in full swing, and no major actions had yet taken place in the west. The RAF reconnaisance planes often appeared over the German positions in the Siegfried Line, while the disinterested Germans waved at them as they passed overhead. Both sides intermittently blared propaganda at each other, but very little battle took place. As Christmas came, the belligerents set about celebrating in the field, with some even being able to return home on leave.
British and French troops share drinks at Christmas near Metz
For those who could not, many would take steps to decorate their bunkers and dugouts, as well as sometimes participating in gift exchanges or even Christmas parties. Sometimes soldiers would “appropriate” turkeys from local farms in order to have a proper Christmas dinner. All things considered, Christmas 1939 on the Western Front would only be beaten by the truce of 1914 as an oasis of peace during the war.
German soldiers gather around a Christmas Tree in a bunker on the Siegfried Line
At home, the realities of war were only beginning to appear, such as blackouts at night and sandbags appearing around monuments in the cities. In London, blackout regulations force window shoppers inside, as the windows were papered for blackout regulations, although rationing and shortages of goods had not yet fully set in. In Britain, many children had been evacuated from the cities, and Christmas, of course, would prove a difficult time for those who had been separated from their families.
Elsewhere, in Poland, the darkness of German occupation had already come, characteristic by the brutal treatment if the Poles. In Germany itself, the Nazi ideology continued a push to separate Christmas from Christianity, with swastikas and runes replacing traditional Christmas symbols. The Nazis had, through the party’s Positive Christianity doctrine, been pushing the official line away from the Jewish origins of Christ, and had also been inserting pagan elements into popular culture, such as attempting to replace Santa Claus with Odin. Popular carols were rewritten with religious references removed, and there was even a subtle push to celebrate the coming of Hitler rather than Jesus Christ.
A village Christmas Tree in Germany, note the rune atop the monument - Wilhelm Walther collection
Just as the Phoney War seemed almost as though Europe was still at peace, for much of the world Christmas of 1939 felt much as it had in the previous years, although now the dark shadow of war loomed ahead, as 1940 promised to be the first true year of global warfare since 1918.