Chapter 233 Merry Christmas

In Ypres, Belgium, the sky, which had never seen sunshine, gradually darkened.

The weather was getting colder, and the originally damp and muddy land here had frozen into ice. A shovel could only produce a small white dot.

Captain Claude hoped to dig a climbable "ladder" on the side of the trench so that it would be easier for him to stick his head out and see what was going on.

But he finally gave up, threw away his engineer shovel, crawled into the tunnel, rubbed his hands and complained: "Maybe we can only hope that the German artillery shells can help us complete those damn fortifications."

The soldiers crowded in the tunnel laughed and passed the few remaining cigarettes around in the dim, flickering candlelight.

One advantage of winter was that fortifications were much stronger and German artillery would often freeze, so the heat of the war would drop.

Or it could be said that after more than three months of fighting, they had become fed up with it as they had thought the war would end soon.

Lieutenant Denis handed Captain Claude a newspaper: "Take a look at this, it may warm you up!"

Captain Claude took the newspaper tremblingly, spread it out towards the candle, squinted his eyes and saw that it said "Charles will distribute 10,000 marching blankets to the soldiers on the front line before Christmas Eve."

"It's good news indeed!" Captain Claude said, but his reaction was very flat: "There are too many people on the front line. If this batch of troops is assigned to us, there may be only a few hairs left."

The soldiers laughed again:

"Charles is a good officer, and he always brings victory to France."

"He also sent us supplies without interruption."

"But he is only one person, and other capitalists regard him as an enemy and rival, just because he is different from others..."

"No, no." Captain Claude shook his head: "You fools!"

Looking at his puzzled subordinates, Captain Claude explained: "Do you think other capitalists regard Charles as an enemy simply because he is different from others?"

"What's that for?"

"What else do you know, Captain?"

The soldiers gathered around curiously. In the boring, arduous and dangerous tunnels, fresh and interesting topics were always the most popular.

Captain Claude did not answer but asked: "Think about it, the capitalists would rather pour out the milk than leave it for the hungry people. Do you know why?"

The soldiers were stumped by the question. Although they knew that the capitalists did this, they didn't know why.

This is indeed unbelievable. On one hand, capitalists are pouring unsold milk into the river, and on the other hand, people are starving to death.

Why not give the milk to the starving people? It would also earn them a good name.

Captain Claude replied in a low voice: "The reason is very simple. Among those hungry people, maybe 1% can still afford milk, or 100 people can buy a cup of milk if they pool their money. But if the capitalists give them milk, they don't need to buy it. And once the demand pressure is reduced, the price of milk, which has already fallen to the lowest point, will fall further. That would be against themselves!"

The soldiers suddenly realized:

“It would keep them from making any money.”

"It's disgusting that these capitalists are willing to watch people starve to death just for such a small amount of money."

"They only care about making money. It's their business if other people lose their lives!"

Soon they were thinking of Charles again, and someone asked: "But what does this have to do with Charles?"

Captain Claude just said "hmm" and smiled without answering.

Soon someone thought:

"Charter used his own financial resources to send a large amount of supplies to the people on the front line for free. This will reduce the demand on the front line."

“Yes, it keeps the capitalists from raising prices and makes them unable to make money.”

"God, the capitalists are against Charles because of his good deeds!"

In the tunnel, the soldiers immediately began to curse the capitalists and speak up for Charles.

Suddenly, Captain Claude ordered hurriedly: "Silence, silence!"

The soldiers fell silent instantly, then at the captain's command they grabbed their weapons, rushed out of the tunnel, spread out in front of the trenches and prepared for battle, as they thought the enemy would take advantage of this opportunity to launch a surprise attack.

Listening carefully, I heard a little singing coming from the darkness on the opposite side.

Lieutenant Denis carefully leaned his head out and listened for a while. When he retracted his head, there was a bit of a weird look on his face: "The Germans are celebrating Christmas. These bastards, it's really a memorable Christmas. I wish them a happy Christmas every year!"

The soldiers laughed softly, but there was bitterness in their laughter because they were also enjoying this "memorable Christmas."

Someone jokingly rolled up his hands and shouted across the street: "Hey, Germans, Merry Christmas!"

This humorous behavior caused the surrounding soldiers to laugh out loud, and someone even joked, "Andre, your words are more effective than cannons!"

However……

From the darkness on the other side came the response of "Merry Christmas" in French.

Then, more and more people shouted "Merry Christmas", some of whom had obviously just learned it and their pronunciation had changed.

Captain Claude realized that the Germans took their men's humor seriously.

But why can't it be true?

"Merry Christmas!" Captain Claude shouted with sincerity in his tone.

The soldiers were stunned for a moment, then they also shouted to the opposite side: "Merry Christmas!"

Soon, a little fire appeared on the German side. It was bright at first but soon dimmed.

But the French soldiers still saw clearly that it was a Christmas tree, and they used candles to decorate it. They just looked out from the trench and extinguished a large part of it, and the only light was...

My God, that was a German officer shielding his hands from the strong wind.

The French soldiers should have opened fire, because that was the enemy, and an officer at that. He was exposed to the firelight, with his upper body completely protruding out of the trench, and the distance was only over a hundred meters!

Just shoot and he'll be dead!

But no one fired a shot, as if some kind of tacit understanding had been reached.

The German officer shouted across: "Is everything all right, French? We are freezing to death!"

Captain Claude smiled slightly. He understood the German officer's humor: There is no need for you to deal with us, just wait for us to freeze to death.

"Everything is fine, Germans!" Captain Claude responded: "We just have to see who can hold out to the end, don't you think?"

People from both camps laughed.

Then everyone understood that in this environment there seemed no need to kill each other!

Humans are born with this tendency. In times of danger and hardship, they want to unite and overcome difficulties together. Christmas is just the fuse.

At first they chatted and shouted to each other across the trenches, but soon someone boldly ran to the "no man's land" in the middle to exchange gifts.

This action was like opening Pandora's box. More and more people started exchanging gifts, including cigarettes, candies, chocolates, and everything else.

Finally, they invited each other to have a drink in their trench, and the atmosphere was very harmonious.

(End of this chapter)