25th December 1915 On this day: Christmas in the trenches for 13th Welsh   "Garw Officer, 13th Battalion, Welsh Regiment - Christmas Eve, and we are in the trenches. We came in last night, and we will be here for some time. It is ferafully wet here. Last night I got simply soaked from head to foot. And the rats were mighty I am about 100 yards behind the front trenches, and the noise is fearful. Our battallion may be out on Monday, then four days in rest billets,about ----- miles behind, and then in again for 8 days,I think. I nearly got hit as we went out of the trenches on Wednesday night. I was with the Commanding Officer and another Colonel. Going out we had a dip and jump into a dugout,as there was a sniper on. We lost a Captain on our first day, killed by shrapnel. I hope you will have a happy Christmas. I wish I was with you, but this is my place, and I hope we shall be alright,"  Pantomime performed  Steady Bombardment  A Cheery Christmas celebrate Christmas at the front.   9th Lancers in billets, HQ Enquin. Church of England parade service at 0900 hours at Preures. Commanding Officer visited men of all Squadrons & Machine gun Section at their Christmas dinners. War Diary  To Bury the Dead SS Van Stirum torpedoed   At 1.35 p.m. on Christmas Day, 1915, the SS Van Stirum was fired on by two submarines and overhauled about an hour afterwards. At 2.32 p.m. the vessel was stopped, most of the crew embarking in two life-boats. The master, chief officer, chief engineer, and Marconi operator then got into a boat on the port side, leaving the boatswain and a seaman to lower away and follow them into the boat. One of the submarines was on the port quarter 200 yards away, and as these two men were coming down the falls, a torpedo was fired, which passed under the boat and struck the ship's side. The explosion killed both men in the falls. The position was 20 miles from land, and the survivors were picked up an hour later by a trawler. Many attempts were made to tow the ship to land, but due to bad weather each time the rope broke. After a nearly endless struggle with the seas, she capsized and foundered on December 26th. The 4 men on board helping with the ropes, were narrowly saved from drowning with the ship.  Christmas  Handshakes, Gifts and Songs  Relief Completed  Vacant Place at many Tables  Football Competition  Busy Christmas Day  In Hutments  Right Royal Style  Artillery Active  Greetings Exchanged  Celebrations  Church Parade  Beer and Pudding  Church Parades and Training  Christmas Festivities  Xmas day parade  At Rest    At Rest  In the Trenches  Reliefs Complete  Festive Celebrations  White Flag  Church Parade    Church Parade  Quiet  Merry Christmas  Quiet  Church Parade  In Camp  Christmas Dinner  Shelling  Guns Active  Instruction  Patrols  In Billets  Festivities  Festivities  Xmas Day 1915  Christmas concert  Officer shot man of German patrol in early morning.  Shelling  LNL Relieved  Quiet  Instruction  Guns Active  Church Parade  British Aeroplanes over German lines.  Christmas day.  Duty State Can you add to this factual information? Do you know the whereabouts of a unit on a particular day? Do you have a copy of an official war diary entry? Details of an an incident? The loss of a ship? A letter, postcard, photo or any other interesting snipts? If your information relates only to an individual, eg. enlistment, award of a medal or death, please use this form: Add a story.

Killed, Wounded, Missing, Prisoner and Patient Reports published this day. This section is under construction.

Want to know more about 25th of December 1915? There are:57 items tagged 25th of December 1915 available in our Library   These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War.

Remembering those who died this day, 25th of December 1915. Gnr. Herbert George "Bertie" Dolley. 48th Heavy Battery Royal Garrison Artillery Read their Story. Ord.Sea. John Tench Hetherington. SS Van Stirum Read their Story. Gunner Sidney Fleetwood Keeling. 34th Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery Read their Story. Pte. John King. 1st Btn. East Surrey Regiment Gnr. Stanley Mostyn Mathias. 48th Heavy Battery Royal Garrison Artillery Read their Story. Sgt. John McLarty. 1st/5th Btn. Highland Light Infantry Read their Story. Sgt. John Cruickshank Stables. 6th (City of Glasgow) Btn. Highland Light Infantry Read their Story. Capt. Harry Reid Thomas. 34th Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery Read their Story. Cpt. Harry Reid Thomas. 34th Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery Read their Story. Gnr. Walter Witham. 69th Brigade, D Battery Royal Field Artillery Read their Story. Add a name to this list.

Previous Day     Next Day Select another Date Day: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31   Month: January February March April May June July August September October November December   Year: 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919

The free section of The Wartime Memories Project is run by volunteers. This website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running. Hosted by: The Wartime Memories Project Website is archived for preservation by the British Library Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV - All Rights Reserved - We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.