December 24, 1914
When British soldiers south of Ypres saw lights and strange shapes moving about in the opposite trench, they wondered if there was a night attack coming. It was only when they heard the carol singing across no-man’s-land that they realized the Germans were just celebrating Christmas.
Slowly, and more out of curiosity than anything else, men began to peer out of the trenches. Soon, soldiers on both sides were stepping into no-man’s-land. It didn’t take long for the rival soldiers to strike up conversations. They suggested having a short cease-fire – a truce so they could come out and bury their dead. As the sun came up on Christmas Day, crowds of soldiers could be seen in the middle of the battlefield. Men came face-to-face with their enemies, most of them unarmed and eager to shake hands.
The soldiers shared stories and traded tobacco or buttons from their uniforms. A man who had been a barber before the war offered haircuts to all comers for the price of a few cigarettes. In one section of the line, the two sides even played a friendly match of soccer.
But, as night fell, the men returned to their posts in the trenches. In most sections of the Western Front, the Christmas Truce lasted little more than a few hours.
Usborne Book of the The World Wars.
3 comments:
yes - I'd heard of that. Totally gut wrenching...like why are we still fighting when we can come out and play soccer together??? Unbearable.
Have you seen the movie "Silent Night?" Similar situation and based on a true story.
The summary from Netflix:
This retelling of a heartwarming true story is set in Germany on Christmas Eve of 1944, as a German mother, Elisabeth Vincken (Linda Hamilton), and her young son, Fritz (Matthew Harbour), face invasion of their home by both American and German troops. Against all odds, the mother and son try to persuade the soldiers from both sides to temporarily call a truce so that they may all join together and break bread in the spirit of Christmas.
haven't seen it, I'll add it to my cinemail list (canadian version of netflix), thanks for the recommendation! Looking for something on the Red Baron, know of one? =)
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