The Christmas Truce
90 years ago, during the Great War, on Christmas, 1914, troops on both sides disobeyed orders from their superiors. They stopped killing eachother. They sang songs, came out of the trenches on to no-man's land and helped eachother bury the corpses that had been lying there for months. They exchanged small gifts, and shared their food, drink, and smokes. At one place along the lines, someone had a soccer ball and the men played a game until the ball was ruined when it snagged some barbed-wire.
"It was a day of peace in war," commented a German participant, "It is only a pity that it was not decisive peace."
BBC article
About.com article
First world war.com article
And 90 years later, one man still remembers... first hand.
Last survivor of 'Christmas truce' tells of his sorrow (from The Observer) "'I'll give Christmas Day 1914 a brief thought, as I do every year. And I'll think about all my friends who never made it home. But it's too sad to think too much about it. Far too sad,' he said, his head bowed and his eyes filled with tears."
"It was a day of peace in war," commented a German participant, "It is only a pity that it was not decisive peace."
BBC article
About.com article
First world war.com article
And 90 years later, one man still remembers... first hand.
Last survivor of 'Christmas truce' tells of his sorrow (from The Observer) "'I'll give Christmas Day 1914 a brief thought, as I do every year. And I'll think about all my friends who never made it home. But it's too sad to think too much about it. Far too sad,' he said, his head bowed and his eyes filled with tears."