Did you know that On Dec. 25, 1914, five months into World War I, British and German troops on the Western Front stopped fighting in a spontaneous ceasefire; soldiers from opposing nations put their weapons aside to enjoy carols and a game of soccer together.
This is a wonderful video to watch leading up to Christmas time.
The new Sainsbury's Christmas ad. Made in partnership with The Royal British Legion. Inspired by real events from 100 years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWF2JBb1bvM 3 min 40 sec
Wikipedia explanation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_truce
Even Snopes says the event is true (Horary for Snopes)
http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/truce.asp
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Gene in Virginia Beach
Gene - That's very nice. Thank you for posting it.
Keith
Jesus was in the hearts of some of the German soldiers.
An Angel must have whispered to them... DO IT!
The Christmas truce of 1914, which occurred near Ypres, Belgium, was portrayed a half century ago in "Oh What a Lovely War," a film released early in 1969, which had an all-star cast. The truce sequel was perhaps the most memorable scene in this film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHObCL2luMw
There will no doubt be a flurry of televised remembrance about this event on Christmas Eve later this month.
Beautiful and heart warming. Merry Christmas, gentlemen. Karen and Bob
The reason Christmas Truces were not common on the Eastern front was because the Russians used a different calendar, and their Christmas was still nearly 2 weeks away. Because Europe all shared the same calendar, there was a common desire for all combatants to observe Christmas. The commanders of both sides were not happy with the truce, and took measures to counter it and took precautions the next years to prevent it happening again. Even so, there were cases of smaller Christmas Truces in 1915.
Can you imagine how hard it must have been for those troops on both sides to just go back to their sides and start killing each other again after sharing such a moment with their sworn enemies.
There's a fantastic foreign film about the Christmas truce called "Joyeux Noel." The film was done with German, French, Scottish and British actors and filmed in France. I would recommend the film to anyone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvHEUxIok00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-MGfNsgB3A
Hey Will, it was difficult, for that reason troops were mover to different areas, and more aggressive soldiers were sent to the front to fire on the enemy, this was done on both sides.
Great book was written about it around a dozen years ago by Stanley Weintraub - Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce. Well worth the read.
Here in Minneapolis, there is a stage production that has been put on for the past several years - "All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914."
It is a musical, but not in the traditional sense.
I don't know if the play has been staged in other cities.
http://www.alliscalm.org/All_Is_Calm___The_Christmas_Truce_of_1914/Welcome.html
http://www.hennepintheatretrust.org/events/all-calm-christmas-truce-1914-tickets -pantages-theatre-minneapolis-mn-2014
When the brass found out the troops were threatened with treason if they ever did it again.
That's a very nice sentiment. Sometimes we are that way with the Street Rodders.
Rich
I's a terrific and true story -- heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. I think it was the History Channel that had a very good hour long program on the event a few years ago.
The german soldiers no more wanted to be there than the brits and in time the doughboys. I'm sure all you realize the only one's who wanted those poor guys there on the lines were the "people" who were back in the warm french shadows.
Old men make wars,.......young men fight them!