![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/12\/truce.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe Christmas Truce.<\/p>\n
Here’s a picture of German and British soldiers fraternizing in “no man’s land” on that day:<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
What really happened? What’s myth, what’s truth? Does anyone care? I kind of don’t. From this article<\/a>:<\/p>\n The meeting of enemies as friends in no-man’s land was experienced by hundreds, if not thousands, of men on the Western Front during Christmas 1914. Today, 90 years after it occurred, the event is seen as a shining episode of sanity from among the bloody chapters of World War One \u0096 a spontaneous effort by the lower ranks to create a peace that could have blossomed were it not for the interference of generals and politicians.<\/p>\n The reality of the Christmas Truce, however, is a slightly less romantic and a more down to earth story. It was an organic affair that in some spots hardly registered a mention and in others left a profound impact upon those who took part.<\/p>\n Many accounts were rushed, confused or contradictory. Others, written long after the event, are weighed down by hindsight. These difficulties aside, the true story is still striking precisely because of its rag-tagged nature: it is more ‘human’ and therefore all the more potent.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Men on both sides wrote in their journals about the truce – they wrote letters home – their first-hand accounts:<\/p>\n Kurt Zehmisch of the 134th Saxons recorded in his diary: ‘The English brought a soccer ball from the trenches, and pretty soon a lively game ensued. How marvellously wonderful, yet how strange it was. The English officers felt the same way about it. Thus Christmas, the celebration of Love, managed to bring mortal enemies together as friends for a time.’<\/p>\n The Truce lasted all day; in places it ended that night, but on other sections of the line it held over Boxing Day and in some areas, a few days more. In fact, there parts on the front where the absence of aggressive behaviour was conspicuous well into 1915.<\/p>\n Captain J C Dunn, the Medical Officer in the Royal Welch Fusiliers, whose unit had fraternised and received two barrels of beer from the Saxon troops opposite, recorded how hostilities re-started on his section of the front.<\/p>\n Dunn wrote: ‘At 8.30 I fired three shots in the air and put up a flag with “Merry Christmas” on it, and I climbed on the parapet. He [the Germans] put up a sheet with “Thank you” on it, and the German Captain appeared on the parapet. We both bowed and saluted and got down into our respective trenches, and he fired two shots in the air, and the War was on again.’<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n More here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Christmas Truce. Here’s a picture of German and British soldiers fraternizing in “no man’s land” on that day: What really happened? What’s myth, what’s truth? Does anyone care? I kind of don’t. From this article: The meeting of enemies … Continue reading