The WWI Christmas Truce

[icyfroth]

IT was one of the most remarkable events of any war, an unexpected outbreak of humanity in a cold, muddy hell, 100 years ago this week.

But did the famous World War I Christmas truce really happen the way it’s been portrayed in movies and assorted stories down the years?

Here’s an abbreviated version of the Australian War Memorial’s official account:

“On Christmas Eve 1914, soldiers of the British, French and German armies were hunkered down in trenches on the Western Front … As night fell, the sound of German soldiers singing carols drifted across No Man’s Land, and small fir trees and lanterns appeared on the tops of their trenches. Some soldiers ventured out to meet and exchange gifts … to talk, take photographs, and even play football.”

Entire Article Here

That remarkable incident has certainly gone down in the annals of history

[lind9650]

Yes, Icy.

And it happened in different places in WWII as well. Soldiers admitting to their enemies that they would rather be home, than killing people they don't know.

But they would have been punished very severely by their commanders had they deserted.

Erica

[icyfroth]

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@lind9650 wrote:

Yes, Icy.

And it happened in different places in WWII as well. Soldiers admitting to their enemies that they would rather be home, than killing people they don't know.

But they would have been punished very severely by their commanders had they deserted.

Erica

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Yes indeed. In fact, after the christmas celebrations, soldiers that ventured out of no mans land into enemy territory were shot point blank.