| Christmas Truce |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT CHRISTMAS TRUCE | |
| world war i | |
| christmas | |
| british-german relations | |
| 1914 | |
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The "Christmas truce" is a term used to describe the brief unofficial cessation of hostilities that occurred between German , British and French troops stationed on the Western Front of World War I during Christmas 1914. The truce began on Christmas Eve , December 24 1914 , during World War I , when German troops began decorating the area around their Trenches in the region of Ypres , Belgium , for Christmas . They began by placing candles on trees, then continued the celebration by singing Christmas Carol s, namely ''Stille Nacht'' (''Silent Night''). The British troops in the trenches across from them responded by singing English carols. The two sides continued by shouting Christmas greetings to each other. Soon thereafter, there were calls for visits across the " No Man's Land ", where small gifts were exchanged — Whisky , Cigar s, and the like. The Artillery in the region fell silent that night. The truce also allowed a breathing spell where recently-fallen soldiers could be brought back behind their lines by burial parties. Proper burials took place as soldiers from both sides mourned the dead together and paid their respect. At one funeral in No Man's Land, soldiers from both sides gathered and read a passage from the 23rd Psalm : : ''"The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil."'' The truce spread to other areas of the lines, and there are many stories — some perhaps Apocrypha l — of Football matches between the opposing forces. Letters home confirm the score of one of these games to be 3–2 in favour of Germany. In many sectors, the truce lasted through Christmas night, but in some areas, it continued until New Year's Day . The truce occurred in spite of opposition at higher levels of the military. Earlier in the autumn, a call by Pope Benedict XV for an official truce between the warring governments had been ignored. British commanders Sir John French and Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien vowed that no such truce would be allowed again. (However, both had left command before Christmas 1915.) In all of the following years of the war, artillery bombardments were ordered on Christmas Eve to ensure that there were no further lulls in the combat. Troops were also rotated through various sectors of the front to prevent them from becoming overly familiar with the enemy. Despite those measures, there were a few friendly encounters between enemy soldiers, but on a much smaller scale than the previous year. Nevertheless, commanders of both allied forces and the central powers were against informal truces. One soldier in the German army who felt that such an understanding should not exist during wartime was Adolf Hitler {Link without Title} . During Easter 1916 a similar truce also existed on the Eastern Front . INFORMAL ARMISTICE |
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