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Thingish Things

The Christmas Truce

Written By: William F. B. O'Reilly - Dec• 25•11

It began with Christmas Carols on the night of December 24, 1914.  They were first sung in German, but soon spilled over the German lines, across “No Man’s Land” and into the Allied trenches, where they were carried in English and in French, three languages improbably joining across a battlefield in song. What resulted became known as The Christmas Truce of 1914.  All along the Western Front, French, English and other Allied soldiers, tentatively at first, and then by the thousands, joined their German enemies in the open field to share the Christmas spirit, trade what little they had, and bury their dead together.  In at least one instance a soccer ball materialized and a match ensued. The Truce went throughout Christmas Day, to the consternation of much of the military brass, and then, as quickly as it began, it ended.

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