Photo came from this website: Political Blindspot
A century ago tonight, there was a truce on Christmas Eve on
the front lines of World War One. This was instituted and done by the men who
were there to fight – in spite of the fact that world leaders had completely
turned down such a truce. From the website listed above (for the photo) came
this report on the Christmas Truce.
Stanley Weintraub, author of “Silent Night: The Story
of the World War I Christmas Truce”, describes these events as follows:
“[T]he Germans set trees on trench parapets and lit the candles. Then, they
began singing carols, and though their language was unfamiliar to their
enemies, the tunes were not. After a few trees were shot at, the British became
more curious than belligerent and crawled forward to watch and listen. And
after a while, they began to sing. By Christmas morning, the “no man’s land”
between the trenches was filled with fraternizing soldiers, sharing rations and
gifts, singing and (more solemnly) burying their dead between the lines. Soon
they were even playing soccer, mostly with improvised balls.”
War is over. If you
want it. And here is a song about this event, from John McCutcheon.
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