Throughout World War I there were several brief moments when opposing sides in the trenches would put down their weapons for holidays such as Christmas and Easter. These truces usually took place between British and German soldiers on the Western Front.The first known truce happened on December 24, 1914. German soldiers decorated their trenches for Christmas, and they also placed candles on trees to replicate Christmas trees. The two groups of opposing troops began to sing Christmas Carols back and forth to each other. The best-known carol that they sang was Silent Night. The Germans would sing it in German and then the British troops would respond in English. After singing for a while the two sides met in the area known as No Man’s Land and exchanged gifts. The gifts that they would exchange included whisky, jam, cigars, chocolate. It is even rumored that the two sides played football games together.
On November 11, 2008 the first Christmas Truce memorial was unveiled. The memorial was put in Frelinghien, France because it was where the Christmas Truce football game was played. People from the First Battalion of the Royal Welsh and the German Panzergrenadier Battalion 371 played in a football game. They got to play because these were the two groups that took part in the first Christmas Truce.
I learned that even though these groups of people were from opposing armies they would still stop and celebrate Christmas with each other. I thought that it was nice that the two sides gave each other gifts, even though in the trenches they did not have very much to give. I think that the main reason these two sides did this was so they would not have to worry about the war and just have fun for a couple of days. It was fun to learn about something good that happened in World War I
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