‘I shall never forget it’: 100 years since WWI Christmas truce

Fox News ^ | Dec 24, 2014 | Unknown

[Whenifhow]

With British and German forces separated only by a no-man's land littered with fallen comrades, sounds of a German Christmas carol suddenly drifted across the frigid air.

"It was a beautiful moonlit night, frost on the ground, white almost everywhere: and at about 7 or 8 in the evening there was a lot of commotion in the German trenches and there were these lights -- I don't know what they were. And then they sang, "Silent Night" – "Stille Nacht." I shall never forget it, it was one of the highlights of my life. I thought, what a beautiful tune," Pvt. Albert Moren, a British soldier, wrote in a journal.

Then, during that first Christmas Day during World War I, in 1914, something magical happened, at least in some areas.

Soldiers, the number is hard to quantify but believed to be around 100,000, who had been killing each other by the tens of thousands for months, climbed out of their soggy trenches to seek a shred of humanity amid the horrors of war.

Hands reached out across a narrow divide, presents were exchanged, and in Flanders Fields a century ago, a spontaneous Christmas truce briefly lifted the human spirit.

"Not a shot was fired," Lt. Kurt Zehmisch of the 134th Saxony regiment wrote in his diary that Christmas.

[Whenifhow]

Cardinal Timothy Dolan's powerful Christmas message

http://video.foxnews.com/v/3959642429001/cardinal-timothy-dolans-powerful-christmas-message/

Video – 3:40 Minutes

Sainsbury's OFFICIAL Christmas 2014 Ad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWF2JBb1bvM

100 years ago, on the Christmas Eve of 1914, a series of sporadic, unofficial truces spread across the front lines of those fighting in the trenches of World War One. That moving moment is documented in a new advert by Sainsbury’s, a large supermarket chain in the U.K.

[Whenifhow]

Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s powerful Christmas message
http://video.foxnews.com/v/3959642429001/cardinal-timothy-dolans-powerful-christmas-message/

Video – 3:40 Minutes

Sainsbury’s OFFICIAL Christmas 2014 Ad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWF2JBb1bvM

100 years ago, on the Christmas Eve of 1914, a series of sporadic, unofficial truces spread across the front lines of those fighting in the trenches of World War One. That moving moment is documented in a new advert by Sainsbury’s, a large supermarket chain in the U.K.

[laplata]

Sainsbury’s OFFICIAL Christmas 2014 Ad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWF2JBb1bvM

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That’s a tear jerker. Thanks for posting.

Merry Christmas!

[Vigilanteman]

A nice chapter in one of the most stupid, senseless wars in history.

[Snowyman]

John McDermott - Christmas in the Trenches

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfdOOCOQ9sk

[MacNaughton]

2005, 116 minutes, English sub-titles

[microgood]

I am right in the beginning of reading The Last of the Doughboys. It is a real eye opener.

[jmacusa]

At that moment they all should have thrown the guns away, gone home to their respective countries and strung up their respective monarchs. WW1 was really just a spat between royal cousins that some 10 million people had to die for.

[Patton@Bastogne]

how’s that ?

[Nateman]

I’ve heard the story , on and off through the years. 100 years, to the day, makes this itself a special day.

[SunkenCiv]

[samtheman]

Was it stupid and senseless for the Belgium and French to defend themselves when attacked?

[sneakers]

Wow, beautiful! Thank you for the link!

Merry Christmas!

[Nowhere Man]

A nice chapter in one of the most stupid, senseless wars in history.

Yeah, I agree. Look at what it started, it started us on the road to the deaths of hundreds of millions and the beginning of the suicide of the West. I think the soldiers should have taken their rifles, gone home and made their rulers dress in tights, shove them in a wrestling ring and make then duke it out themselves. I think George V and Tsar Nicholas would have made an interesting team. I think if the US stayed out of it, despite the wasted lives, I think WWI would have had to come to an end in a more equal negotiated peace, perhaps we could have avoided the second World War. I think if I mad add, Woodrow Wilson deserves a kick in the butt too.

[jmacusa]

The whole bloody mess could have been avoided long before that.

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic is from the FRchives and probably years past. Adding to the GGG catalog.

• Christmas on the Battlefield - The 1914 Christmas truce. [2001]
• 'No shoot' on Christmas Eve, 1914 [2001]
• Christmastime 1914: Soldiers Halted War for Day of No Hate [2002]
• WWI - THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE, 1914 [2002]
• The Christmas Truce [2003]
• Last survivor of 'Christmas truce' tells of his sorrow [2004]
• Last survivor of 'Christmas truce' tells of his sorrow (1914 - 1942 - 2004) [2004]
• The Ghost of Christmas Past, The Christmas Truce of 1914 [2004]
• Last allied witness of WWI Christmas truce dies [2005]
• Peace Breaks Out on Christmas Eve [2005]
• THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914 [2005]
• Joyeux No"l (A Movie about the WWI Christmas Truce) [2006]
• The Christmas Truce of 1914 [2008]
• This Week in History: The Christmas Truce of 1914 [2011]
• How English and German soldiers bonded during WWI Christmas Day Truce by telling jokes about the [2014]
• The Spirit of the 1914 Christmas Truce<
• PHOTOS: Soldiers in Afghanistan play soccer in memory of World War One truce [2014]
• FReeper Canteen ~ The Christmas Truce ~ 02 January 2017 [2017]
• Christmas in the Trenches, The True Story [2017]

[Hot Tabasco]

I'm not Catholic but I love Cardinal Dolan and drop whatever I'm doing to listen to him whenever he's on FOX. I love Father Jonathan Morris too..........

Thanks for posting