BS: Christmas Truce (1914)

Subject: RE: BS: Christmas Truce
From: Beer
Date: 02 Dec 10 - 11:41 PM

I don't like your take on the past events. In fact i wonder if you believe that the WW2 happened.
ad.

Subject: RE: BS: Christmas Truce
From: catspaw49
Date: 02 Dec 10 - 10:53 PM

I would suggest to you THIS THREAD and the ones linked at the top of it for a lot of information as well as John's song and a couple of others regarding the events of that time. John McCutcheon's song "Christmas in the Trenches" is also in the DT.

This was more than "mythic" in the sense of it never happening. Not only did it happen but it was also not a single event but happened in several places and in the best known instance it also lasted a few days. The "Main Event" if you will, is best described in brief at Snopes. Lots of great stuff on the net regarding the event.

I saw a PBS or Discovery program awhile back about a place where relatives of the men often go to celebrate the event......Wish I could remember where or what it was on...................


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Christmas Truce
From: Joe_F
Date: 02 Dec 10 - 10:11 PM

That's in McCutcheon's song: And in a flare-lit football game we gave 'em hell. I can't even think of that song without crying.

Subject: RE: BS: Christmas Truce
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 02 Dec 10 - 06:52 AM

Paul McCartney's Pipes of Peace was about that I believe. Wasn't there even a brief game of football before getting back to the war?

Subject: RE: BS: Christmas Truce
From: open mike
Date: 01 Dec 10 - 02:16 PM

several songs memorilaize this truce...the most moving is perhaps the one by John McCutcheon called Christmas in the Trenches. There are others , too. there are most likely other threads where we have discussed this..the search box will reveal these....

Subject: BS: Christmas Truce
From: Richie Black (misused acct, bad email)
Date: 01 Dec 10 - 01:58 PM

One of the mythic events of World War I, was the 1914 Christmas Truce which began on Christmas Eve along the British and German lines around Ypres, Belgium.

While it took hold in some areas manned by the French and Belgians, it was not widespread as these nations viewed the Germans as invaders. Along the 27 miles of front manned by the British Expeditionary Force, Christmas Eve 1914 began as a normal day with firing on both sides. While in some areas firing began to slacken through the afternoon, in others it continued at its regular pace.

This impulse to celebrate the holiday season amid the landscape of war has been traced to several theories. Among these was the fact that the war was only four months old and the level of animosity between the ranks was not as high as it would be later in the war.

That's my view of it anyway.