Remembering the Christmas Truce of 1914, Albert Moran of the 2nd Queen’s Regiment wrote: “It was a beautiful moonlit night, frost on the ground, white almost everywhere; and…there were those 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.”

From: Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce by Stanley Weintraub.

The lights shining on the parapets — the tops of the German trenches — were candles. Up and down the lines of the Western Front, stretching from the shores of Belgium through France, soldiers sang Christmas carols and exchanged Christmas greetings across No Man’s Land. This was the Christmas truce of 1914, four months after the start of World War I.

German and Allied Soldiers Together

The truce began with the Germans. They lit candles on the parapets and on their Christmas trees. They sang Silent Night. Their Christmas spirit inspired the Allies. The British, French, and Belgian soldiers responded first by shooting flares into the sky and then singing Christmas carols.

Christmas Day Football

Signs went up. The British wrote “Merry Christmas.” The Germans wrote “Happy Christmas.” Men left the trenches and crossed No Man’s Land to greet each other. They exchanged gifts of chocolate, cakes, and tobacco and played games of football together. For a brief time, the joy of Christmas brought peace again to the men in the trenches on the Western Front.

If you like this article, then please consider sharing it and leaving a comment below. Thank you! Barbara Lowell, Children’s Author

You may like: Books For Kids Christmas (history) https://barbaralowell.com/books-for-kids-christmas

Books For Kids:

Shooting Stars: The Christmas Truce of 1914

By John Hendrix

Christmas in the Trenches

By John McCutcheon, Illustrated by Henri Sorensen

Christmas Truce: A True Story of World War I

By Aaron Shephard, Illustrated by Wendy Edelson