Tommy?.......Fritz?.........

[lakritze]

It was totally unexpected;troops who have been killing each other,embraced and danced, sung songs and stopped the madness of WWI. The truce was observed by the British and German troops in the southern part of Ypres Salient,Belgium.German soldiers began to decorate Christmas trees withlit candles.The surprised British closely watched the action. Carols began to be sung.The Germans called out "TOMMY?" The Britts replied "FRITZ?" The German soldiers invited the British over to celebrate.The guns of war became silient. They shared whisky and cigars,letters were exchanged.A football match occured and for a moment sanity had replaced the madness of war.

[Steph]

i've heard something similar on a Brit's folk album - where did you hear that?

[jennaflower]

I have heard similar lore... but I hadn't heard about the Tommy/Fritz spin.. I always heard that the silence/break of war occurred over the singing of Silent Night..

I doubt that anyone will ever know whether or not it ever occurred.. except of course the brave men who would have lived it... most of which are gone now..

[Ryan²]

I'm off to the Imperial War Museum in London tomorrow, by the way. Good timing.

[jseal]

Gentlefolk,

Yes. It happened at Christmas 1914. Here are a few references. Quite remarkable.

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/christmas_1914_and_world_war_one.htm

http://europeanhistory.about.com/library/bldyk12.htm

http://www.christmas-time.com/cp-trench.html

You'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to read this one.

http://www.schooltimes.com/2003ST/centurysample.pdf

[dicksbro]

I'd heard that following this spontaneous "truce," a number of generals on both sides became desparately concerned that if this kept up, the soldiers would end the war.

Wouldn't that have been interesting ... like ... what if they gave a war and nobody came?

[jseal]

dicksbro,

In the words of Art Garfunkel - what a wonderful world it would be! During the century in which our notion of war changed from the cavalry charge and fixed bayonet charges to the Exocet and the M1A2 Abrams tank, the fact that in 1914 some thousands of the men of the warring nations shook hands between their trenches strikes, to me, a powerful note. It is an appealing Christmas story of modern times.

[LixyChick]

It should be a song!

Why isn't that a song?

*shuts up now....cause maybe it already is!*

[Steph]

Thanks for the references, jseal.

There's a left-wing English folksinger, Rory Mcleod, who did something similar at the beginning of one of his songs.

http://www.rorymcleod.com/

[lakritze]

"All we are saying is give PEACE a chance."