The term Christmas Truce refers not to a single event but to a number of spontaneous expressions of comradeship between front-line soldiers of both sides on the Western Front in December 1914 – the first Christmas of the First World War. During this unofficial truce, British and German soldiers sang carols to each other and fraternised openly in No-Man's Land. Officers and men mingled together, taking photographs, exchanging souvenirs and arranging joint burials of the dead. In some areas, the unofficial truce was maintained for days and even weeks.

News of the Christmas Truce reached Britain through letters written home by those who had taken part. Newspapers subsequently reported this extraordinary event in great detail. It was to be the only widespread unofficial truce of the war; by the following Christmas, strict orders had been issued by both sides prohibiting any future fraternisation. As the casualty lists subsequently lengthened and feelings became increasingly bitter, it was not repeated in subsequent wartime Christmases

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Source:

Christmas Truce: The Western Front, December 1914, by Malcolm Brown and Shirley Seaton (pub. Macmillan, London, 1994) ISBN 0-333-62078-X