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(Ref: 87/56/1 - Department
of Documents)
28 December 1914.
My Dear Mother,
Well here we are again after a very cold xmas in the trenches
we went in on xmas eve and saw 9 or 10 lights along the
German lines. These I said were xmas trees and I happened
to be right. There was no firing on either side during the
night which was one of severe frost. On xmas day we heard
the words "Happy Xmas" being called out whereupon
we wrote up on a board - "Glückliches Weihnachten"
and stuck it up. There was no firing so by degrees each
side began gradually showing more of themselves and then
two of them came half way over and called out for an officer.
I went and found out that they were willing to have an armistice
for 4 hours and carry our dead men back half way for us
to bury. A few days previous we had had an attack with many
losses. This I arranged and then - well you could never
imagine such a thing. Both sides came out met in the middle
shook hands wished eachother the complements of the season
and had a chat. This was a strange sight between two hostile
sides. Then they carried over the dead, I won't describe
the sights which I saw and which I shall never forget. We
buried the dead as they were. Then back to the trenches
with the feeling of hatred growing stronger after what we
had seen. It was strange after just shaking hands and chatting
with them. Well it was a very weird xmas day.
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