Folks,

MG:

Thank you for giving me the heads up regarding the Christmas Truce program on the History Channel. It was on at 6 PM. I caught about 3/4 of it tonight and it was quite good. I wish that I had seen it all. I am sure that it will be on again soon.

The event was in 1914. Apparently the Germans started singing in the trenches near Ypres first on Christmas Eve and the British began soon after singing the same song, Silent Night. Some areas of the front continued to fight but all along the lines this truce was spontaneously happening here and there with each side singing together. The name of the British soldier who first figured out what the Germans were singing was given. At some point a German soldier rose out of the trench and carried a small Christmas tree into no man's land. It was lit by candles.

According to the program Christmas trees were unknown to the British at that point. Christmas morning troops from both sides including some officers warily left their trenches and gathered together in no man's land at first they were un-trusting but soon both sides got into the spirit of the season and they started to exchange greetings and small gifts.

Standing as they were in no man's land they were faced with the dead they could more easily ignore from inside their trenches. They began to bury their dead. At one point the Germans and the British held services for two fallen Frenchmen.

After that grim duty was finished the men stood or they sat around or talked amongst themselves and exchanged cigarettes and small food items. A few wiley chaps took this opportunity to peek into the other side's trench to get the low down on the layout. Some were caught at it and shooed away. A football match was started and enjoyed by all.

Frankly, many of these men were conscripts and they had more in common with each other than they did with professional soldiers or their own officers. It is easy to see why the truce appealed to these young men. They were actually more in danger from their own officers than they were from each other.

When the news of this truce got back home in letters to Germany and Britain from the boys at the front it was unbelievable to a public who had been told the enemy were no better than rabid animals. When the generals and politicians got wind of it they were faced with a lack of support for the war at home and a serious fraternization with the enemy in the trenches. No telegram from the Kaiser or Georgie Rex saying hostilities should cease in light of the friendly nature of the other side was likely to be arriving any time soon.

Soldiers who fraternized with the enemy were threatened with being charged with treason or being shot out right at the first friendly wave or handshake. After Christmas 1914 the front settled down into a bloody stalemate that continued through the new year of 1915. At Christmas that year there was no repeat of the 1914 truce although a few did try.

Thank you for the info on IL2 as well. I am a bit confused. Add-on/free standing game? I would really like to try the best Mattox version if they are free standing. If not then I would need to look for the original IL2 and start from there. Dux had FB. Perhaps he can give us a hint?