In December 1915, “When the Christmas bells sounded in the villages of the Vosges behind the lines ….. something fantastically unmilitary occurred. German and French troops spontaneously made peace and ceased hostilities; they visited each other through disused trench tunnels, and exchanged wine, cognac and cigarettes for Westphalian black bread, biscuits and ham. This suited them so well that they remained good friends even after Christmas was over.” From an account by Richard Schirrmann, who was in a German regiment holding a position on the Bernhardstein, one of the mountains of the Vosges, and separated from the French troops by a narrow no-man’s-land, described by him as “strewn with shattered trees, the ground ploughed up by shellfire, a wilderness of earth, tree-roots and tattered uniforms.” Military discipline was soon restored, but Schirrmann pondered over the incident, and whether “thoughtful young people of all countries could be provided with suitable meeting places where they could get to know each other.” He went on to found the German Youth Hostel Association in 1919.

The stories of this event have been told and retold in the media many times. British folk singer Mike Harding related the story in his song "Christmas 1914", as did American folk singer John McCutcheon in his "Christmas in the Trenches" and American country music singer Garth Brooks in his "Belleau Wood". In 1967, The Royal Guardsmen had a #1 hit with "Snoopy's Christmas", which relates a similar story through the struggle of Snoopy and The Red Baron.

World War II Christmas Pictures

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