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History–Tours
191424–26 December 1914 · Ploegsteert, Flanders

The Christmas truce

British and German soldiers stand together in no man's land during the Christmas truce of 1914
Archival image: Harold Burge Robson. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

On Christmas Eve 1914, along stretches of the Western Front, German and British soldiers sang carols across no man's land, then met between the trenches to swap gifts, bury their dead and, in places, kick a ball about. The truce was unofficial, and commanders made sure it was not repeated on the same scale. Some of the best-recorded meetings took place near Ploegsteert and Messines in Flanders.

Sites

  1. Site 1: Christmas truce memorials, Saint-YvonA wooden cross and a football memorial in the fields where soldiers met.Map ↗
  2. Site 2: Ploegsteert Memorial and Plugstreet 14-18 ExperienceMemorial to the missing, with a small visitor centre on the war in this sector.Map ↗

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Also in Ypres & Flanders Fields

More from the First World War

Read more: reference. Summary written by History-Tours.com.