Learn the story about the First World War Christmas Truce

You may have heard about the famous "Christmas Truce" declared between German and British soldiers during the First World War, right? In 2014, this moving event turns 100 years old, so how about knowing more details about how it really happened?

According to Keith Perry of The Independent, a letter written exactly on Christmas Day and sent by a British general - Walter Congreve - to his wife was recently discovered in England. Incredibly, the military was present during the truce and described the unfolding of events that resulted in this iconic event.

Historical Testimony

In the letter, Congreve says it was the Germans who had the initiative to ask for the truce, which was combined thanks to the courage of one of the British soldiers who bravely stepped out of the trenches to seal the temporary peace agreement. Then the enemies forgot their differences and gathered in the “no man's land” where they greeted each other, shared cigarettes, played soccer, sang Christmas hymns and even exchanged gifts.

The military also reveals in the letter that he was reluctant to join the truce for fear that the Germans would not resist the temptation to shoot a general. And it includes an interesting passage: one of his soldiers reported that he had smoked with the best shooter in the German army - a boy no older than eighteen and who had killed more than 12 men alone together.

What's more, as Congreve now knew the position of the German shooter, after the truce they would go after him. You can check out a copy of Congreve's letters, as well as a photo of the general, in the gallery below:

Extraordinary event

In addition to Congreve's letter, there are several other accounts of the Christmas Truce of 1914, which describe in detail how the enemies fraternized among the trenches. Based on the various testimonies, historians believe that this extraordinary event was proposed on Christmas Eve and was about 48 hours long - although there are records indicating that the truce was much longer elsewhere in the trench.

The truce began after German troops decorated the surroundings of their trenches with candles and Christmas trees in the Ypres region of Belgium. The German soldiers then began chanting their Christmas carols and the British joined the choir, and soon both parties shouted congratulations from their positions.

Below you can check out a beautiful commercial produced by Sainsbury's UK supermarket chain that faithfully recreated the Christmas Truce based on historical accounts:

* Originally posted on 12/16/2014.