Notes

63 pages : illustrations. In this moving and fascinating look at a very human moment of the Great War, a veteran soldier and a young recruit are spending Christmas in the trenches of Flanders in 1914 when they hear the enemy singing carols, and they watch them as they place Christmas trees in the trenches opposite. They begin to shout greetings across no-man's land and end up playing an international football match, hard-fought, but with moments of generosity and sportsmanship on both sides. They see the 'enemy' as vulnerable humans, which makes their officers furious and further unofficial truces are banned. The war goes on with bullets instead of footballs. But it's a memory that stays with the young recruit long after the war.