Summary: Story of the Christmas truce of 1914, told through contemporary pictures and documents, and through eyewitness accounts.
Description: Description of the mood at the beginning of the First World War in Britain and Germany - a wave of patriotic fervour and hatred for the enemy, inflamed by events such as the bombardment of Scarborough. On the Western Front, however, both British and German soldiers realised that they had more in common with each other than with those at home, having undergone "a cold baptism of mud and blood". Two British men, Colonel Scott Shepherd and John Wilkins, are filmed returning to Armentières, as are two German soldiers, Josef Sewald and Colonel Johannes Niemann. Each give accounts of their experiences during the 1914 Christmas Truce. Also interviewed on film is Madame Robinson-Peulemeule, then a girl of seventeen living in the area, who tells of the hardship faced by the soldiers. Story of how "the War came to a standstill" on Christmas morning 1914. Enemy troops laid down arms, fraternised, swapped cigarettes, played football, sang carols etc. "... Christmas was the thing that united the enemies and it is wonderful to think that the thought of Bethlehem would unite the men. [They] heard the voice of two thousand years back". The truce lasted until the New Year when the generals ordered the men to resume fighting. Final scene of Shepherd and Wilkins visiting a German war cemetery.
Alternative Title:
Colour:Sound
Digitised:
Object_Number:IWM 1089
Sound:English
Access Conditions:NON-IWM: PROJECTION PRINT ONLY - NOT FOR PRODUCTION USE
Featured Period:1914-1918
Production Date:1968-12-22
Production Country: GB
Production Details: BBC (Production company)
Sproxton, Vernon (Production individual)
Baily, Leslie (Production individual)
Lemoine, J-P (Production individual)
Solomon, Arthur (Production individual)
Snagge, John Derrick Mordaunt1904-05-081996-03-25 (Production cast)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: Shepherd, Scott (person)
Niemann, Johannes (person)
Wilkins, John (person)
Sewald, Josef (person)
Robinson-Peulemeule (Mme) (person)
Keywords: 01/3(4-15).30 [1914 Christmas Truce] (event)
Armentières, Nord, France (geography)
Physical Characteristics: Colour format: Sound
Sound format: English
Soundtrack language: English
Title language: None
Technical Details: Format: 16mm
Number of items/reels/tapes: 1
Footage: 929 ft; Running time: 26 mins
