The movie is inspired by a true story about a Christmas Eve truce in 1914 during World War I between the Germans and the English but the story is badly distorted in the movie. Actually there were numerous such truces. None were ever sanctioned by the commanders but contrary to what occurred in the movie, no one was ever censured or punished.
Such truces often occur in warfare when two armies face each other during long periods of time in trench warfare. As a Marine Lieutenant in Korea, we had such truces with the Chinese on two occasions, one of which is recorded in one history of the Marines in Korea. In both cases we had been been in trenches opposite each other and the Chinese initiated the truces. Every night we were serenaded by a woman who would also blast us with propaganda and on the two occasions, she invited us to have a truce beginning at dawn the next day ending at sunset. We always wondered where she was during the night so that we could shell her but during the truces, she would come out during day and serenade us. Thus, we found out where she broadcast from and a couple op days after our last truce, we shelled the spot. We never heard form her again and there were no more truces. One of the reasons we agreed to the truces was that it gave each side a chance to recover the bodies and that was the main reason. Moreover, both on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the Chinese shelled the hell out of us.
The movie really takes license with the Christmas truce. It would never have happened the way it did in the movie. No woman would have ever been permitted to get close to the front lines and enemy troops would never been allowed in the opposing trenches. No one was that stupid. and one Christmas Carol that was not sung in the movie was O' Tannenbaum or Christmas tree which actually was sung and very popular with the Germans.
For those who want to know more about what really happened I suggest they go to the following Website: http://history1900s.about.com/od/1910s/a/christmastruce.htm Even with all its flaws, I still think it was a good movie. It would have been better if they had left the woman out of the story.
Such truces often occur in warfare when two armies face each other during long periods of time in trench warfare. As a Marine Lieutenant in Korea, we had such truces with the Chinese on two occasions, one of which is recorded in one history of the Marines in Korea. In both cases we had been been in trenches opposite each other and the Chinese initiated the truces. Every night we were serenaded by a woman who would also blast us with propaganda and on the two occasions, she invited us to have a truce beginning at dawn the next day ending at sunset. We always wondered where she was during the night so that we could shell her but during the truces, she would come out during day and serenade us. Thus, we found out where she broadcast from and a couple op days after our last truce, we shelled the spot. We never heard form her again and there were no more truces. One of the reasons we agreed to the truces was that it gave each side a chance to recover the bodies and that was the main reason. Moreover, both on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the Chinese shelled the hell out of us.
The movie really takes license with the Christmas truce. It would never have happened the way it did in the movie. No woman would have ever been permitted to get close to the front lines and enemy troops would never been allowed in the opposing trenches. No one was that stupid. and one Christmas Carol that was not sung in the movie was O' Tannenbaum or Christmas tree which actually was sung and very popular with the Germans.
For those who want to know more about what really happened I suggest they go to the following Website: http://history1900s.about.com/od/1910s/a/christmastruce.htm Even with all its flaws, I still think it was a good movie. It would have been better if they had left the woman out of the story.