The War to End All Wars
"Christmas Truce"
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Christmas Eve 1914, six months on the battlefield, and World War 1 still hadn't come to an end.
British Expeditionary Forces heard German troops in the trenches opposite them
singing Christmas carols, and saw lanterns and small fir trees along their trenches.
Messages began to be shouted between the trenches.
Missing home even more than on any other day, the British soldiers started quietly singing along.
Early Christmas morning, the British and German soldiers slowly crawled out of their trenches
and met in no-man's land to wish each other a Merry Christmas, take photographs, play football,
and even exchange a few gifts. It was a rare but magic moment of peace and harmony
in the midst of one of the most atrocious events of the 20th century.
(See the story video of "Christmas Truce" HERE ).
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Music: Joakim Brodén
Lyrics: Joakim Brodén & Pär Sundström
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Silence
Oh, I remember the silence
On a cold winter day
After many months on the battlefield
And we were used to the violence
Then all the cannons went silent
And the snow fell
Voices sang to me from no man's land
We are all
We are all
We are all
We are all friends!
And today we're all brothers
Tonight we're all friends
A moment of peace in a war that never ends
Today we're all brothers
We drink and unite
Now Christmas has arrived and the snow turns the ground white
Hear carols from the trenches
We sing O Holy Night
Our guns laid to rest among snowflakes
A Christmas in the trenches
A Christmas on the front far from home
Madness (madness)
Oh, I remember the sadness
(Sadness)
We were hiding our tears
(Hiding our tears)
In a foreign land where we faced our fears
(Faced our fears)
We were soldiers
(Soldiers)
Carried the war on our shoulders
(Shoulders)
For our nations
(Nations)
Is that why we bury our friends?
(Bury our friends)
We were all
We were all
We were all
We were all friends
(Yes, we were friends)
And today we're all brothers
Tonight we're all friends
A moment of peace in a war that never ends
Today we're all brothers
We drink and unite
Now Christmas has arrived and the snow turns the ground white
Hear carols from the trenches
We sing O Holy Night
Our guns laid to rest among snowflakes
A Christmas in the trenches
A Christmas on the front far from home
We were all
We were all
We were all
We were all friends
(Yes, we were friends)
And today we're all brothers
Tonight we're all friends
A moment of peace in a war that never ends
Today we're all brothers
We drink and unite
Now Christmas has arrived and the snow turns the ground white
A Christmas on the frontline
We walk among our friends
We don't think about tomorrow
The battle will commence
When we celebrated Christmas
We thought about our friends
Those who never made it home
When the battle had commenced