This video says about itself:
Early in World War [I] soldiers on both sides were trapped in muddy trenches, exposed to the cold damp winter weather, sniper shots and deadly machine guns.
But in 1914 something extraordinary happened. Defying all the rules about fraternising with the enemy, soldiers from both sides in the southern Ypres [sic; in Belgium] region of France, temporarily put aside their weapons and met in No Man’s Land in a celebrated act of Christmas goodwill. Soldiers on both sides realised that they had more in common with each other than with the leaders of their countries who sent them out to fight each other.
I first learnt of this incident through a musical stage play, “Oh, What a Lovely War,” which was later made into a film. The story has been retold many times, but nowhere better than in this wonderful song, written in 1984 by American folksinger, John McCutcheon.
German crimes in World War I: here.
George Monbiot on World War I: here.
Neil Faulkner on World War I: here.
Monument for WWI Deserters: here.
First World War [I] mass grave to be excavated: here.
The deaths of Harry Patch and Henry Allingham, the last surviving World War I veterans, brought forth much emotion: here.
Henri Barbusse on WW I: here.
Related articles
- First World War wills of 9,000 Irish soldiers will go online (irishcentral.com)
- Half of young Britons fail to name date of First World War (telegraph.co.uk)
- Re-engaging with the First World War Conference (warstudies.wordpress.com)
Dear Kitty. Some blog 
The Last Act of Harry Patch
Wednesday 19 August 2009
Edited by John Rety
by Andy Croft
“The noblest of all the generations has left us, but they will never be forgotten.”
– Gordon Brown
“We go to gain a little patch of ground/That hath in it no profit but the name.”
– Hamlet
“War is organised murder and nothing else.”
– Harry Patch
His murder was arranged at Ypres
With half a million other men,
But now he’s dead, the simpering vipers
Come crawling out from Number 10
To bury him with loud laudation
And hymns to reconciliation –
The poisonous, forked-tongued response
Of those who tried to kill him once,
Who justify each round of killing
From Langemarck to Afghanistan,
Then shed a tear for one old man.
It’s hard to say which is more chilling.
These snakes are deaf to what he said.
There’s nothing else. And now he’s dead.
Andy Croft writes a monthly poetry column in the Morning Star and has published seven books of poetry
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/culture/well-versed/The-Last-Act-of-Harry-Patch
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