When WWI started in 1914, the common feeling amongst the British volunteers was that it would "all be over by Christmas" It wasn't of course, in fact it continued for almost another four years, however on Christmas Eve of 1914 a spontaneous truce broke out in a section of the trenches. Contemporary reports say that it began with carol singing from the German trenches, and that troops met in No Man's Land (the area between the opposing trenches).
The Illustrated London News of January 9, 1915 ran a drawing and a report of the truce.
The text accompanying the drawing reads:
Above:
BRITISH AND GERMAN SOLDIERS ARM-IN-ARM AND EXCHANGING HEADGEAR: A
CHRISTMAS TRUCE BETWEEN OPPOSING TRENCHES.
DRAWN BY A. C. MICHAEL
Below:
SAXONS AND ANGLO-SAXONS FRATERNISING ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE AT THE
SEASON OF PEACE AND GOODWILL: OFFICERS AND MEN FROM THE GERMAN AND
BRITISH TRENCHES MEET AND GREET ONE ANOTHER - A GERMAN OFFICER
PHOTOGRAPHING A GROUP OF FOES AND FRIENDS.
The spirit of Christmas made itself felt in at least one section of
the trenches at the front, where British and German soldiers
fraternised, and for a brief while, during an informal and spontaneous
truce, there was "peace on earth and goodwill towards men" among those
who a few hours before had been seeking each other's blood, and
where bound to do so again after the truce was over. The part of the
British lines where these incongruous scenes occurred, was, it is
said, at a point where the enemy's trenches, only about eighty yards
away, were occupied by a Saxon regiment. Further along the line, where
Prussian troops were said to be stationed, there was a certain amount
of fighting. It was apparently towards the British left that the
friendly truce was observed, while officers and men from both sides
left their trenches and met in No Man's Land between, where, as a
rule, no man dares to show so much as the top of his head. British and
Germans met and shook hands, exchanged cigars and cigarettes,
newspapers and addresses, and wished each other the compliments of the
season, conversing as far as possible with the aid, as interpreter, of
a German soldier who had lived in America. A group of British and
German soldiers, arm-in-arm, some of whom had exchanged head-gear,
were photographed by a German officer. The figure on the extreme left
in our drawing, for instance, is a German soldier in a British
Service-cap, while the fourth figure from the left is a British
soldier in his goat-skin coat wearing a Pickelhaube, or German
helmet. Some of the British, it is said visited the German trenches
and an Anglo-German football match was even played. The dead who lay
in front of the trenches were buried, and a party of Germans
brought back the body of a British officer.
After this, the authorities on both sides, promptly forbade fraternisation, and it is claimed that in 1915, when certain troops involved in the 1914 truce attempted to repeat it they were shot dead by their own side, who were under orders to prevent it at all costs.