Truces Recalled
(N Z PA.-Reuter —Copyright)
LONDON, Dec. 26. The Christmas cease-fire in Vietnam recalls the most famous of all war-time truces—that of the first Christmas of World War I.
But that one was entirely unofficial, and caused consternation in high quarters on both sides. Firing stopped along part of the front line on Christmas
Day, 1914, and British and German soldiers met in noman’s iand.
They sang carols, exchanged cigarettes and even played football together. The same thing happened on Boxing Day. Then after strong rebukes from headquarters, hostilities were gradually resumed. A “little armistice” covered Christmas. 1951, during the Korean War, which had then been in progress for a year and a half.
It began on November 27, the day after agreement was reached on a demarcation line, and ended on December 27. The war did not end until July, 1953. For some years, the Chinese have regularly suspended their desultory shelling of the Nationalist off-shore islands—not for Christmas, but for anniversary celebrations of the founding of the Chinese Republic on October 1.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30943, 27 December 1965, Page 9
Word Count
175Truces Recalled Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30943, 27 December 1965, Page 9
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