6Y Christmas Truce Letter Writing
6Y have created some brilliant letters recounting the events of the Christmas truce.
Wednesday 16th December
IALT: write a letter highlighting light and shade (changing the mood).
Christmas Day, 1
My dearest mum,
I hope this letter finds you well.
It is midnight and everyone is sleeping. Although I could not go to sleep until I told you about the amazing events of Christmas eve.
Everything was dark and gloomy, hail ran down the back of our coats and water soaked into the mud, turning it into slush and trapping our boots in the ground, as well as staining our shirts until they were at the point where they couldn’t be washed. The fighting was serious, and the thought of a gas bomb dropping any moment into out trench was sitting the back of my mind the whole day. I took a few looks around to make sure nobody was watching, and stuck the very top of my head above the barbed wire, moaning and scraping across my arms. I thought I could something.
The Germans harmonious voice started ringing around our trench in beautiful tones, and I could see bright lights of emerald Christmas trees shining up from their barbed wire, the smell of sausages filling my nose, and we started to grab our guns, we couldn’t trust anyone. To our surprise, they walked towards our trench unarmed and unprotected, and started handing sausages in exchange for our chocolate! We started to play football, and sing carols with each other, I saw one of my friends walking off with the infamous spiked helmet!
It did really seem like a twist in a fairy tale, and although we had to go back to fighting for our country today, it really did give me hope for the unlikley friendship of two enemies.
Your loving son.
Micheal
Christmas Day, 1914
My beloved sister Juliet,
The most amazing, but peculiar event occurred a few days ago in France. Firstly, I was shivering with fear and coldness in the bottom of the mice infested trench (like I normally do). The rain heavily poured down on us making the disgusting mud extremely squelchy. Ewwww! While I was trying to get a little doze, my friend –John- frantically shook me and shouted, “Wake up, wake up!! You need to see this for yourself!” So, I jumped right up and took a minute peep from the edge of the dugout. The moaning barbed wire shielded my way, but through it I could see two German soldiers having a big argument. All of a sudden, I quickly took a deep breath and as quiet as a mouse I tip-toed into the no man’s land. No one has ever committed a crime like this before... I wanted to bring justice and harmony to this horrible, selfish place once and for all....
A shiver ran down my spine, as one anxious soldier came towards me. All around were my fellow crew holding guns and ready to fire because I came out here with nothing except my bare hands. He edged a small bit closer until we were face to face. I know what you are probably thinking by know, how crazy I am to ever think two different sides could make one big, happy family. And yes, I strongly agree with you, but I can't live the whole of my life hiding away from people. They are people just like you and me. We shook hands and this is what changed Christmas for everyone and brought joy to us. We confirmed to have a day of rest, a day of peace and a day of happiness. Shortly afterwards, we all started playing a fun game of football, but sadly the German’s won. It’s about taking part not winning even though it would've made me even happier if we won. At least I got to see my friends enjoying themselves. Also, we exchanged gifts and sang Christmas carols. This had to be the best day of my life. Sadly, after that day everything went back to normal. No one was allowed out of their trenches; lots of individuals passing away or being very badly injured. I will never forget the look on my team’s faces. Now here I am today... I have a very poorly damaged leg and arm. Hope you are well and wish me luck!
Yours sincerely, Jared.