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LONDON - One of the most poignant events of World War One, described by a soldier in a letter home to his "dear mater", is to be auctioned on Tuesday.
The rare letter, which gives an account of the Christmas Day truce in 1914, is one of the few uncensored accounts of life in the trenches.
Nothing is known about the writer and whether he survived the horrors that were to come. Only referring to himself as "Boy", he epitomises the spirit of the Unknown Soldier.
In five pencilled pages of an Army-issue notebook, he describes how the guns fell silent on Christmas Eve across No Man's Land on the Western Front.
He writes how the troops played football during "one of the most memorable Christmases I've ever spent or likely to spend".
German and British soldiers put aside killing for a day and swapped cigarettes and sang carols.
Along one part of the Western Front, they have been described as playing football, though it appears "Boy" just knocked a ball around with fellow Tommies.
He describes how, as night fell, he observed the Germans placing lights along the edge of the trenches before approaching the British lines.
The letter continued: "They also gave us a few songs so we had quite a social party.
"Some of our chaps went over to their lines. I think they've all come back bar one. They no doubt kept him as a souvenir."
Josephine Olley, senior press officer at Bonham's, where the letter is to be auctioned, said: "This letter is highly unusual in that it has not been censored, and also in the terms of camaraderie it describes between the German and British troops.
"It was written quite early on in the war, so the full horror of the trenches has yet to come through, and the authorities had not become so strict with censoring."
It is not known whether the "Boy" survived. There was no envelope with the letter, nor any mention about his regiment, or where along the Front he was stationed.
The letter is expected to fetch around 500 pounds ($1,420).
- REUTERS
