On Christmas Eve in 1914, British and German troops who were previously locked in bloody combat along the Western Front (
Belgium, northeastern parts of France, and then German-held Alsace-Lorraine) decided to cease fighting, if only for the Yuletide season.
At first, the soldiers sang carols behind their own lines but they eventually crossed into no man's land to bring in their dead. That led to the British and Germans bartering food, tobacco, and alcohol; they also exchanged headgear and other pieces of their uniforms as souvenirs. Before long, some troops began kicking around a football in a friendly match. Although this moment of peace inevitably gave way to the harsh reality of war, none of the men involved would ever forget how enemies became brothers, even for a little while.
One hundred years later, British and German troops assigned to the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (
NATO) contingent in Afghanistan took to an improvised football field to play a game in honor of the
Christmas Truce of World War I while their comrades watched and cheered from the sidelines.
http://www.dw.de/german-and-british-troops-commemorate-1914-christmas-truce-football-match/a-18150798