Sometimes, Even Wars Stop for Christmas

War is Hell, as General Sherman famously put it. Even in Hell, then, there are moments to celebrate Christmas. There's something important about it. So here, we show how ordinary soldiers at the front celebrate Christmas during Wartime.

Christmas in the Battle of the Bulge, 1944

Praying at a roadside shrine, France, Christmas 1944

Christmas in Italy, 1944

Christmas in the Barracks, World War II

Christmas in the medical ward, University of Pennsylvania, World War II

Christmas in a civilian garden bunker, England, World War II

Christmas service for bomber crews in England, 1944

Christmas at the front, North Africa, 1942

The Christmas truce, December 1914. The fellows in the middle are wearing German helmets, the rest are English

The Generals on both sides didn't like the Christmas truce of 1914. They knew it undermined the willingness of the men to be treated as mere pawns in the great European war.

American GI sharing his Christmas package goodies with Italian children

Christmas on Guadalcanal

This is a series of pictures of Christmas on Guadalcanal, 1942. The Japanese were still on the island and far from defeated. However, the men found a way to celebrate anyway because, well, it was Christmas.











2018