French, German and Scottish?

What I meantr Davidclaes is that Hitler served with the troops that were there.I never said he participated in the truce.

Shut your mouth if you do not know what you are talking abotu hitler did serve as an Austrian soldier in WWI

It certainly makes a change that Scots have been recognised for their efforts in WWI. There's a very lazy (not malicious) attitude that Britain is England and England is Britain, not only from our European cousins but from our friends south of the border as well. When you break down statistics of losses per British nation (esp WWI), Scots losses were appalling per head of population, much higher than English casualties.

As a Scot (and History teacher in England), I still have to use textbooks that refer to WWI as 'England v Germany' (not kidding).This totally undermines the sacrafices of the other British nations.

Please don't think this is somehow an anti-English rant, it's certainly not, my point is that Scots, Welsh and Irish should not be forgotten for their efforts in the world wars. It's nice to see a WWI film that concentrates on a section of the WWI British Army that doesn't reiterate stereotypes of 'stiff upper lip' English officers.

Oh jesus, you are not getting this film at all! This film is based (loosely) on TRUE events that took place. Only the Scots, the French and the Germans were involved in these particular true events, THAT'S why there's no other nationalities involved.
It would be like making Amistad (about slavery) with a variety of different nationalities playing the African slaves! The film isn't trying to pretend no other countries took part in WW1 - it clearly presumes people will know that many did (which, er, clearly people don't know!)

Perhaps the reason they only mentioned French and Scottish soldiers is that maybe only French and Scottish soldiers from the Entente side of the conflict, were involved in this Christmas get-together.

This is a very popular thread ! I’ve not had the chance to read every comment, but I’d like to mention a couple of things about comments I’ve seen:-

In 1914, Adolf Hitler was a private in the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment. On 31st October 1914, his unit was surprised and routed while in reserve at Gheluvelt Chateau by a bayonet charge by 2nd Btn Worcesters bursting out of Polygon Wood. Wisely, Hitler legged it too. How 20th Century history could have been changed with a timely bayonet for Herr Hitler ! A few weeks later, for his dispatch-running efforts, he was awarded the Iron Cross Second Class. In 1918, Corporal Hitler was reputedly awarded the Iron Cross First Class under slightly misty circumstances. One version said that he had single-handledly gone into No-Mans land and at bayonet point forced a group of British soldiers to surrender. Another version said that he had merely taken possession of a group of prisoners captured by other German soldiers and escorted them to the behind the lines ‘POW cage’. Another version said he was arbitrarily awarded it, along with other soldiers, as a morale boost for the papers and conscripted green troops. Ironically, Hitler’s own officer signed the recommendation him for the award, a Captain Hoffman, who was Jewish. Observers and Nazi rivals did notice that Hitler didn’t mention his Iron Cross during speeches or even conversations about the old days.

Fraternisation at Christmas 1914 was a fact. It didn’t happen in all the sectors of the front line and it ranged from a brief lull in firing on Christmas Eve only to fully-fledged truces lasting up to New Year. Some sectors fired at each other as usual. Even before Christmas, British generals were aware of the possibility of Christmas fraternization and for instance Major General Sir Horace Dorrien-Smith and Major General Sir John French issued directives to troops warning them of the punishment for such acts if they went ahead. However, despite various censures of wrongdoers etc, no unit was punished or disbanded etc. Christmas 1915 saw very little fraternization.

As for which nations’armies were on the Western Front (ie from the Swiss frontier to the Belgian coast at Nieuport), as it developed in 1914, the Western Front was home initially to soldiers from Belgium, France, Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales & Ireland) and Germany. Temporary British manpower shortages in the Autumn of 1914 saw the arrival of Indians (including Gurkhas), West Indians and the first Canadians. Equally, the French brought in North African troops, Vietnamese sharpshooters and the Foreign Legion. 1915 saw the Indians and West Indians leave and more Canadians appear. The British by now had trained many more troops (volunteers) back in the UK who now started to arrive in big numbers. In mid-1916, Australians arrived on the Western Front for the first time. South Africans also joined, attached to 9th Scottish Division. 1917 saw the arrival of the first Americans (2 divisions attached to British and French units). In 1918, Portuguese troops joined alongside the British. An anti-Bolshevik Russian contingent joined alongside the French, as well as Polish and Czech volunteer units. In early 1918 too, the Americans arrived in growing numbers, soon to go into action on the Marne. However, Austro-Hungarian troops, Italians, Bulgarians, Serbians, Russians (other than mentioned above), Romanians, Greeks, Montenegrans, Turkish and Japanese, though all at war in WW1, never sent troops to the Western Front.