In the air battle, both sides suffered heavy losses, especially the "Red Baron" Richthofen's flying team suffered the most casualties, including Richthofen, Hermann? Goering, von? Hunt and other ace pilots all fell in this day's air battle.

The tank battle between the two sides began at one o'clock in the afternoon local area of Wavell.

The first to attack was the Sino-US coalition forces.

After the routine preparation of artillery fire, relying on the cover of smoke, the first American tank finally appeared on the edge of the smoke screen, and in just one minute, there were as many as twenty or thirty tanks drilled out of the smoke, which also made the German officers and soldiers on the opposite side satisfy their long-standing curiosity!

At the top of the line was the American "Christie" fast tank, which had a rapid-fire gun of 37 mm caliber and a barrel-shaped turret with a relatively short barrel. Grass green livery, the turret is a bit small compared to the body; This was followed by the Americans' imitation of the British "Grand Wanderer 2" tank. It looks quite bulky, and it's not very tall including the turret, so it looks very stocky. There were two guns, the lower one mounted on the right-hand side of the hull and appeared to be a short-barreled 105 mm howitzer, with a relatively small turret on top of it and a 25 mm light gun on the turret.

Charging with the Americans was the "Lingmao" light tank of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, equipped with two 20-mm rapid-fire guns, with a length of 4.8 meters, a width of 2.2 meters, a height of 2.0 meters, and a total combat weight of 7.2 tons. Frontal armor 30 mm, side armor 16 mm, there was a 260-horsepower gasoline engine with a speed of up to 67 kilometers per hour. Like light cavalry, they quickly rushed to the flanks of both armies.

On the side of the German position, the observers nervously reported one data after another, "Artillery howitzers fire!" Armored sortie! ”

The German behemoth roared and charged at the Americans, flanked by the German light tank, the LK2 cavalry tank, a light tank modeled after the British "Greyhound" tank.

In just a few minutes, the mood of the American officers and soldiers in the center of the battlefield was violently ups and downs, and now there were German tanks on both flanks, although the number was small, but the American armored battalion companies that lacked timely command were in danger of falling into their own battles. The Chinese tanks interspersed on the two flanks quickly turned around and rushed into the German tank camp, and the two sides were strangled together in an instant.

Next, more than 100 tanks of the three German armored regiments formed a three-sided siege against the remnants of more than 70 American tanks and more than 150 armored vehicles in the center of the battlefield, completely ignoring the weak firepower of American armored vehicles German heavy tanks. The heavy tanks of both sides collided face to face like the heavy knights of ancient times.

From October 22, the German armored forces and allied tanks, the "Great Nomad" and "A7V-K" tanks and the "M-1923", these "hoplites" of the twentieth century, have broken out more than ten fierce battles. The Germans retreated, but eventually held their line at Ghent. Although they paid a heavy price, even the German crown prince Prince was killed in battle, but the coalition forces were never able to make a breakthrough. And the whole front ended up on the German border.

In the sixth year of the war, the mode of battle on the Western Front became fixed again.

The offense is always monotonous. It always starts with overwhelming artillery fire. Hundreds of thousands of shells blew up the positions beyond recognition. Looking at the land that has been repeatedly ravaged by artillery fire, you will never think of the farmland that was once rich. The moon, which is exposed in space and has been bombed by meteorites for billions of years, is not as hideous as it. But such bombing does not solve the problem, man is always more cunning than a meteorite that bombards the moon. After the artillery fire, the soldiers, under the cover of tanks and combat vehicles, advanced and charged at the positions of the opposing side. The enemy, hiding in the trench, used rapid-fire weapons to turn the attacker into a pile of corpses. When they are lucky, they can also tear apart the opponent's positions with the strength of tanks, but due to the lack of effective mobile forces (at this time tank technology is not enough to support the emergence of new tactics), the enemy's trenches are layered after layer, and the depth is very large, and it is difficult for the victorious side to expand the victory.

War is clumsy, brutal, and boring. In a single battle, hundreds of thousands of soldiers are often killed on the battlefield, but there is no decent breakthrough, and the only result is that the opponent also dies hundreds of thousands.

Millions of soldiers huddled in damp trenches, living a life of gloomy fear. Artillery fire and death followed. Youth has become as worthless as mud in a trench.

The people's enthusiasm for war had now been exhausted, and there was only a faint hope for the future. It is this hope that allows them to pick up the wreckage of their youth and endure one dark day after another in the trenches.

But how little hope is for tomorrow!

The whole year of 1919 was filled with endless attacks, endless deaths. Blind brutality has had terrible consequences. The price paid by the Entente was horrifying, and the results were not encouraging. In a year, the Allies suffered 1.57 million casualties, and the German casualties were less than half of that number.

It has been said that even if the commanders of the British and French armies were German spies, they could only do more sabotage.

During the months-long campaign in the autumn and winter of that year, about 1.15 million Allied and German soldiers were killed or wounded. "There has never been so much blood spilled on such a projectile land." Winston? Churchill wrote. In the wake of winter, both sides took refuge in the long, icy and wet trenches that stretched from the English Channel to the Swiss border.

And no one thought that the dawn of peace would come quietly in a special day.

On Christmas Eve, a bright moon rose in the sky. The vast ice field shimmered with a miserable white light. Zhang Shikang, a twenty-one-year-old scout of the 6th Brigade of the 11th Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, was watching the German positions opposite from above the trenches.

At this moment in the past, on the "no man's land," an important position on the front line, there were hazy figures shuttling and rushing everywhere: some were scouting the enemy's situation, and some were rushing to transport the dead and wounded. This flat, filthy field of turnips, surrounded by barbed wire, is often illuminated by flares. Tonight, however, it was a strange loneliness, and there was a mysterious silence in the air.

Just above the German trenches, he saw bright spots lit up like starlight, but Zhang Shikang quickly determined that it was not a star—the star would not be so low. Zhang Shikang was surprised that no one shot at these points of light. Soon he saw another star, and then another! Suddenly, he looked around, and there seemed to be countless lights shining in the German trenches!

"What the hell?" Zhang Shikang muttered quietly.

"That's a German Christmas tree!" Jack, a soldier of the British Welsh Rifle Brigade who accompanied Zhang Shikang? Perry exclaimed in surprise.

Although Zhang Shikang from Zhangjiakou, Zhili, came from an old-fashioned family, he has been in Europe for two years and is already familiar with the important Christmas in the West. For most of the Chinese soldiers who did not practice Christianity, it was a festival of receiving a number of colorful cards with inexplicable greetings, a bottle of wine with a strange taste, and cakes, puddings, turkeys, and other foods.

But today, December 24, 1919, everything seems to be a little different.

Then, in the German trenches, less than fifty yards away from them, several baritone unusually soft German choruses rang out.

Although the Germans are not loud, from the tune alone, Zhang Shikang still knows that they are singing the famous "Christmas Eve".

After the Germans finished singing, there was a sudden burst of cheers from the Allied positions, and someone sang "First Christmas" and "Faithful, Come Soon" in English, interspersed with "Come!" Briton! Or "Come on!" German! Neither side moved.

Suddenly, along with the sound of music, singing suddenly sounded on the positions of the coalition forces!

"Christmas Eve, Holy Night!

Wan Anzhong, Guanghua Shot,

According to the Virgin and the Holy Child,

How much kindness and how much naivety,

Enjoy the heaven-given sleep, enjoy the heaven-sent sleep.

Christmas Eve, Holy Night!

Shepherds, in the wilderness,

Suddenly he saw the splendor of heaven,

Hear the armies of heaven singing Hallelujah,

The Savior was born tonight, the Savior was born tonight!

Christmas Eve, Holy Night!

The Son of God loves, bright and pure,

The dawn of redemption comes,

The countenance shines with glory,

Jesus my Lord was born, Jesus my Lord was born! ”

Zhang Shikang knew that this was the Christian comrades-in-arms in the 11th Division singing hymns.

Due to cultural differences, there were not many Christians in the [***] squadron, but the 11th Division was an exception. Because General Feng Yuxiang, commander of the 11th Division, was a devout Christian, Feng Yuxiang advocated "governing the army with religion" and often invited church pastors to preach the gospel in the army, so there were many more Christian officers and men in the 11th Division than other troops.

Although Zhang Shikang does not believe in Christianity, at this moment, somehow, his heart is deeply touched by this long-lost song.

After the Chinese soldiers finished singing, something surprising happened.

Zhang Shikang saw that a German had begun to walk towards the Chinese position, followed by a dozen or so German soldiers, all of whom were unarmed and had their hands in their pockets, and at first glance thought they had come to surrender. Seeing that these German soldiers came over with such a big grin, Zhang Shikang and Perry couldn't help but look at each other.

Several British and Chinese soldiers also began to climb out of the trenches, and Zhang Shikang and Perry also came among them. At a distance of five yards, the Germans stopped—and Zhang Shikang clearly heard the German soldiers say in English: "Marrychristmas!" Then he said in broken Chinese: "Happy Yuedan (Christmas) Day." ”

The air seemed to freeze in an instant, and Zhang Shikang felt a burst of heat surging in his heart, and his nose was a little sour.

He didn't know why such a short greeting in such a day would make him so moved.

“youtoo！” The British were also moved, and one of the sergeants reached out and shook hands with the Germans, replying.

Zhang Shikang saw that several comrades-in-arms also shook hands with the Germans and answered the Germans' greetings loudly in German.

More and more soldiers from both sides came out of the trenches, and there was an atmosphere of peace and joy on the "no man's land".

Everything is so wonderful, as if there is a more powerful force at work than the god of war.

Christmas is here, it's a cold, sunny, crystal clear and quiet day. The "No Man's Land" was soon crowded with thousands of soldiers from both sides, and now they suddenly found that the enemies who had been fighting to the death for a long time were not the demons of the propaganda, but ordinary people who were similar to themselves.

On that day, the entire Western Front faced off with millions of troops, and almost all of them had an automatic ceasefire.

In the celebration of Christmas, the Germans showed a much more positive surname than the Allied forces, and they were well prepared. On Christmas night, the German officers and soldiers took out their Christmas tree, which they had elaborately decorated with candles, and placed it on the low wall of the trench. Hundreds of candles reflected the trenches red, shining on the excited faces of the officers and soldiers. Allied officers and soldiers also saw the light, but they couldn't figure out what the Germans were doing. The surveillance posts at the front reported this anomaly to their superiors and were given orders: it was probably a hoax, do not open fire, and keep a close watch on them. Subsequently, the Allied officers and soldiers heard the sound of the Germans celebrating Christmas. U.S. Army Lieutenant Kennedy, who fought in the war, recalled: "On Christmas night, the singing and laughter of the trenches across from us drifted towards us, and I suddenly heard a German shouting: 'Merry Christmas!' That's when we realised that the Germans were enjoying Christmas night to the fullest, and our emotions were immediately infected. A British soldier shouted: 'You too!' Then we all sang Christmas carols with the Germans. ”

The ceasefire is a happy thing, especially for the soldiers who have been fighting for so many years. Soldiers on both sides took out their treasured photographs, showed each other their families, and asked each other about their occupations, as if English, Mandarin and German were no longer a problem. People smoked cigarettes, chatted, or lazily basked in the sun and shaved. The soldiers took a group photo together and sent the photos of the armistice on the Western Front to the world with letters from home. Much of the Christmas truce is in fact based on letters, photographs and memoirs from soldiers on both sides of the war. After all, it was an unofficial truce that left no trace on the official record.

Soldiers from both warring sides sang together, gave each other gifts, and even buried their fallen comrades together. Those fighters were killed by the other side and buried with them because of the truce. At Christmas of this year, soldiers from both sides dug graves for their dead comrades, prayed for them, and held burial ceremonies for them.

In fact, it is these soldiers and low-ranking officers who have the most reason to hate each other. Because the people who died in the previous battles were their comrades-in-arms, their friends, and even their families.

But peace also began with them.

But time can't stand still forever at Christmas.

The days of the armistice passed quickly. At 8:30 a.m. the next morning, the battle began again. The soldiers crawled back into their trenches, shouting: "Go back, Germans!" "Go back! Chinese! "Go back, Englishman!" Then, the gunfire of the two sides rang out in a dense manner. In the trenches, Zhang Shikang's rifle crosshair was quickly aimed at a German soldier - only 300 yards away, and it was easy to hit him. But Zhang Shikang immediately recognized who he was, a student at the University of Nuremberg who shared the "Christmas package" with him. He had a girlfriend, and he showed her a picture of Zhang Shikang, a beautiful blonde girl who was now in the UK.

Zhang Shikang deflected the muzzle of the gun, pulled the trigger, and the bullet flew over the "no man's land" and hit the sandbag next to the German soldier, who waved his hand to this side as if he knew it, and fell down like a clown in a burlesque.

The corners of his mouth were smiling, but tears flowed from the corners of Zhang Shikang's eyes.

Like Zhang Shikang, many soldiers who had become familiar with each other and became good friends did not want to go to war again, and many did the same thing as Zhang Shikang, shooting bullets into the open field, and many more stopped shooting after a while.

On other battlefields on the Western Front, silence remained.

There were often British soldiers who went to the Germans to smoke in their free time, and the Germans who gave their helmets to the British soldiers as souvenirs would also come and say, "We're checking there, give me the helmet first, and I'll get it back in half an hour."

Later, the Christmas photos sent home by the soldiers appeared in the newspaper, and the top brass on both sides was very embarrassed. The front line was instructed to fight with all its might. The order to fight was given again, and although they were not happy, the soldiers finally opened fire, but the muzzle of the gun was mostly off. There were a lot of bullets fired at each other, but they didn't hit anyone.

In many places, the truce lasted until the end of the New Year.

For posterity, this armistice is like a fairy tale too beautiful.

And the later history, people know.

World War I lasted until 1920, involving nearly 2 billion people in more than 30 countries and more than 40 million casualties.

History has recorded such a mark:

In December 1919, an event occurred on the entire Western Front that terrified the German High Command and the Allied High Staff: during Christmas, there was a sudden ceasefire between the warring sides on the Western Front, first one or two companies without firing a single shot, and finally a ceasefire for millions of front-line troops on the entire Western Front! What is particularly striking is that none of the front-line commanders on either side of the war have ever ordered a ceasefire, and no one knows which force was the first to ceasefire.

Zhang Shikang, a native of Zhangjiakou, joined the Chinese Expeditionary Force in 1917 and went to Europe to fight in order to support his family. He returned to China in 1920 and retired in 1922, and later became a poet.

Many years later, Zhang Shikang, who has passed the age of sixtieth year, still can't help but cry whenever he hears Christmas songs......

(To be continued)