Amen to all that Binroy and "Righto chaps, party's over, back to the trenches".
Alan B.

Yes there were 1 or 2 days of truce by tiny troop minorities in a war lasting more than 1,000 days. But politically and under predictable military discipline the truces weren't repeated.

The urge to "lets be friends" could not be allowed to justify the vicious German siezure and occupation of small nations and French territory in 1914.

There was some exaggeration but also much reality in how Germany invaded and occupied Belgium in 1914 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_of_Belgium

"Throughout the beginning of the war, the German army engaged in numerous atrocities against the civilian population of Belgium, including the destruction of civilian property; 6,000 Belgians were killed, and 17,700 died during expulsion, deportation, imprisonment, or death sentence by court.[2]

Another 3,000 Belgian civilians died due to electric fences the German Army put up to prevent civilians from fleeing the country, and 120,000 became forced laborers, with half of that number deported to Germany.

[3] 25,000 homes and other buildings in 837 communities were destroyed in 1914 alone, and 1.5 million Belgians (20% of the entire population) fled from the invading German army.[4]"

2 days of a tiny minority of German soldiers being nice pales in comparison to 1,000+ days of:
- German crimes against humanity, and
- continued German fighting for 3-4 years to hold non-German territory.