Timidly They Approached... Until Finally A German And An Englishman Met And Shook Hands To The Sound Of A Happy Little Burst Of Cheering

MEDALS OF BRIT AT 1914 CHRISTMAS TRUCE SELL AT AUCTION

- JAMES PODESTA

THE medals of a soldier who took part in the famous Christmas Truce in the First World War have sold for £2,600.

Major Marmaduke Walkington was among the British troops who left their trenches and walked across No Man's Land to meet their German counterparts on Christmas Day 1914.

Maj Walkington recalled in his autobiography, Twice in a Lifetime: "Timidly they approached each other - unarmed, of course - until finally a German and anEnglishman met and shook hands to the sound of a happy little burst of cheering."

They exchanged drinks of rum and cognac, cigarettes, chocolates and even sausages, he wrote. One German soldier was a "very pleasant sort of lad" who spoke English as he had American family.