Angus McBride, British and German soldiers hold a Christmas truce during the Great War, 1969

The First World War ended 100 years ago on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. There had been an earlier, scattered, unofficial and short-lived truce in 1914. This provided some of the most captivating and memorable black and white photographs of the war when British and German soldiers socialized to celebrate Christmas. Those images provided the inspiration for this gouache on paper painting by Angus McBride (1931–2007). The painting appeared as an illustration in the British children’s weekly educational comic Look and Learn published on 27 December 1969. The caption for the illustration was ‘The Man and the Moment: Tommy Atkins—His First Christmas at the Front. British and German soldiers hold a Christmas truce during the Great War’. Considering that the painting features many soldiers one might wonder why Tommy Atkins is so special to be singled out by name. In fact, Tommy Atkins or Tommy is a sobriquet for the enlisted British soldier. The nickname appears to have originated in the 18th century and there are many apocryphal accounts of the precise origin, though no-one can be certain which one might be true [1].

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