Christmas is one of the most celebrated holidays in the world, but that doesn't mean that major events don't happen during the holiday or that December 25 doesn't pass without a hitch. Both of America's most formative wars took place on Christmas, the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, and British and German troops celebrated the holiday together on Christmas Day during World War I. There are a number of major military events that have taken place on Christmas. Washington led his troops across the Delaware River in the middle of the night in 1776. The Continental Army was completely surprised by the surprise move that would put Washington's men away from the garrison. The first of two rebel victories in New Jersey would be at the Battle of Trenton, 90 minutes into the battle against Washington's 2,400 soldiers, as the Continental Army regained control of the colony. The British had pushed the rebels across the state in the past. The crossing of the Delaware was a turning point in the war. The year that World War I started, soldiers left their trenches to observe Christmas in peace. In the midst of trench warfare, British and German soldiers lay down their arms to sing, play soccer, and barter with their care package recipients. More than 25 million people would die in that war, but for a few brief hours on Christmas Day, men from both sides on the Western Front shared food, carols, games and comradeship. In some places, the holiday truce was limited to an occasion for each side to bury their dead in a barren area between the opposing sides. Fighting continued on the eastern front. Christmas was not celebrated by the Russians until January. As the higher commands for the various sides were opposed to the actions soldiers had taken that Christmas, there would be no truce for the rest of the war. Before Pearl Harbor, Japan's aggression began. Manchuria was invaded by Japan in 1931. It made gains on the rest of the country. The December 7 attack on the US naval fleet in Hawaii was the start of Tokyo's imperial ambitions. Japan's invasion of Hong Kong, a British colony at the time that was defended by local troops from the territory, as well as the United Kingdom, Canada, India, China, and France followed. Hundreds of people were killed in the battle for Hong Kong. In a radio broadcast, Japan announced the surrender of Britain. Hong Kong would not be surrendered by the Japanese until August 30, 1945. The events of World War II did not include the North American region. The island of St. Pierre was attacked by a small task force of Free French soldiers on Christmas Eve 1941. The island's administrative centers were taken within an hour despite the local administrator's loyalty to the French regime. The storming of the island, which was known for producing liquor that was smuggled into the United States during prohibition, eliminated what otherwise could have been a fascist outpost. The island's powerful radio transmitter broadcasts "vichy lies and poison throughout the world", according to the Prime Minister. Quickly, the news came out. Douglas Anglin's book "Free French Invasion: The St. Pierre and Miquelon Affaire of 1941" states that the story of the invasion was telegraphed to Canadian and American newspapers by five minutes past midnight on December 25. There was a false claim that there had been a bloodbath. This post was written by Pierre Bienaimé.
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