That Christmas

(Czechoslovakia, 1958)

The story takes us back to the Second World War, the last wartime Christmas Eve. A Czech Army unit has retaken a Slovak village from the Germans and the front Is now just outside the village. The villagers wish to entertain the soldiers at the Christmas celebration but the Commander of the Battalion is uncertain whether they should leave the front. When German loudspeakers commence playing "Silent Night" and dance music he gives the men permission to go and realises too late that the Germans have tricked them. A bitter battle ensues and in the end the Czech unit forces the enemy to retreat, though not before several lives have been lost.