2014 marked the 20th anniversary of Sainsbury’s’ partnership with the Royal British Legion – and the centenary of the First World War.

We wrote a script based on the famous Christmas Truce of 1914.

The story ends with young British soldier giving a young German soldier a simple Christmas gift: a bar of chocolate.

The same bar of chocolate went on sale in Sainsbury’s store across the country, with all proceeds going to the Royal British Legion.

1914 Christmas:

The British trenches in Northern France. It’s a clear, still, moonlit night.

Title: Christmas Eve 1914

The men are huddled together in the trenches while it snows outside.

We cut to a shot of an officer reading a letter.

We see various soldiers huddled in the trench, sheltering from the cold. One of them coughs.

We find one young man looking a bit down. He looks at a very hard, very dull-looking savoury biscuit taken from a box. Then he hears a commotion: the post’s arrived, and parcels are being handed out.

Soldier: Jenkins

Soldier: Oakley

Soldier: Knight

He looks hopeful and sure enough, there’s a small parcel for him too. He opens it and takes out a small photograph of a pretty young woman. It’s clear how much he misses her. Underneath, there’s a large block of chocolate in a fancy wrapper. He smiles.

The guns fall silent. And then, drifting across no-man’s land comes the sound of singing:

All singing: “…Ruuuh! Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh!

“Stille nacht…heilige nacht…”

The British soldiers, hesitantly at first, join in. We hear Silent Night sung in both languages. We see a montage of the soldiers, both German and British, singing in unison.

All singing: ‘Silent night…holy night…’

‘All is calm, all is bright..’

‘Nur das traute hochheilige Paar...’

‘Holder Knabe im lockigen Haar…’ / ‘Holy infant, so tender and mild..’

‘Sleep in heavenly peace…’

‘Sleep in heavenly peace…’ / ‘Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh’

It’s a surreal scene. A vast stretch of bleak, barren land, and two warring, unseen armies joined in song. Magical stuff.

Dawn comes: we see a robin take off from a tangle of barbed wire. The young man feels encouraged by this new mood of friendliness and looks towards the edge of the trench.

Whilst another soldier is sleeping, he raises his hat above the lip of the trench. A German soldier looking through a periscope sees this and grabs his gun.

German soldier: ' Ein Brite kommt

The young German wakes from his sleep.

The other soldiers who jump to attention, their guns pointed out across no man’s land.

We see our young man climbing out of the trench.

British soldier: Jim, Jim! C’mon no, don’t do it!

A different German soldier looks through the telescope to see the English soldier with his hands up, walking onto no man’s land. He shouts and the soldiers stop.

Otto: Halt!!

Otto: Is nicht bewaffnet, Is nicht bewaffnet

The young German, with his hands up, climbs out onto no-man’s land.

German soldier: Nein Otto

British soldier: ‘…Jim’

The young men walk alone across no-man’s land towards each other, hands aloft.

More British follow. And now the Germans are following too. Both sides walk tentatively towards each other across no-man’s land, until they’re face to face, just a couple of feet apart.

It’s a tense moment. Then our young soldier extends a hand to the young German. They shake.

Jim: My name’s Jim

Otto: Mein name ist Otto

Jim: Pleased to meet you Otto

Otto: Freundlich

We see British and German soldiers exchanging tea and coffee.

We see two officers shaking hands.

Jim: How are you?

Otto: Gut… um… Gut… Und du?

Jim: Yeah um… Not so bad.

The both smile.

And suddenly everyone is shaking hands and laughing. Even taking photos with one another.

Jim shows Otto a picture of his sweetheart.

Jim: Rose she’s called

Otto: Schön um… Schön

Someone produces a football and a game begins. The men peel off their greatcoats for goalposts. Soon forty or fifty are chasing around after a ball in the middle of a battlefield, having a great time.

We see a soldier shaving another soldier in front of a mirror.

We see snippets of the football game: a crunching tackle, a goal being scored. There’s a huge sense of release. There are no tactics here. They’re just like kids in the park. And of course, most of them are exactly that: kids.

Then, all too soon, the rumble of artillery begins again. In the final act of the game, our young soldier slots the ball past the Otto who’s playing in goal.

Then comes a louder explosion, and the two majors look over the shoulders toward the distant sound. Everyone begins heading reluctantly back to the trenches.

We see the two officers salute each other in the middle of no-man’s land.

Jim hands Otto back his greatcoat, which has done sterling service as a goalpost.

Otto: Danke

The men shake hands. They know that tomorrow they’ll be soldiers again, trying to kill each other. It’s a poignant moment.

Jim: Happy Christmas

Otto: Frohe Weihnachten

The two slowly walk back to their trenches.

We see the German officer ordering his men back to their posts. His voice is drowned out by shell fire.

The young German has his hands deep in his pockets. He pauses, and withdraws one hand slowly. He brings out the bar of chocolate we saw the young Brit receive from his girlfriend.

Back in the British trench, Jim opens up his ration box again. He takes out another rock hard biscuit.

We cut back to Otto, who is looking at the chocolate bar. He looks fondly back over the trenches.

We cut back to Jim who smiles.

Title: Christmas is for sharing.

Birds fly across the sky

Sainsbury’s logo.

A second title appears on screen:

Title: Made in partnership with The Royal British Legion.