LETTERS sent from the trenches of the Western Front to the North-East have cast new light on the famous Christmas Day truce of 1914, when the guns of World War One fell silent.

The previously unpublished letters sent by Major John Hawksley, of the Royal Field Artillery, to his sister Muriel at her home in Coatham Mundeville, near Darlington, show that not everyone on the frontline agreed with the unofficial ceasefire.

Major Hawksley’s letters will be auctioned by Bonhams in London on June 19, where they are expected to sell for £4,000.

The Christmas Day truce saw more than 100,000 British and German soldiers lower their guns and leave the trenches to exchange gifts and play football in the mud of No Man’s Land.

But, according to Major Hawksley, then 37, at least one regiment refused to take part.

The Northern Echo: The letters from Major John Hawksley to his sister Muriel
The letters from Major John Hawksley to his sister Muriel

Writing from the frontline, the soldier told his sister: "The Seaforths...would have none of it and when the Germans in front of them tried to fraternize and leave their trenches, the Seaforths warned them that they would shoot."

He also spoke of his of his own discomfort about the truce and added: "This is an extraordinary state of things and I don't altogether approve of it”, although he admitted: “Still it gives me and my observation post a quiet time."

The first letter sent to Muriel, written on December 27, details the festive camaraderie between the opposing forces.

He wrote: "Christmas day in our immediate front was quite extraordinary. After dark our men and the Germans whose trenches were only 1 to 2 hundred yards apart sang in English Home Sweet Home together. Then God Save the King was sung by both. I don't know what words the Germans sang to this tune.

"Then late on a German shouted to the Warwicks – ‘We won't fire tomorrow if you don't'. Our men shouted back ‘All right’. When it was light on Xmas day, each side showed itself above the trenches.

“First head and shoulders then seeing they were not shot at - showed a little more - Until a German got out of his trench and then an Englishman did. Finally about 100 Germans and 60 Englishmen including officers on both sides stepped out and fraternized with each other!"

He wrote that a football match was also arranged for Boxing Day but he discovered that ‘our big guns’ were due to fire.

"The OC [officer commanding] Warwicks warned the German officer that they were going to be shelled and that he hoped they would not be hit and all went back their trenches.

“When the shelling began and they saw that they themselves were not to be the targets, they got out again.

"Then a German officer said to one of ours: ‘Look here we don't want to shoot you and you don't want to shoot us'. So the arrangement between us...is that neither of them shoot and that if they have to begin they will fire three volleys over their heads as a warning."

In the second letter, written two days later on December 29, he noted that the proposed football match in their quadrant was stopped by "our authorities", adding: "I don't think an official armistice has been carried out quite so long as in front of me. (Gunfire continues all the same).

“Yesterday the Hampshires received [from the Germans] the following message: `Gentlemen. Our automatic pistol has been ordered from the Colonel to begin to fire again at midnight, we take it an honour to award you of this fact'. Funny isn't it?"

Hawksley, whose parents lived in Pembrokeshire, was a veteran of Ladysmith and Khartoum and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for services on the retreat from Mons.

He was killed by a sniper in France in 1916 and is buried at Becourt Military Cemetery.