Four days before Christmas 1943, the lives of two pilots — one American, the other German — would be changed forever during a brief encounter in the skies of war-torn Germany.

At the controls of the American B-17 was 21-year-old 2nd Lt. Charlie Brown. Second Lt. Franz Stigler piloted the German Messerschmitt. With just a squeeze of a trigger, Stigler could have destroyed the already badly damaged American bomber easily — and Stigler was an ace pilot who needed just one more bomber victory to qualify him for the coveted Knight’s Cross.

But what happened next would later be called “the most incredible encounter between enemies in World War II.” Stigler had seen planes returning from battle that had been shot to pieces, but he had never seen a plane as damaged as the American plane that could still fly. Stigler flew along the right side of the B-17. He saw that the waist gun was missing, that the top turret was empty, and that the radio room had been blown apart. Through the plane’s exposed ribs, Stigler saw his enemy’s crew, huddled over each other as they cared for their wounded. He observed that the nose of the American plane had been blown away. The B-17 ball turret gunner, Sam “Blackie” Blackford, swiveled his guns toward the German enemy. But Stigler knew the turret lacked the elevation to aim at him.

Blackford had expected the German pilot to shoot the plane down.

“What are you waiting for,?” Blackford wondered as the German’s eyes met his.

Adam Makos — journalist, historian, editor of the military magazine “Valor,” and primary author of “A Higher Call” — explains: “The Franz Stigler........

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