Football match & The Christmas Truce 1914

[Ken S.]

Weihnachtsabend und Neujahrsnacht verbrachte das Regiment in der Stellung. Am Weihnachtstag ergab sich dadurch, daß die Beerdigung eines vor der Stellung liegenden englischen Toten durch die Besatzung unseres rechten Unterabschnitts nicht gestört wurde, eine Art Waffenruhe, bei der die beiderseitigen Besatzungen waffenlos aus den Gräben traten und sich gegenseitig beschenkten. Durch Eingreifen rückwärtiger Stellen wurde diesem vorübergehenden Friedenszustand ein Ende gemacht. Am 27. 12. fand für das III. Batl. eine sehr stimmungsvolle Weihnachtsfeier in der Kirche von Bas-Warneton statt, bei der nach erhebenden Ansprachen der Feldgeistlichen beider Konfessionen die aus der Heimat -- namentlich aus Augsburg -- in überreichem Maße eingetroffenen Liebesgaben verteilt werden konnten. Beim I. Batl. konnte die Feier nur kompanieweise stattfinden. [Das K. B. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 17, S. 23]

[Derek Black]

The Christmas truce of 1914 by Pte. James Cruickshank, a 2nd Btn A.& S.H. man of Hope Street, Arbroath, to the Arbroath Guide. (Published January 1915)

"Private James Cruickshank, 2nd Battalion Argyle (sic) and Sutherland Highlanders, writing on December 26 to his wife in Arbroath, said there had been no fighting around him for two days, as the Germans were holding Christmas. "The other night a German officer came over to our trenches, annd one of our Sergeants went out to him. They shook hands and wished on another A Happy New Year. The next day a lot of us went over to their trenches and wished them a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year. We gave them a bit of tobacco and they gave us cigarettes. Then we shook hands and came back to our trenches, and there was never a shot fired. They told us that they were fed up, and wished the war was at an end, as we d ourselves."
 

Exerpt of a letter by another Arbroath lad Pte. 2247 William Soutar of the 5th Btn Black Watch, published in the Arbroath Guide on 9th jan 1915.

"On Christmas day our company had to attend business as usual, but the spirit of peace and goodwill seemed to have reached even the Germans, because never a shot was fired.
After the truce had become firmly established, the enemy gained sufficient confidence to come out of their trenches to bury their dead, and our company left their earthly abode in quest of souvenirs of the occassion. Two of our men exchanged greetings and shortbread with two German soldiers, and further tokens of disregard might have changed hands but for the intervention of a British officer, who forbade further communication between the parties. The Germans were allowed to tidy up the battlefield a bit and return to their trenches in peace. Since Christmas, fighting has not been brisk...."

 

So no fitba, but a truce and exchange of gifts.

Cheers,
Derek.

Edited 9 March , 2017 by Derek Black
removing images

[Guest]

Dr Clare Makepeace, a Teaching Fellow at University College, London is not impressed Click

Mike

[David Ridgus]

My daughter tells me that Gary Sheffield has been railing against the idea in a similar vein on Twitter

David

[Guest]

Dr Clare Makepeace, a Teaching Fellow at University College, London is not impressed Click

Mike

I tend to agree with Dr Makepeace. The idea of "commemorating" an event that didn't happen in some desperate attempt to jump on the bandwagon is simply dreadful. I wonder how many of the celebrity footballers even know the dates for the Great War. It seems a rather tactless, tasteless and pointless stunt.

In the 159 unit diaries of the troops in the British front line that day there is one reference to an alleged football match. By his own admission the diarists did not see it himself and he specifically points out that the story was "hearsay". There is no hard evidence in the diaries of the very units who allegedly took part in this supposed football match.

Dr Makepeace makes another interesting point; the "Commemoration" is starting to turn on its head. It is saying more about how our Society remembers rather than the events themselves. If this Football match is any indication, the 100th Anniversaries are at risk of becoming a prop for pointless publicity stunts.

MG

[CaroleHope]

There's nothing logical about life in the trenches.

If you went up the line for a four or five day tour, you might be lucky and come out into divisional reserve. Or you might find yourself in brigade reserve, much closer to the front. If you and your mates were keen footballers, you'd keep a ball in your kit at all times and seize any opportunity to get a game going. I spoke to numerous members of 16 RS (not the most typical battalion, I grant you) and every section (apparently without exception) had at least one football. A deflated piece of leather and a hand pump take up little space in your haversack.

John McCartney, the secretary of Heart of Midlothian Football Club, personally administered a wartime charity, 'Footballs For Soldiers', raising funds to supply soldiers at the front with new footballs. A remarkable total of 1,070 balls were sent out to units in every theatre where British and Commonwealth troops served. The letters of thanks he received clearly indicate that the first thing many of the lads did when they came out of the line was find a field and mark out a pitch. They would therefore have the balls with them.

Surely a football was a prized item to some and therefore would be kept in the owner's possession at all times in case of loss or theft? And as has already been pointed out a full scale football match may not necessarily have taken place, but men (especially those not much more than boys in their late teens) who are keen footballers will always be able to improvise some kind of kick about with or without a proper ball. I agree that the whole FA commemoration thing is a bit gimmicky - but there again at least they are trying to engage people with the Great War. I read elsewhere that regimental records of the 133rd Saxon Regiment records a football match which they won 3-2 during the Christmas truce. It would be good to establish the truth.

Edited 10 May , 2014 by Frezenberg1917

[Jack Sheldon]

I have posted this before, but will repeat it. From the History of the Saxon IR 133: Das 9. Koeniglich Saechsische Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 133 im Weltkrieg 1914-18 at p 32, part of an eyewitness account by Johannes Niemann reads, '... Then a Scot produced a football ... a regular game of football began, with caps laid on the ground as goalposts. The frozen meadow was ideal [to play on]. One of us had a camera with us. Quickly the two sides gathered together in a group, all neatly lined up with the football in the middle ... The game ended 3:2 to Fritz'.

Make of that what you will.

Jack

[John_Hartley]

And perhaps more tellingly:

1/6th Bn Cheshire Regt (attached to 15th Inf Bde)

25th Dec 1914: Casualties. 1 wounded.

So I suspect that the football match did not happen in the area in front of 1/6th Cheshire's trenches...... A

The difficulty with using the 6/Cheshires diary as evidence, one way or the other, is as mentioned in posts 22 & 26. The battalion was allocated out to the three regular battalions of the brigade so it no surprising that their own diary has no details of the day. In fact, other than recording of casualties on three days, it has no details recorded between 20/12 and 28/12.

I'm happy to accept the details of the interview CSM Frank Naden (later Brig. Gen) gave to the local papers, in early January, as well as the evidence of other Stopfordians who wrote home with details.

[Guest]

The difficulty with using the 6/Cheshires diary as evidence, one way or the other, is as mentioned in posts 22 & 26. The battalion was allocated out to the three regular battalions of the brigade so it no surprising that their own diary has no details of the day. In fact, other than recording of casualties on three days, it has no details recorded between 20/12 and 28/12.

I'm happy to accept the details of the interview CSM Frank Naden (later Brig. Gen) gave to the local papers, in early January, as well as the evidence of other Stopfordians who wrote home with details.

The other four battalion diaries and the Brigade diary don't mention any football match. It is a real stretch of the imagination that a newly arrived TF unit (arrived on 17th Dec), split among the Regular battalions managed to have a game of football with the Germans in the middle of no-man's land without a single mention from any of the other four diaries or the Brigade Diary. I really cant see the Regulars sitting in their trenches watching this happen yards in front of them without a single mention.

It is possible but I think highly improbable.

The Cheshire Regt history does not mention it either. Did the 1/6th have their own published history? MG

I have posted this before, but will repeat it. From the History of the Saxon IR 133: Das 9. Koeniglich Saechsische Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 133 im Weltkrieg 1914-18 at p 32, part of an eyewitness account by Johannes Niemann reads, '... Then a Scot produced a football ... a regular game of football began, with caps laid on the ground as goalposts. The frozen meadow was ideal [to play on]. One of us had a camera with us. Quickly the two sides gathered together in a group, all neatly lined up with the football in the middle ... The game ended 3:2 to Fritz'.

Make of that what you will.

Jack

Jack - any idea where this unit was on Christmas Day? We should be able to locate it from its number and work out which Scots were opposite them. I cant find a single reference in a Scottish unit war diary- although the Gordon's war diary is missing in action and the episode is not mentioned in any Scottish regiments' history to my knowledge. It would seem a rather extraordinary event to have not recorded it.

MG

[John_Hartley]

Martin

Yep, 6/Cheshire published their own history. Here's the extract which doesnt mention any football. I am only just starting to do some detailed research into the battalion and this is probably the main event which it is going to be difficult to establish with certainty what happened. The research so far seems to indicate that only one of the companies was in the front line at the time. What I hope to do is to establish with which company those who gave apparently first hand accounts were serving with - that's basically CSM Naden and Ernie Williams (who gave the 1983 interview). May not be possible but Naden, as a CSM, may be mentioned in pre-war newspaper reports. If I can tie the two together, with the knowledge of which unit was where, then it would aid the credibility of both. I'll also be checking local newspapers for any other letters home.

"On Christmas Day, 1914, the Companies representing the Battalion in the line took part in the fraternisation with the enemy. The day opened with the usual stand-to before dawn. Soon after daylight arrived someone in our lines began to play “Christians, awake!” on a mouth organ, and the thoughts of the men in the trenches immediately turned to the folks at home, who they knew were living under better conditions than they were. It was, says one who was there, nothing but mud, mud, mud, a parapet and two strands of wire between us and the Boche, who was 200 yards away. After “Christians, awake!” the Boche responded with the popular melody “Come over here!” and lo! we saw the Boche coming out of his trenches and we wondered whether it was an attack.~ The Germans were waving their arms, and immediately our men went out to meet them in No Man’s Land, where we frater­nised. We ate their Saukeraut, and they our chocolate, cakes, etc. We had killed a pig just behind our lines. There were quite a lot of creatures rambling about the lines, including an old sow with a litter and lots of cattle and poultry. We cooked the pig in No Man’s Land, sharing it with the Boche. We also buried several dead Frenchmen who were lying out there. So ended our first Christmas in the line. The Boche, and we also, thought the war would soon be over. On the 2nd September, 1918, in our attack from Locre, we re-took the trenches in which we spent Christmas Day, 1914."

[Guest]

I am only just starting to do some detailed research into the battalion and this is probably the main event which it is going to be difficult to establish with certainty what happened. The research so far seems to indicate that only one of the companies was in the front line at the time. What I hope to do is to establish with which company those who gave apparently first hand accounts were serving with - that's basically CSM Naden and Ernie Williams (who gave the 1983 interview). May not be possible but Naden, as a CSM, may be mentioned in pre-war newspaper reports. If I can tie the two together, with the knowledge of which unit was where, then it would aid the credibility of both. I'll also be checking local newspapers for any other letters home.

A and D Coys were with the 1st Dorsets

B Coy with the 1st Bedfords

C Coy were with 1st Norfolks

All three battalions were in the front line trenches on the day. It looks as if 1st Cheshires were in reserve as they were inspected by Count Gleichen on the day.

The 1/6th Bn Cheshire Regt diary is about as thin as it gets. There are some clues that the 1/6th Cheshire's companies were rotating through their designated regular Battalions in platoons, and half companies. The alignment is from 18th Dec onwards and interestingly none are aligned with the 1st Cheshires. 18th-28th seems to be a consistent period in the trenches for all these units. MG

[fritz]

Does anyone know anything about the participation of 1/Royal Warwickshires????

Fritz

[Guest]

Does anyone know anything about the participation of 1/Royal Warwickshires????

Fritz

25/12/1914 St Yves X-Mas day. A local truce British & Germans intermingle between the trenches. Dead in front of trench buried. No shot fired all day. No casualties.

26/12/1914 St Yves Truce ended owing to our opening fire. German light gun reply on D Coy trenches. 2 wounded etc etc

Mike

[Guest]

There are as we know many stories about the Christmas truce. Here's one from Europeana when you start looking into it, I don't think this one holds up. The 2nd Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers spent Christmas day 1914 in billets at Fleurbaix.

Mike

[Ken S.]

The person who wrote it claims to be 13 years-old. He probably thinks that because there allegedly was a truce that it occurred along the entire front, and since his gggrandad was in France at the time, he must have been in the trenches and participated in the fraternizing. Nice of him to share the photos, though.

[John_Hartley]

A and D Coys were with the 1st Dorsets

B Coy with the 1st Bedfords

C Coy were with 1st Norfolks

All three battalions were in the front line trenches on the day.

That's interesting , Martin.

I'd taken the information from the Long, Long Trail that, of the three regular units, only the Norfolks participated in the truce - and therefore only the Cheshires C Coy took part. If all three were in the front line, then that makes it irrelevent to try and identify Naden & Williams company.

[Guest]

Does anyone know anything about the participation of 1/Royal Warwickshires????

Fritz

Fritz

This is the diary entry for the 1st Bn Royal Warwickshires:

25th Dec 1914. ST YVES. Xmas Day. A local truce, British and Germans intermingle between the trenches. Dead in front of trenches buried. No shot fired all day. No casualties.

MG

[Guest]

That's interesting , Martin.

I'd taken the information from the Long, Long Trail that, of the three regular units, only the Norfolks participated in the truce - and therefore only the Cheshires C Coy took part. If all three were in the front line, then that makes it irrelevent to try and identify Naden & Williams company.

The problem here, as in many cases in historical research, is that the account in the LLT is assumed to be true without stress testing. The Norfolks diary and published history makes no claim. I would be interested to know on what foundations Norfolk fraternisation is based. This is often the case. One needs to find corroborating evidence to support the arguments.

My issue is that among the 150 odd first hand accounts written on the day (or close to written on the day) there is not a shred of evidence in terms of first hand accounts that supports this fanciful theory. This is not a small sample. Some 100,000 troops. Also when we drill into the Scottish diaries, which as a sub-set are cited in the German accounts as being the troops that played and lost 2-3, there is not a single shred of evidence from their diaries. In fact there is conflicting evidence. The only gap is the Gordon Highlanders whose diaries are missing. Their history rather oddly omits to mention this famous event,

As an empiricist and steeped in a culture that requires proof, I remain very skeptical of this theory. MG

[David Ridgus]

As an empiricist and steeped in a culture that requires proof, I remain very skeptical of this theory. MG

"This is the West sir, When the legend becomes fact, print the legend" (The Man who shot Liberty Vallance)

David

[Guest]

These are always useful, might be worth checking relevant ones?

Infantry Battalion War Diary Transcript Links (WW1)

Mike

[Guest]

"This is the West sir, When the legend becomes fact, print the legend" (The Man who shot Liberty Vallance)

David

David, a very nice quote. I am not sure who first said "don't let fact's get in the way of a good story" but they were on the money. Of all these I prefer Alexander Pope:

A little learning is a dangerous thing

Drink deep or taste not the Pierian Spring

There shallow drafts intoxicate the brain

And drinking largely sobers us again.

Like all good story tellers he was not the originator of this quote, having plagiarised it from the Ancients.

On topic - does anyone know where the Germans who allegedly played against the Scots were in the trench system? I have seen references to kilts, so we can even eliminate the lowland regiments (in theory). MG

[Guest]

There's a story here from PapersPast that mentions football. I have seen another article (if I find it will post) concerning a Rifle Brigade man and a football game that did not occur, because the German CO refused to allow his men to participate. The 3rd Rifle Brigade Diary makes no mention.

Mike

Edit 09:14 AM

Liverpool Echo - Saturday 02 January 1915

Rifleman C Mallard, machine-gun section of the Rifle Brigade, writes to his parents at Newport L.W.

On Christmas Day we agreed to play a football match and we got a football but their colonel would not let them play, so we had a bit of a game on our own.

[Guest]

There's a story here from PapersPast that mentions football. I have seen another article (if I find it will post) concerning a Rifle Brigade man and a football game that did not occur, because the German CO refused to allow his men to participate. The 3rd Rifle Brigade Diary makes no mention.

Mike

Edit 09:14 AM

Liverpool Echo - Saturday 02 January 1915

Rifleman C Mallard, machine-gun section of the Rifle Brigade, writes to his parents at Newport L.W.

On Christmas Day we agreed to play a football match and we got a football but their colonel would not let them play, so we had a bit of a game on our own.

3rd Rifle Brigade War Diary on 25th Dec: "Remained in trenches".

[fritz]

Thank you Mike, thank you Martin. Are there any British information about their German opponents, their regiment???

Fritz

Fritz

This is the diary entry for the 1st Bn Royal Warwickshires:

25th Dec 1914. ST YVES. Xmas Day. A local truce, British and Germans intermingle between the trenches. Dead in front of trenches buried. No shot fired all day. No casualties.

MG

Thank you Mike, thank you Martin. Are there any British information about the German opponents, their regiment????

Fritz

[Jack Sheldon]

^Martin

^{I have had a careful look at the history of IR 133. Unfortunately the map which shows the two front lines, does not mark the regimental boundaries. However they were located to the east of Houplines, south of Frelinghien, probably down to around L'Epinette. Regimental HQ was at Le Chatel Farm, then pulled back to Arras Farm on the road southeast of La Houlette. This suggests a fairly wide frontage, but the regiment points out that it was a quiet front. There is a hint in Niemann's testimony that the fraternisation may have taken place towards Frelinghien itself, but I cannot be certain. The fact that it involved a kilted Scottish regiment is mentioned three times and that is a detail which is likely to be correct.}

^Jack