German units Ploegsteert wood Christmas 1914

[Guest Bill NEWMAN]

Can anyone help me identify the German units opposite Ploegsteert wood during Christmas 1914.

Many thanks

[AOK4]

IIRC it was the Saxon XIX. Armeekorps, I'll check it and report back.

Jan

[AOK4]

Is this about the football game? According to the regimental history of Infanterie-Regiment 133, it was played by them further south (there is a description of the whole affair in the book). It seems that Infanterie-Regiment 104 was positioned in front of Ploegsteert Wood. I don't have that regimental history (yet ). I'll see if I can confirm this...

Jan

[Guest Bill NEWMAN]

Thanks.

I await with interest

[AOK4]

Bill,

Unfortunately the corps history doesn't give more information. The history of IR 133 clearly states that IR 104 occupied the lines between Le Gheer and St. Yves in October 1914. There don't seem to have been a lot of reliefs until 1915, so I guess IR 104 is what you're looking for.

Jan

[Ralph J. Whitehead]

Bill, I have a copy of the regimental history of the 104th I.R., is there any specific details you are looking for?

Ralph

[Guest Bill NEWMAN]

Thanks,

I am really interested in the Christmas truce period of 1914. I would love to gain a perspective from the German side. I have accounts from the Somersets who were at Ploegsteert who both truced and fraternised. If you could help that would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

[mordac]

Hi Bill:

Try finding a copy of 'Silent Night: The Story Of The World War I Christmas Truce' written by Stanley Weintraub (ISBN 0-452-28367-1). It's was published in 2001 and is 206 pages.

It's an interesting book that relies on information provided in documents, stories, and anecdotes from both trenches. In the chapter titled 'The Dead' there's a paragraph concerning the Somersets:

"At Ploegsteert, the appeal came from the other direction. The 1st Somerset Light Infantry asked the Germans opposite for permission to remove the British dead to a rear-area cemetery. After a brief ceremony the bodies of three officers and eighteen other ranks were carried off. Up and down the the line in Flanders, Christmas morning would be marked by religious observances marking birth and death."

Garth

[Ralph J. Whitehead]

Hello Bill, I have a rough translation from the regimental history of the 104th Regiment that was opposite

Ploegsteert wood during Christmas 1914. The account also verifies what Garth supplied regarding the burial/removal of dead in no man's land from the fighting in November.

"On the 1st Holiday the Englishman opposite us attempted to make use of the mellow mood to arrange a fraternization meeting between the trenches that was prevented through the timely interference by the officers in the Regimental sector. At different front positions trusting German soldiers who had responded to the unjustified suggestion of the Englishman, ended up as prisoners. Only a short armistice for the interring of a number of dead still lying in no man’s land since the November fighting was agreed to. They came from both sides, and was an act of piety with respect to the fallen comrades."

Not much to go on, the majority of the account related to the Christmas celebration of the troops.

Ralph

[Guest Bill NEWMAN]

Thanks to everyone who has responded. Excellent material. If I may be allowed I would like to continue with a request for any information / accounts etc which are relevant to this sector from the German perspective in the months just prior to Christmas 1914.

I am particularly interested in the recapture of Le Gheer 21/10/14 from what my information suggests was the 179th Saxon Regiment .

Secondly I am interested in the attack on the Birdcage 19/12/14 by the Somerset Light Infantry . During this attack wire mattresses stuffed with straw were used to scale the defenders wire. A large number of casualties resulted. It was these men who were recovered from no mans land during the truce.

Anything further would be greatly appreciated.

Regards to all.

[Gary Samson]

While some German and British units were playing football, singing carols, exchanging Christmas goodies and generally having a very agreeable time at the end of 1914, the 2nd Battalion of the Buffs stationed at Wellington in India were not having anything like a similar experience. The battalion:

"...embarked at Bombay on the 16th November on the Cunard ship Ultonia, which was old, slow and dirty, and fearfully overcrowded owing to the 2nd Battalion East Yorkshire regiment being also on board. The ship was under convoy together with thirty-three others, and the whole made Plymouth instead of Southampton on the 23rd December, after making a wide detour in the Atlantic to avoid submarines. The Buffs were bundled off their ship in great haste and without their kits; they got off somehow to Winchester, where they found themselves on a cold, bleak down, in pouring rain and with but very meagre equipment--cooking-pots being one of the very many items that were deficient. An Army Service wagon or two ultimately came along and threw some blankets upon the wet ground, and some bread and meat on top of them, and went away; but of course their drivers were not responsible for cooking-pots. Christmas, 1914, may have been a merry one in many places, even in the trenches to a certain extent, but it is doubtful if the 2nd Battalion of the Buffs ever spent a more miserable one."

[Taken from Moody, Col. R.S.H. (1922). Historical Records of the Buffs East Kent Regiment (3rd Foot) 1914-1919. London: Medici]

Gary