Christmas Football Match

now there was definitely a truce on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1914.

It is reported that soldiers sang carols and crossed into no mans land to exchange small gifts, but it is also commonly said they had football matches.

Does anyone have any pictures, or proper proof this happened?

 

I'm sorry I don't have any knowledge of that time period, but my brother-in-law was in the Canadian army later than WWI and WII, probably in the 60s or 70s, and he has a story of serving in a peace keeping mission on a border, where people from both sides of the conflict brought seasonal offerings on December 24th.

 

Yeah there was a documentary on the History Channel a few years back about this, i believe it to be true and can understand it happening after all they were only human...

What was interesting about this programme is that it interviewed soldiers from both the Allies and Axis armies.. :thumb:

 

There is an excellent book on this subject. SILENT NIGHT. The Remarkable Christmas Truce of 1914. It was written by Stanley Weintraub and published by Simon and Schuster UK Ltd in 2002 (ISBN 0-684-86622-6) It may well be now out of print but you might be able to pick up a second hand copy somewhere. And YES, it did really happen.

Hope this is of some help to you.
Regards,
Jasmor58

 

Have just done a quick check on Amazon. The are still listing this title as available but with limited supply.
Regards,
Jasmor58

 

The war was not about its foot soldiers who were used for fodder, it was a political thing at the time just like many wars after WW1. :ahg:

 

There is now a download for members with "Celtic Thunder" singing the song Christmas 1915 ... A song about the truce of 1914. The lyrics are below. The download link can be found Here