Posted on Dec 25, 2023
A Century Ago, When The Guns Fell Silent On Christmas
224
10
1
6
6
0
A century ago, young men in Europe were killing each other by the tens of thousands. World War I, which had erupted just a few months earlier, was raging. Yet on a frozen Christmas Eve, the guns briefly fell silent.
The Christmas Truce of 1914 has become the stuff of legend, portrayed in films, television ads, and songs. On this 100th anniversary of the cease-fire, it is possible to reconstruct the events of that day from letters, diaries, and even the recorded spoken words of the men who experienced the truce.
"On Christmas Eve, at noon, fire ceased completely on both fronts," said German Army officer Walther Stennes. He told his story in English for an oral history project that Britain's Imperial War Museum recorded years ago.
The Christmas Truce of 1914 has become the stuff of legend, portrayed in films, television ads, and songs. On this 100th anniversary of the cease-fire, it is possible to reconstruct the events of that day from letters, diaries, and even the recorded spoken words of the men who experienced the truce.
"On Christmas Eve, at noon, fire ceased completely on both fronts," said German Army officer Walther Stennes. He told his story in English for an oral history project that Britain's Imperial War Museum recorded years ago.
A Century Ago, When The Guns Fell Silent On Christmas
Posted from npr.org
WWI
Christmas
Posted 5 mo ago
Responses: 1
4
4
0
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Whenever the truce is portrayed in songs and plays, there is always a soccer match between the Germans and the British. This year, a British supermarket chain made a widely-viewed ad that shows the opposing soldiers happily chasing a ball around the snowy field on Christmas Day. Earlier this month, present-day German and British soccer teams played commemorative matches.
So I asked historians to show me accounts of the game.
"Em, we don't have any evidence of that," said William Spencer from the National Archives. "There's nothing recorded in the unit war diaries to say a football [soccer] match took place between this battalion and this particular German infantry regiment."
Thinking maybe it was simply a gap in this particular collection, I asked Wakefield at the Imperial War Museum for evidence of the match.
It's contentious, he said, but ultimately "the idea of any organized football game doesn't stand up in the documentation."
About 30,000 British soldiers were involved in the Christmas Day truce. Wakefield says maybe 100 played organized soccer games against the Germans. In other words, it was hardly central to the story of the truce.
In some places, the two sides held prayer services together. They exchanged mementos, like a small brass button on display in a glass case at the museum.
A German soldier "obviously took that button off his tunic to give it to the British soldier. And the German soldier has put his name, and his hometown, which is in Saxony," says Wakefield."...
..."Whenever the truce is portrayed in songs and plays, there is always a soccer match between the Germans and the British. This year, a British supermarket chain made a widely-viewed ad that shows the opposing soldiers happily chasing a ball around the snowy field on Christmas Day. Earlier this month, present-day German and British soccer teams played commemorative matches.
So I asked historians to show me accounts of the game.
"Em, we don't have any evidence of that," said William Spencer from the National Archives. "There's nothing recorded in the unit war diaries to say a football [soccer] match took place between this battalion and this particular German infantry regiment."
Thinking maybe it was simply a gap in this particular collection, I asked Wakefield at the Imperial War Museum for evidence of the match.
It's contentious, he said, but ultimately "the idea of any organized football game doesn't stand up in the documentation."
About 30,000 British soldiers were involved in the Christmas Day truce. Wakefield says maybe 100 played organized soccer games against the Germans. In other words, it was hardly central to the story of the truce.
In some places, the two sides held prayer services together. They exchanged mementos, like a small brass button on display in a glass case at the museum.
A German soldier "obviously took that button off his tunic to give it to the British soldier. And the German soldier has put his name, and his hometown, which is in Saxony," says Wakefield."...
(4)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google