Christmas 1914, a football match between myth and reality

On December 25, 1914, Christmas Day, English and German soldiers were said to have played football in No Man's Land in Belgium. So myth or reality?

On 11 November 2014, UEFA inaugurated a monument in Comines-Warneton, Belgium, to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the Christmas Truce. A few months into the First World War, soldiers from both front lines reportedly lowered their weapons, sang Christmas carols and started playing football in No Man's Land. But did this truce in the middle of the First World War really take place just 110 years ago?

The English site The Week published extracts from letters from soldiers on this event. “The English brought a football from their trenches, and very quickly a lively match ensueddetailed Lieutenant Kurt Zehmisch of the 134^e infantry regiment. How wonderfully wonderful, but also strange. The English officers felt the same way about it. »

Several testimonies corroborate this moment of truce. “Suddenly a Tommy came with a soccer ball, already kicking and laughing, then started a soccer matchalso told Lieutenant Johannes Niemann of the 133^e infantry regiment. We scored the goals with our caps. The teams quickly formed up for a match on the frozen mud, and the Fritzes beat the Tommies 3-2. »

Information cited in the British daily The Times of 1^is January 1915 confirms the holding of this football match based on a letter from a British doctor from the London Rifle Brigade, present on the front near Ploegsteert, north of the Franco-Belgian border: “The regiment had a football match against the Saxons, who beat them 3-2”.

But several historians doubt whether a football match took place on December 25, 1914. In their work We good… We no shootAlan Reed and Andrew Hamilton recognize the existence of the Christmas Truce (Andrew Hamilton's grandfather, a captain in the British army, was said to have been one of its instigators) without being able to clearly comment.

Between myth and reality, this story of Christmas 1914 nevertheless shows the extent to which football remains a universal sport that can bring people together, even in times of war. And if it really took place, it will have allowed soldiers to fraternize during a conflict which caused nearly 20 million victims.

>>> Also read our file on the rise of football during the First World War