| Grizwald | 17 Mar 2010 7:50 a.m. PST |
I notice that one of the party games for Salute is described thus:
"Legend has it that in December 1914 a truce was declared between the British and Germans, and a number of games of football were played on the No-man's land between the trenches." Legend? AFAIK it is documented fact:
link |
| Kaoschallenged | 17 Mar 2010 7:59 a.m. PST |
From all that I have read. FACT. Robert |
| Martin Rapier | 17 Mar 2010 8:03 a.m. PST |
Yes, it is a fact, however perhaps for the game they aren't basing it on a specific incident, Ulster Rifles vs 3rd Bavarian Foot or whatever. |
| Hastati | 17 Mar 2010 8:38 a.m. PST |
The Salute game will be legendary, get your flicking fingers ready for a fun game. That's all I'll say. |
| Endless Grubs | 17 Mar 2010 9:50 a.m. PST |
Fact. First and only time there was a somewhat widescale christmas truce in WWI. See "Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour: Armistice Day, 1918, World War I and Its Violent Climax" by Persico. |
| elsyrsyn | 17 Mar 2010 12:27 p.m. PST |
Well, I suppose that since the truce was (as far as I've read) very unofficial and local in nature, you could pick nits about it, but I still wouldn't say "according to legend." Doug |
| Goose666 | 17 Mar 2010 12:43 p.m. PST |
The truce's were recorded in various unit diaries of the time. So FACT that some occured. |
| Johannes Brust | 17 Mar 2010 12:54 p.m. PST |
I believe there's a book about it…Published in the last 2 years… |
| tmy 1939 | 17 Mar 2010 7:19 p.m. PST |
I would say fact. Recorded in war diaries and first hand accounts like this one: link One book is "Christmas Truce: The Western Front December 1914": link There are even a few pictures in Imperial War Musem Collection and plenty of documents (letters and so on): link |
| Abwehrschlacht | 18 Mar 2010 5:14 a.m. PST |
The following is from Craster, J.M. 1976 Fifteen Rounds a Minute: the Grenadiers at War, August to
December 1914. London: Macmillan. The date for 25th Dec. 1914 reads like this: 'We awoke to the sounds of carols coming from the German trenches, we recognised Silent Night, and we were reminded of the day as the songs drifted across the cold fields. The Hun shouted to us, 'Hey Tommy, sing with us!' Of course, they shot the bloody hell out of us the day before, so our boys replied with a heavy barrage of rifle fire. Hostilities continued for the rest of the day.' 'Truces' occurred up and down the line throughout the war, they were generally unofficial and unspoken. It amounted to 'we'll not bomb them when they're brewing up and then they won't do it to us.' The Christmas Truce was brought about because the two armies were largely comprised of professional soldiers in 1914 and they decided they were having the day off since the rest of Europe was as well. You will find out more in Tony Ashworth's Trench Warfare 1914-1918: The Live and Let Live System. |
| Chris PzTp | 19 Mar 2010 10:20 a.m. PST |
As mentioned by Vargulver, truces were very common throughout WWI. At least in the form of implicit live-and-let-live arrangements. Ashworth's book on the topic is fascinating. It's one of my favorite books on WWI: link |
| Abwehrschlacht | 19 Mar 2010 10:50 a.m. PST |
The 'problem' with the Christmas Truce is that it seems to be trotted out each year by the BBC and other media outlets as an example of the soldiers of the Great War all being against the war. That they went against orders and then were 'forced' to go back to killing each other. Ashworth's book is certainly eyeopening, as is Gordon Corrigan's Mud Blood and Poppycock: link |
journeys to and from the Australian national convention - and tells us what he thinks of panicking tank hordes and flat terrain!