War between England and Germany has become such a tired tabloid metaphor for England – Germany football games, that it is easy to forget that football can be seen as a metaphor for peace. We refer, of course, to the Christmas 1914 and 1915 truces and football matches - read the eye-witness accounts.

A whole historiographical industry has built up around these incidents – an industry made easy by the paucity of surviving first hand testimonies from both British and German, and from both willing participants and horrified officers.

Broadly speaking, there are 2 schools of historical interpretation about the truces. First, those historians who see sufficient evidence of fraternisation to justify going beyond the surviving written evidence, and who, in consequence, emphasise the role of threats of courts martial. Secondly, there are those historians who affirm the marginality of these incidents and who affirm the enmity rather than amity of those involved in the Christmas truces. We present a selection of first hand accounts and websites for those who wish to research further.

Some Eye-Witness Accounts

Leutnant Johannes Niemann, 133rd. Saxon Regiment:
“The mist was slow to clear and suddenly my orderly threw himself into my dugout to say that both German and Scottish soldiers had come out of their trenches and were fraternising…exchanging cigarettes, schnapps and chocolate…Later a Scottish soldier appeared with a football which seemed to come from nowhere and a few minutes later a real football match got underway. The Scots marked their goalmouth with their strange caps and we did the same. It was far from easy to play on the frozen ground, but we continued, keeping rigorously to the rules, despite the fact that it only lasted an hour and that we had no referee…Us Germans really roared when a gust of wind revealed that the Scots wore nothing under their kilts… The game finished with a score of 3 goals to 2 in favour of Fritz against Tommy.”

Kurt Zehmisch’s diary tells of British and German cooperation over burying the dead in No Man’s Land, near Ypres at Christmas and how “soon a couple of Englishmen brought a football from their trenches and a lively game ensued.” (Lost 3 –2 again.)

The Times on New Year’s Day, 1915, carried a report of a 3 – 2 defeat while the Lancashire Fusiliers recorded a 3 – 2 victory. A Fusilier eye witness account records, however, that the Fusiliers played amongst themselves while the Germans “enjoyed themselves sliding on a little pond”, which is probably why we won.

Some other websites on the Christmas Truce

More eyewitness reports

There's a book - (now out of print).

A german account - with a bit of Blackadder for good luck.

Michael Foreman's book War Games review says - the soccer game played between members of the opposing armies (purely anecdotal, but for the empty "Bully Beef" tin that might've been kicked around a bit)

Capt Neville who kicked a football toward the enemy whilst attacking:

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