THE CHRISTMAS EVE TRUCE

I am sure I have done this before, but it's that time of year and so I have two links below that describe the truce in 1914, during the First World War. Poignant! And I have just been to carol service in the local church where there were many memorials to the war dead 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG4vjyPMhE8 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYv6dHy5TJE

Midst all the jovialty, before a few minutes of reflection?

The Christmas Truce of 1914 remains perhaps the most Christian and humane event of any Christmas ever.  A time when the guns fell silent, and mortal enemies became friends and for a moment we truly did love our enemies like our friends.

It should be remembered that in the U.K., men didn’t just volunteer or ‘join up’ as individuals but in entire neighbourhoods and professions.  These included not just normal working class professions but also artists, writers and sportsmen. In London, the Footballer Battalion was formed with the entire team of Leyton Orient FC signing up. Many others signed up to their local units including the entire team of Edinburgh based Hearts which saw 7 of their number killed. Lyndon Sandoe of Cardiff City FC and a Welsh International player was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal and the Military Medal whilst Northampton player Walter Tull was recommended for the Military Cross and became the first Black Officer to serve in the British Army. Like many others, the Footballers Battalion suffered high casualties with over 1,000 men losing their lives.

Many accounts of the truce involve one or more football matches played in no-man's land. It was listed that the 133rd Royal Saxon Regiment pitched against "Scottish troops"; the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders against unidentified Germans (with the Scots reported to have won 4–1); the Royal Field Artillery against "Prussians and Hanovers" near Ypres and the Lancashire Fusiliers near Le Touquet with the detail of a bully beef ration tin as the "ball". One recent writer has identified 29 reports of football, though does not give substantive details. Colonel JEB Seeley recorded in his diary for Christmas Day that he had been "Invited to football match between Saxons and English on New Year's Day",This was mentioned in some of the earliest reports, with a letter written by a doctor attached to the Rifle Brigade,, published in The Times on 1 January 1915, reporting "a football match... played between them and us in front of the trench". Similar stories have been told over the years, often naming units or the score.