December 25 – The Guns Fall Silent for Christmas
MERRY Christmas everyone, and we hope Santa brought you everything you wanted, unless you wanted a Nintendo Wii in which case we hope he brought you your second choice.
On this day in 1914 one of the most amazing events in human history occurred in the World War I trenches in France when the British and German soldiers downed their guns, came out of their trenches and had a kick about.
In the years since there have been many versions of events on what really happened that day but legend has it the Germans began signing Christmas carols.
Upon hearing Silent Night drifting across no man’s land the Brits then responded with carols of their own. Eventually both sets of soldiers emerged from their respective trenches and exchanged gifts before the international language of football took over.
Again there are many accounts of the most famous match in the history of the world with some claiming it was simply a kick about, while others say it was a proper match which the Germans (naturally) won 3-2.
Other reports claim it was not simply one match but a string of games played up and down the many miles of no man’s land that existed between the two sets of trenches.
At the end of the day the troops climbed back into their respective trenches to end this historic and unofficial truce. The following day the guns started up again and the war would rage for another four years.
Still, for one day the troops decided they were people away from home at Christmas first, and soldiers second.
So Happy Christmas all, we hope you had a great day. More tomorrow from us here at OTFD so come back then if you just can’t face The Great Escape again.
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December 25 - I saw three ships go sailing by | On This Football Day on December 25th, 2008
[...] most famous Chrimbletide kick about was of course the unofficial truce between the German and British troops in 1914, which we told you about last year. While that event is one of the most remarkable and heart-warming in human history, spare a thought [...]