Modern Mysteries

WW1 Christmas match detailed in letter

By T.K. Randall
December 24, 2012 ·  41 comments

Image Credit: CC 2.0 Andrew Dunn The letter was written by Staff sergeant Clement Barker who sent it home just four days after Christmas almost a century ago. The truce was initiated by a German messenger who walked across No Man's Land to broker a temporary cease-fire. Sure enough, both the German and British soldiers honored the agreement and not only stopped fighting but also met up to share cigarettes and to play a game of football.

"A German looked over the trench - no shots - our men did the same, and then a few of our men went out and brought the dead in (69) and buried them and the next thing happened a football kicked out of our Trenches and Germans and English played football," Sergeant Barker had written in the letter. Sadly the cease-fire didn't last beyond Christmas - the war was to continue for another four years, a conflict which cost a further ten million lives.[!gad]The letter was written by Staff sergeant Clement Barker who sent it home just four days after Christmas almost a century ago. The truce was initiated by a German messenger who walked across No Man's Land to broker a temporary cease-fire. Sure enough, both the German and British soldiers honored the agreement and not only stopped fighting but also met up to share cigarettes and to play a game of football.

"A German looked over the trench - no shots - our men did the same, and then a few of our men went out and brought the dead in (69) and buried them and the next thing happened a football kicked out of our Trenches and Germans and English played football," Sergeant Barker had written in the letter. Sadly the cease-fire didn't last beyond Christmas - the war was to continue for another four years, a conflict which cost a further ten million lives.

Source: Telegraph | Comments (41)

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