The legendary football match during Christmas 1914

[dogtag]

when the British and German soldiers refrained from killing
each other for a few hours while they played football.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/histo...ruce-11972213/

The guy on the left looks like Paul McCartny. If it's him
he must be 120.

[Major Tom]

Those troops were severely punished for their action!

[dogtag]

Those troops were severely punished for their action!

Like what ? Could anything be worse than where they were ?

[Major Tom]

Like what ? Could anything be worse than where they were ?

Point taken! And remember that WW1 ended on the 11th month of the 11th day on the 11th hour. All the troops, allies and Germans knew this, but there were some generals who sent men over the top to be killed within minutes of the truce! Those generals were (to my knowlege) were never punished.

[Vern Humphrey]

Point taken! And remember that WW1 ended on the 11th month of the 11th day on the 11th hour. All the troops, allies and Germans knew this, but there were some generals who sent men over the top to be killed within minutes of the truce! Those generals were (to my knowlege) were never punished.

They were not punished because it was approved by their superiors. The idea was to demonstrate to the Germans, that Armistice or no Armistice, they had lost the war.

[PWC]

I knew of the truce, but not the footbal matches. I believe the leaders on both sides reshuffled the troops so this wouldn't happen again.

[dogtag]

Some British top commanders should have had their neck stretched.
Back then officers gained their commissions by who they knew not what they knew.

[Vern Humphrey]

Some British top commanders should have had their neck stretched.
Back then officers gained their commissions by who they knew not what they knew.

The British command in WWI was very bad. When Sir John French, commander of the BEF left he went down into the trenches to say goodbye to the troops -- he had never been in the trenches before. And when he was the conditions there, he burst into tears, saying "Did we send men to fight under these conditions?"

His successor, Douglas Haig, wouldn't even visit the wounded -- for fear it would make him "soft."

[Major Tom]

The German army was never defeated in WW1. They surrendered when the population cried "enough". The treaty was very harsh for the German population and cast the seed for WW2.

[Vern Humphrey]

The German army was never defeated in WW1. They surrendered when the population cried "enough". The treaty was very harsh for the German population and cast the seed for WW2.

Yes and no. Not an inch of German soil was under Allied occupation when Germany signed the Armistice -- but at the same time, Germany was unable to feed her troops, supply them with ammunition and so on. If the war had gone on for another few months, the German army would have been destroyed.

This situation led to the "stab in the back" legend -- and of course the Jews were blamed.