The Christmas Match: Football in No Man's Land 1914

[salientpoints]

Pals,

There's been lots of discussion on Chris Bakers excellent reference on the Truce amongst comparisons with older titles but a new title seems to have been overlooked. Whilst I appreciate the title could be somewhat contentious depending on your perception of the word "football" but lets all just accept there a corroborated accounts of the use of football(s) amongst soldiers on Christmas Day 1914 and move on

So, this brings us to the book "The Christmas Match: Football in No Man's Land 1914" by Pehr Thermaenius. Pehr has spent a great deal of time on researching and collecting accounts (including those deemed hearsay / collective memory etc) of football related activities amongst the other truce activities in a wider remit. The main focus on this book surrounds two soldiers: one from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and one from the Ninth Royal Saxon Infantry Regiment.

The main strand in this tale which is beautifully packaged, not so much as a military history or reference book but as a gift book in this centennial year, is the fact these two of Pehr's identified soldiers once played football before the war. There is of course some supposition but we will never know, it is somewhat endearing to think that Jimmy Coyle and Albert Schmidt who both knew how to kick a ball about very well, ended up on that frozen soil one hundred years ago.

From the book jacket: "After four months of intense fighting, the war in Flanders between German and British soldiers fell silent on Christmas Eve 1914. The soldiers started singing instead of shooting. On Christmas Day they came out of their trenches and met in No Man’s Land. Some chased rabbits. Some played

football. This true story is about two footballers and soldiers, one Saxon and one Scot, who were in units that played a match in a field between the French villages Houplines and Frelinghien. Scotsman Jimmy Coyle had played professional football before the war. Saxon Albert Schmidt played in the third team for his local club. On Christmas afternoon they each got the chance to defeat their opponents without weapons. Pehr Thermaenius has tracked both Jimmy’s and Albert’s stories through military archives; from mobilization in August to the hard frozen mud in that field in Flanders that became a football field on Christmas Day. The story of the football match is a light in the darkness as the world remembers the tragic waste of a hundred years ago."

Hopefully some of you have also read this book? if not, as usual it can be ordered via the forum to aid costs!

http://astore.amazon.co.uk/thebritiarmyi-21/detail/1910500011

Cheers

Ryan

[salientpoints]

The author has recently marked the location of the football played out between the Saxons and the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders on the former site of Ferme la Moutarderie with a simple plaque on the cross-roads. A nice touch and far better than the UEFA one, it's even in the right place

If anyone is in Ypres on 22nd he is doing a talk on the Christmas Truce / Match etc at In Flanders Fields Museum (cafe) at 18.30hrs

Cheers

Ryan

[pehrt]

I have had the privilege to talk to Clare Baldwin on the BBC Good Morning Sunday programme about the Christmas Truce. Her researcher contacted me about my book The Christmas Match. What caught her attention – and mine – was that there was not one truce but many truces. The soldiers who went out between the trenches in the dark on Christmas Eve did not know that many other soldiers did the same. It was a natural thing to do. This, to me, is what is most important about the Christmas Truce.

So it was not a football truce but many Christmas Truces. The football incidents serve as powerful metaphors that help us explain what the truce was about.

I wish you all a restful Christmas and I would like to thank you for what I have learnt from you on the Forum this year. My wish for the new year is that the discussion will go on to give us new insights.

You can listen to the interview on Good Morning Sunday here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04ttnm8

(at 1 hour 23 minutes)

Pehr Thermaenius

[PhilB]

When reading about the truces, a question always occurs to me - what effect did it have, if any, on the generals and politicians when they saw clear evidence that there was no basic enmity between the chaps who were supposed to be killing each other?

[pehrt]

In my book I have quoted James Jack. At Christmas 1914 he was a company commander in the first battalion of the Scottish Rifles, but he rose to be a general. When he heard of the Truce he wrote:

“These incidents seem to suggest that, except in the temper of battle or some great grievance, educated men have no desire to kill one another; and that were it not for aggressive National Policies, or the fear of them by others, war between civilised peoples would seldom take place.”

The quote comes from the book General Jack's Diary, compiled by John Terraine.

Pehr

[PhilB]

A sort of "The civilized led by the uncivilized" then?

[Guest]

I have the Kindle edition and there is not a single footnote or end-note. There are lots of statements, assumptions and lots of speculation where the source material or evidence is not referenced.. The reference material at the end of the book does not show where the material, diaries etc are archived. Does the hard-copy book have this info?

Is there any evidence that Coyle was in the lines on Christmas Day? Other than his disembarkation date from the 1914 Star medal roll is there any evidence that he was still in the Battalion on Christmas Day? The reason I ask is that British Army battalions that landed in August 1914 saw massive casualty rates - battle casualties - KIA, DOW, MIA and POW as well as massive non-battle casualties - Sick, injured etc. Typically battalions saw casualty rates in excess of 85-90% and some even higher The OH states that "In the British battalions that fought at the Marne and Ypres there scarcely remained with the colours an average of one officers and thirty men". This suggests overall casualty rates among the original cohorts that landed in Aug 1914 were around 97% by the end of 1914. While battalions rebuilt with reinforcement drafts, the numbers of 'originals' still in with the BEF battalions that landed in Aug 1914 were typically very low.

The 2nd Bn War Diary records at least 948 reinforcements (ORs) arriving at the battalion between 5th Sep and 7th Dec 1914 in ten different drafts which might suggest that the 2nd Bn A&SH was no exception to the massive casualty rates.

It is possible that he was there, but the probabilities are extremely low indeed in the context of the casualty rates and the OH's claims, so it naturally raises the question: is there proof he was there or is it simply conjecture? MG

[pehrt]

For MG,

I am sorry my reply comes late. Christmas got in the way.

If you read my book The Christmas Match you will se that you need not go to my list of sources to see why I think that the two footballers Albert Schmidt and Jimmy Coyle were out there in the field kicking the ball on Christmas day. To help the reader I have explained it already in the text.

In short, I do not claim I know they were there. But they were in these units before Christmas 1914 and they were in them also after Christmas 1914. And they were footballers. That is why there is a distinct possibility that they took part, which is what I have written.

I have also described how I tried to put together casualty figures for the two units. I studied the Saxon regiment IR133’s reports to the 40th division. But several reports I could not read. Some are bound deeply into the spines of bundles of documents. For the 2nd battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders I found no systematic reporting of casualties from 1914, but replacements seem to have been systematically reported in the war diary. On this ground I have written that the Saxons at Christmas had lost some two thirds of the number of soldiers that entered the war. And the Scots seem to have lost more soldiers than the number that came to France in August.

One source is missing in my list. It is a postwar cutting with a picture of Jimmy Coyle and a text that says he was awarded the Military Medal in 1918. The cutting is in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders’ regimental museum in Stirling. I made a serious mistake when I failed to include this source.

Thank you for taking interest in my work.

Pehr

[Guest exuser1]

Just finished the book and I thought it excellent very readable ,and today took it up to Belgium to the site of the game and me and some mates had a bit of a kick about .

[pehrt]

Thank you for this kind review.

I wish I could have been with you.

Are the plaques still there?

Pehr

[Guest exuser1]

Did not notice the plaques, your map on page 134 was excellent , also visited the memorial at Houplines for the beer barrel ,and spent a fair amount of time at Prowse Point , the All Together Now statue was in place and looked superb ,a few other people around and a great atmosphere to be there on the day,the weather was outstanding had a tot of rum for the lads .

Reading the book beforehand made a great deal of difference ,as said previous the book is very readable ,makes some excellent points and brings the idea of the football game kick about in to context .

[pehrt]

I put the plaques under the road signs in the T-junction on both sides, for motorists coming from the north into D945.

Se the picture in post 2.

Pehr

[Guest exuser1]

Excellent am back up next week or so will have another look and get back to you.