Shoot them! What top brass told troops in Xmas football truce with Germans
AS the artillery fell quiet at Christmas 1914, Tommies and German troops put down their weapons, emerged from the trenches, played football and swapped gifts in no man’s land.
But while the truce provided a moment of humanity amid the horrors of the First World War, British military top brass were far from keen on the idea, an unearthed order has revealed.
So much so, in fact, that they instructed officers to shoot at any Germans who approached the Allied trenches as the festivities began to break out.
The signal order from the 25th Infantry Brigade, addressed to the 1/13th (County of London) Battalion’s commanding officer at Flan- ders and sent at 11.15pm on December 24, 1914, said: ‘On no account are our men to be allowed to hold any communication with the Germans.
‘Take steps to stop it at once. They must not be allowed to approach our trenches on penalty of fire being opened. If they continue to do so you must open fire.’ The order was framed and hung in the Battalion’s officers’ mess in 1928 after being presented to Lieutenant Colonel Harry John Stafford.
It is thought it was archived by Colonel Stafford when he was serving in the trenches. He died in 1952.
It is not known when the framed order was taken down and stored, but it is believed to have remained hidden from public view as it was exchanged between collectors over the intervening decades.
The order is now due to be sold by C&T Auctioneers, in Ashford, Kent, and is expected to fetch £2,000. The unofficial truce was not universally observed on the Western Front. Differing accounts of what happened in various places have shown that some soldiers died on Christmas Day 1914 after getting out of the trenches thinking there was a truce and being shot by Germans.
Matthew Tredwen, specialist in militaria at the auctioneers, said: ‘Anything to do with the Christmas truce is extremely rare and sought after by collectors.
‘This was sent by the battle commander at 11.15pm so probably came in reaction to news of the truce. Everybody knows the story of the troops laying down their arms and playing football, it was such an incredible moment from First World War history and has a lot of romance surrounding it.
‘But this message goes to show that not everyone was as impressed. It very much goes against the popular public perception of what was going on.’ The auction takes place on September 7.