WW1 1915 that football match

Bertie Felstead,the last man left living from the most famous of football matches died aged 106.

Christmas 1915 World War One

Legend has it that on Christmas Day 1915, soldiers from both sides of the trenches in World War One met up in No-Man’s-Land for a game of football. Nothing official was kept of this brief meeting on Christmas Day between the enemy, so our knowledge of what took place has always been somewhat patchy. However, the death in 2001 of one of the men who took part in this match resurrected memories of the occasion.




Bertie Felstead, the last survivor of that football match, died in July 2001 aged 106 years.

Bertie Felstead, pictured above, remembered the following:

He was a member of the Royal Welch Fusiliers.

On Christmas Eve, he was stationed in northern France with his colleagues near the village of Laventie when he heard the Germans in a trench 100 metres away singing “Silent Night”. In reply, the Royal Welch Fusiliers sang “Good King Wenceslas”.

On Christmas Day, after some shouting between both trenches, he and his colleagues got out of their icy trench and greeted the Germans. Bertie Felstead recalled that the Germans probably were already out of their trench before the British got out. He claimed that nothing was planned and that what happened was entirely spontaneous.

A football was produced from somewhere – though he could no re-call from where.

“It was not a game as such – more of a kick-around and a free-for-all. There could have been 50 on each side for all I know. I played because I really liked football. I don’t know how long it lasted, probably half-an-hour, and no-one was keeping score.”

The truce ended when a British major ordered the British soldiers back to their trench with a reminder that “they were there to kill the Hun not to make friends with him.” The mood of Christmas friendliness was shortly broken by the firing of British artillery. Bertie Felstead described the Germans as “all right”.

From a BBC news item:

1914 'football truce' anniversary

Trench warfare had only just begun in 1914
This Christmas is the 90th anniversary of the World War I truce when British troops took on the Germans at football.
The soldiers sang Christmas carols before leaving their trenches to play a match in sub-zero temperatures in no-man's land near Armentieres, France.

The Germans won 3-2, according to some soldiers, and the truce gradually came to an end in the same way it had begun - by mutual consent.

A film inspired by the events entitled Merry Christmas is being planned.

The truce came about during the first winter of the war - not yet dubbed the "Great War".

By the end of 1915 both sides were far too bitter for this to happen again

Andrew Robertshaw
Military historian

Around 40,000 Britons had lost their lives by that stage - a tiny number compared to the body count by 1918.

The British soldiers on the Frelinghien-Houplines sector on the western front were the main allied participants in the Christmas festivities.

French and Belgian troops, who were fighting in the same trenches as the British, were less willing to take part.

By Christmas 1914 they had already lost 400,000 people and parts of both their countries were occupied.

Non-aggressive behaviour

The truce began when German soldiers started to sing Christmas carols.

British troops responded and gradually both sets of soldiers moved out of their trenches and met in no-man's land.

After exchanging stories and gifts, several games of football broke out.

The only result recorded was a 3-2 victory by the Germans, quoted in soldiers' letters from both sides.

On some parts of the front hostilities were officially resumed on Boxing Day at 0830 - ceremonial pistol shots marking the occasion.