They’ve been meeting in no man’s land to play football for over a hundred years.
At the end of each game, the young men shake hands and wish each other a peaceful Christmas before drifting back to their trenches.
Five of the British team perished on the opening day of the Battle of the Somme; three more died in the fighting at Ypres. Four of the Germans lost their lives at Passchendaele in the Spring Offensive.
Only the British goalkeeper was alive when the war ended, but he succumbed to mustard gas poisoning two weeks after the armistice was signed.
Christmas Truce On The Western Front is my entry for the 2019 edition of the Advent Ghosts Flash Fiction Event hosted by Loren Eaton.
For more details about Advent Ghosts please visit Loren’s excellent blog at isawlightningfall.blogspot.com
To read the other short stories on KelMansfield.com please click here > Short Stories
In 1914 (the first year of WWI) Britsh and German soldiers played a game of football (soccer) in no man’s land during a Christmas Day truce.
On July 1st 1916, British forces suffered 19,240 fatalities on the opening day of the Battle of the Somme.
10,851 German troops were killed on March 21st 1918, the first day of the Spring Offensive.
27,000 French soldiers died on August 22nd 1914 at the Battle of the Frontiers.
Over 20 million people lost their lives in World War I.
Click here for the real story of the WWI Christmas Day football match.
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