Truce In The Trenches

The Christmas Truce of 1914 was an official ceasefire not authorized by the superior command levels. It took place on December 24, 1914 and on subsequent days, at certain parts of the Western Front, and in particular between German and British soldiers in Flanders.

Whether or not any football games were played between the two sides is a matter of conjecture. According to Chris Baker, former chairman of the Western Front Association and author of a book on the truce, it is possible that a game of football was played between the first batallion of the Norfolk regiment and the Bavarian RIR 16, although no evidence of this exists from the German side. The RIR 16 was Felix Kiefer's regiment, but unfortunately Felix had been severely wounded in October 1914, had been sent to hospital in Hamburg and was spending December 1914 at home in Ettlingen to convalesce.


However, it seems likely that upon returning to his regiment in early 1915, Felix would have learned of a truce or a football match from his comrades, and relayed the information to his family. Unfortunately, we can find no reference to this in any of Felix's letters. Felix's brother Tor, also located at the Western Front during 1914, would have learned of it or even possibly experienced a truce at his own position. But Tor reports, in a letter dated November 17, 1916, of a special unofficial truce at the Eastern Front, where he was stationed, and writes, "As long as we have been at war, nothing like this has ever happened".

Tor's Letter

Tor's letter tells the extraordinary story of a period during November 1916 when, stationed at the Eastern Front near Najarowka, an unofficial ceasfire took place between the Germans and the Russians in order to allow each side to build their dugouts, collect wood and supplies, etc. At one point, several soldiers from each army met each other across a stream and conversed with each other. Finally, one of the Russian lieutenants sent a soldier with a handwritten note in German, asking for a ceasefire.

"A special peace is being made here", Tor writes. "That is, until the "friendly" communication with the Russians is forbidden by divisional command. But the silent treaty remains. Companies of Russians come down the mountain without any cover and can work on their positions. Vehicles that you could easily shoot down are driving by with wood supplies. As long as we have been at war, nothing like this has ever happened. To put it in a nutshell: there must be peace".


Ettlingen's newspapers of December 1914 make no mention of an actual truce, but they do report that the Front at Flanders has been relatively quiet over the Christmas period, and that the English requested a ceasefire to bury their dead, which was conceded.

The Badischer Landsmann
on December 28, 1914

Central Headquarters, December 25, morning. Peace generally prevailed yesterday in Flanders. East of Festubert, the English lost a further part of the position that had been captured on December 20.

At Chivy, our troops removed an enemy company that had settled down in front of our position. 17 French were captured. The enemy suffered further losses in an attempt to retake our position.

The situation in the East remained unchanged yesterday.

Central Headquarters, December 26, morning. At Nieuport, attacks by the English and the French during the night of 24th to 25th December were repelled.

The success of the battles at Festubert with Indians and English could be seen today. 19 officers and 819 Indians and English were taken prisoner today, 14 machine guns, 12 mortars, floodlights and other military material were captured. The enemy left over 3000 dead on the battlefield. A ceasefire requested by the English to bury their dead was conceded. Our losses were relatively low.

Famine And Revolution

Towards the end of the Great War, Germany's suffering intensified both in the field and at home. Families in the homeland were experiencing previously unknown famine and were unable to subsist on the ration cards. The only way to survive was to become self-supporting, or to hoard food, which was prohibited. Some stole from farmers' fields at night, only to be caught by police who were lying in wait to catch such thieves.

At the Front, it had become a situation of "every man for himself". Many were no longer obeying commands and the war had turned into a battle for individual survival.

The lone watch in the trench - photo sent by
Tor Kiefer from the Front to his family

Upon returning home at the end of the war, the soldiers found a revolution. The Kaiser had fled to Holland and the country was in the hands of workers' and military councils; the epaulettes and cockades of the returning men were torn off in the streets. Many soldiers who had not been fortunate enough to secure a job in the homeland stood before closed doors. Under the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, the Allied and Associated powers occupied Germany and many Germans were unable to find a place to live, being forced to move in with relatives or friends.



Tor Kiefer, who at age 29 had become the deputy senior physician of his regiment, wrote the poem "Die Heimat" describing this situation.

Tor also wrote the following report of the famine in the homeland and the battle for survival at the Front:
"The officers had their own supplies of food, and didn't suffer any shortages. They were able to buy everything they wanted from the canteen. Towards the end, things became scarcer and more sparse. The more the hope of a favorable end dwindled, and the longer the war lasted, the more each individual was only interested in his own survival.

Tor's report

Service at the Front was no longer an honorable one. In the back area, they were told "If you don't toe the line, you'll be sent to the Front!" Nobody came from the front or the rear. Each individual person acted only in their own private interests, without any regard for others, with just one aim - to get out safely.

To put themselves in a good light, the Generals organized a partial offensive on the occasion of the Crown Prince's birthday. Hundreds fell - but they delivered a report of success. The men in the trenches received sad letters from the homeland. Famine, until now unknown in Germany, plagued the families. They were not able to survive from the ration cards and what they received with them, and had to hoard food. Farmers demanded extraordinary prices for their products".

Prisoners on April 28, 1916 at the Eastern Front
Photo by Tor Kiefer

"But not everyone had Persian carpets, pianos, gold and silver", Tor continues. "The poor were simply fighting for their lives. They went out at night and dug out potatoes from farmers' fields, only to be caught by policemen who confiscated everything. You can only imagine their bitter anger, after all their trouble, to then return home empty-handed to a starving family. How does the village butcher manage? He's not called up, is round and fat and satisfied. It's rumored that he's got connections with the district command and supplies them with food and is thus absolutely indispensable. Who will monitor this? Who will hang the bell around the cat's neck?"






"This is the situation that confronted those who fought at the Front when they marched back into the homeland after the armistice", Tor concludes. "They found workers' and military councils who tore off the epaulettes and medals of the officers, who dissolved military order and who decided on how things were to continue. Nobody organized any kind of integration into civilian life. Those who had been smart and clever enough to obtain a position in the homeland in good time were able to rent one of the few free apartments and could establish themselves. The soldier from the Front stood before closed doors. Nobody cared for him, he had to try to help himself".

October 1914: Belgium - The Peace After The Storm

In his diary entry of October 23, 1914, Felix describes his regiment's journey through Belgium to Lille, the destroyed landscape of rural Belgium and the destruction of Leuven and Lille, then the sound of the canons at the Front, even though it is 20 km away.

October 23, 1914
We're on the way to Lille, and already have 3 nights of our journey behind us. Our route so far has been Lechfeld, Augsburg, Ulm, Kannstadt, Bietigheim, Bruchsal, Mannheim and on the left-hand side of the Rhine up to Cologne. We've been fed very well everywhere, partially by the provision stations, partially due to the incredible enthusiasm of the people, who fed us with all manner of edible and drinkable stuff in every place where our train stopped. From Cologne, we travelled on to Aachen and Herbestal and then into enemy territory towards Liege. Then on past destroyed Leuven to Brussels, where we met, at a station in the suburbs, a naval division that was at the storming of Antwerp, and who were now to be sent to an undisclosed location.

Of course, we were not informed of the destination of our journey at any time. Our commander received a telegram at each of the major stations informing him of the next destination. In Brussels, we had not yet given up our hope of a good life in Antwerp, so that the command we received there to proceed to Lille came as a great surprise.

[Felix then goes on to describe the provisions they had during the journey, which also contained a large amount of red wine].

From what I have seen of Belgium so far, it is very beautiful, and I feel very sad for the country. One solitary park, with meadows of seed-green, poplars and pastures, the black and white cows that animate this picture so harmoniously, and the symbols of the country - the windmills. And everywhere the image of peace, the peace after the storm.

Then Leuven. I couldn't see one house that still possessed a roof or a window, at least not near the railway line. We saw a large number of empty railway trains that bore testimony to major military transportation.



9 a.m. We're still in a good mood, singing and playing the mouth harmonica, and making lots of good and bad jokes.

Felix in an early uniform, 1914

Lille, October 23, evening after 6 p.m. This afternoon we arrived at a station in the suburbs, shunted for a few hours, but were unable to enter Lille as the tracks had been destroyed. Everywhere, we could see the traces of defense battles, mainly in the suburbs; apparently they fought for each single house. The stronghold has been in German possession for the last three days. Approaching Lille, we had heard a distant muffled rolling; but now we could clearly hear the thunder of the canons doing their work 20 kilometers from Lille.

I saw something interesting this afternoon. We were able to see how airplanes are shot down. One little cloud appears next to another in the blue sky, and the plane forms the front point of this almost straight line. The image is not unlike a flying dragon with a tail.