Christmas 1914 The Truce Fred

Christmas 1914 The Truce

• Fred Longstaff and Douglas Clark were mighty forwards for Huddersfield. • Both toured Australia and New Zealand with the Great Britain tourists of 1914.

• Fred and Douglas played in Huddersfield’s ‘Team of all Talents’, one of the greatest club teams of all time. • This team won all four trophies in 1914 -15.

• Here are medals awarded to Fred and Douglas for trophies that Huddersfield won in 1914 -15.

• Fred Longstaff volunteered to fight with the Bradford Pals in World War I. • In July 1916, 14 months after Huddersfield’s Team of all Talents won its fourth trophy, Fred was killed at the Battle of the Somme.

• Douglas Clark was one of the greatest rugby league players of any era. • After leaving school he helped his father, a coal merchant. At 14 years of age he could carry a hundredweight bag of coal under each arm. His elders were in awe at his enormous strength.

• Douglas was another of thousands of young British men who fought for his country in World War One.

• In 1917 he drove supplies to the front line trenches at the Battle of Passchendaele. • He was wounded in eighteen places by shrapnel from a bomb and badly gassed. • He was discharged from the army in a wheelchair.

• Douglas was given a 95% Disability Certificate because of the fragments of shrapnel in his body. • He was awarded the Military Medal for his bravery. • Doctors advised him not to play rugby again if he wished to reach an old age. • Within a season he had won a place in the 1920 Great Britain touring side to Australia!

• Douglas’ and Fred’s stories remind us of the dangers and hardships faced by the men who fought for our freedom, and of their courage. • This is the story of one incredible episode when… • …peace broke out in the trenches!

Michael Morpurgo wrote about this amazing event in ‘The Best Christmas Present in the World’.

Christmas in 1914 • The First World War started in August 1914. • At first it was fought in very mobile, fastmoving battles. • But by December 1914 both sides had dug in and trench warfare began.

Christmas in 1914 • Newspapers at home told the stories of the sadness of families parted at Christmas time.

Christmas in 1914 • The war raged on with heavy casualties on both sides. • As Christmas Eve approached the soldiers’ thoughts were about how they missed their families and home comforts.

Christmas in 1914 • Then a most amazing thing happened. • Some German troops climbed out of their trenches and walked across No-man’s Land. • The soldiers wanted to stop fighting.

Christmas in 1914 • The soldiers sang carols. • They shared food and cigarettes. • They showed each other photos of family and loved ones. • Peace broke out!

Christmas in 1914 • Later on, newspapers at home told the amazing story of the Christmas truce.

• Alfred Anderson who died aged 109 fought in the trenches in World War One. • He remembered the Christmas truce.

• “All I’d heard for two months in the trenches, was the hissing, cracking and whining of bullets in flight, machine gun fire and distant German voices. • But there was a dead silence that morning, right across the land as far as you could see. We shouted ‘Merry Christmas’ even though we didn’t feel very merry. • It was a short peace in a terrible war. ”

• This song by Mike Harding tells the story of what happened in France on Christmas Day 1914.

• Christmas Eve in 1914, • Stars were burning, • Burning bright • And all along the Western Front • Guns were lying still and quiet.

• Men lay dozing in the trenches, • In the cold and in the dark • And far away, behind the lines, • A village dog began to bark.

• Some lay thinking of their families, • Some sang songs while others were quiet, • Rolling fags and playing brag, • To pass away that Christmas night.

• As they watched the German trenches, • Something moved in no man’s land. • And through the dark there came a soldier • Carrying a white flag in his hand.

• Then from both sides • Men came running, • Crossing into noman’s land • Through the barbed wire, mud and shell holes, • Shyly stood there shaking hands.

• • Fritz brought out cigars and brandy, Tommy brought corned beef and fags And stood there talking, shyly laughing As the moon shone down on no-man’s land.

• Christmas Day we all played football • In the mud of no-man’s land. • Tommy brought some Christmas pudding, • Fritz brought out a German band.

• When they beat us at the football • We shared all out all the grub and drink, • And Fritz showed me a faded photo • Of a brown haired girl back in Berlin.

• For four days after • No one fired, • Not one shell disturbed the night • For old Fritz and Tommy Atkins, • They’d both lost their will to fight.

• So they withdrew us from the trenches, • Sent us far behind the lines • Sent fresh lads to take our places • And told the guns, “Prepare to fire!”

• And next night in 1914, • Flares were burning, burning bright, • The order came, “Prepare offensive!” • Over the top you’re going tonight.

• And men stood waiting in the trenches, • Looked out across our football park, • And all along the Western Front, • The Christmas guns began to bark.

• Men stood waiting in the trenches, • Looked out across our football park • And all along the Western Front, • The Christmas guns began to bark.

• In the words of Alfred Anderson • “It was a short peace in a terrible war. ”