Possibly Rifleman Andrew (left) and another British soldier (third from the right, background) of the London Rifle Brigade with troops of the 104th and 106th Saxon Regiments. The German soldier second from the left is Pioneer Arno Böhme. © IWM Q 11718

Pioneer Arno Böhme in the Great War

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Pioneer Arno Böhme a participant of the Christmas Truce at Ploegsteert Wood on 25 December 1914. Late on Christmas Eve 1914, men of the British Expeditionary Force heard German troops in the trenches opposite them singing carols and patriotic songs and saw lanterns and small fir trees along their trenches. Messages began to be shouted between the trenches.

To all those who experienced the Small Peace in the Great War
To all those who experienced the ‘Small Peace’ in the ‘Great War’

The following day, British and German soldiers met in no man’s land and exchanged gifts, took photographs and some played impromptu games of football. They also buried casualties and repaired trenches and dugouts. After Boxing Day, meetings in no man’s land dwindled out.

France , Près de Vautherland , Tranchées avec petits sacs
France, Près de Vautherland, Tranchées avec petits sacs. 25 Decembre 1914. Opérateur(s)
Léon, Auguste A4762

Arno and Ida Lina Böhme

Portrait photograph of Pioneer Arno Bohme of the Royal Saxon Army and his wife, Ida Lina Bohme (nee Bonitz), in 1915. Personal message from Arno Bohme on the reverse dated 15 December 1915. Arno Bohme took part in the Christmas Truce of 1914 and features in photograph IWM Q 11718 taken by Rifleman Selby Grigg, 1/5th (City of London) Battalion (London Rifle Brigade). © IWM HU 131758 Front
© IWM HU 131758 Front

Portrait photograph of Pioneer Arno Böhme of the Royal Saxon Army and his wife, Ida Lina Bohme (nee Bonitz), in 1915.

Pioneer Arno Bohme Black and white photo-postcard with annotations in German handwritten in pencil on the reverse. © IWM HU 131758
© IWM HU 131758

Personal message from Arno Bohme on the reverse dated 15 December 1915.

Portrait photograph of Pioneer Arno Bohme in uniform whilst serving in a pioneer unit of the Royal Saxon Army in 1915. Personal message from Arno Bohme on the reverse. Arno Bohme took part in the Christmas Truce of 1914 and features in photograph IWM Q 11718 taken by Rifleman Selby Grigg, 1/5th (City of London) Battalion (London Rifle Brigade).
© IWM HU 131757

Portrait photograph of Pioneer Arno Bohme in uniform whilst serving in a pioneer unit of the Royal Saxon Army in 1915. 

Black and white photo-postcard with annotations in German handwritten in pencil on the reverse.
© IWM HU 131757

Personal message from Arno Bohme on the reverse. 

Christmas Truce

The truce not observed everywhere along the Western Front. Elsewhere the fighting continued and casualties did occur on Christmas Day. Some officers unhappy at the truce and worried that it would undermine fighting spirit.

Members of the 2nd Battalion, Gordon Highlanders fraternising withn German soldiers on the Rue de Quesnes sector of the front during the Christmas Truce, 1914. © IWM Q 64568
Members of the 2nd Battalion, Gordon Highlanders fraternising withn German soldiers on the Rue de Quesnes sector of the front during the Christmas Truce, 1914. © IWM Q 64568

British and German soldiers fraternising at Ploegsteert, Belgium, on Christmas Day 1914, front of 11th Brigade, 4th Division.

British and German soldiers fraternising at Ploegsteert, Belgium, on Christmas Day 1914, front of 11th Brigade, 4th Division. Possibly Riflemen Andrew (middle) and Grigg (second from the right, background) of the London Rifle Brigade with troops of the 104th and 106th Saxon Regiments. © IWM Q 11745
© IWM Q 11745

Possibly Riflemen Andrew (middle) and Grigg (second from the right, background) of the London Rifle Brigade with troops of the 104th and 106th Saxon Regiments.

Second Lieutenant Malcolm Howard Grigg

Second Lieutenant Malcolm Howard Grigg killed at Trones Wood on 9 July 1916. Son of John Selby Grigg, and Gertrude Grigg, of 10, Radley Rd., Bruce Grove, Tottenham, London.

Trones Wood, 2nd September 1917.
Trones Wood, 2nd September 1917. © IWM Q 862

High Command

After 1914, the High Commands on both sides tried to prevent any truces on a similar scale happening again. Despite this, some isolated incidents of soldiers holding brief truces later in the war, and not only at Christmas.

Arno Bohme took part in the Christmas Truce of 1914 and features in photograph IWM Q 11718 taken by Rifleman Selby Grigg, 1/5th (City of London) Battalion (London Rifle Brigade).

Possibly Rifleman Andrew (left) and another British soldier (third from the right, background) of the London Rifle Brigade with troops of the 104th and 106th Saxon Regiments. The German soldier second from the left is Pioneer Arno Böhme. © IWM Q 11718
© IWM Q 11718

Possibly Rifleman Andrew (left) and another British soldier (third from the right, background) of the London Rifle Brigade with troops of the 104th and 106th Saxon Regiments. The German soldier second from the left is Pioneer Arno Böhme.

British and German troops meeting in No-Man's Land during the unofficial truce. (British troops from the Northumberland Hussars, 7th Division, Bridoux-Rouge Banc Sector). Burying those killed in the attack of 18 December.
British and German troops meeting in No-Man’s Land during the unofficial truce. (British troops from the Northumberland Hussars, 7th Division, Bridoux-Rouge Banc Sector). Burying those killed in the attack of 18 December. Robson, Harold Burge (Hon) (Photographer)

Live and Let Live

In what was known as the ‘Live and Let Live’ system, in quiet sectors of the front line, brief pauses in the hostilities sometimes tacitly agreed, allowing both sides to repair their trenches or gather their dead.

Christmas Truce 1914 in the Great War

Christmas Truce Memorial

Many war diaries report a football match occurred during the 1914 truce. Whether or not a match played is unclear. Historians still debate if a match played or if the soldiers dramatized the truce. Contrary to 1914, certain a match between German and English soldiers occurred in 1915.

Christmas Truce Site 15 April 2018 CEFRG
Christmas Truce Site 15 April 2018 CEFRG

The Memorial by sculptor Andrew Edwards commemorates the 1914 Christmas Truce football event near the hamlet of St. Yvon, 3 kilometres south of Messines.

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