Soldiers plan to recreate WWI truce match

Armistice Day football match at Dale Barracks between german soldiers and Royal Welsh fusiliers to remember the famous Christmas Day truce between Germany and Britain PCH

The fabled football match between German and British soldiers during a brief respite in hostilities during World War I has proved an inspiration for generations.

Now the British Army’s footballers are set to take on their German counterparts again to mark the 100th anniversary of the Christmas Truce. The match, called the Game of Truce, will commemorate the centenary of one of the most famous moments of the First World War.

British and German soldiers laid down their weapons at Christmas 1914 and met in No Man’s Land to share greetings, treats, mementoes and a game of football during the impromptu ceasefire. To mark the game’s centenary, the British Army representative team will host the German Bundeswehr at Aldershot Town’s stadium in Hampshire - a town with close military links.

The match on December 17 will follow a week of remembrance aimed at engaging football fans and players at every level about what took place at Christmas 100 years ago on the battlefields of Belgium.

Research released by the British Council this year found that the Christmas Truce was one of the most recognised moments of the conflict, with more than two-thirds of UK adults aware.

Memories of the truce have recently been revived in Sainsbury’s Christmas television advert in which a moment of friendship is shared between a British soldier and a German.