" British & German Soldiers "

102 years ago today: British & German Soldiers stopped fighting, to play a game of football in 'No Man’s Land'.

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Triumph in adversity and shows the futility of that particular war

Neither side's troops actually 'hated' the other and they were all effectively 'cannon fodder' for the educated idiots who masqueraded as 'Officers' on the basis of class alone and at the behest of a family feud!

Triumph in adversity and shows the futility of that particular war

Neither side's troops actually 'hated' the other and they were all effectively 'cannon fodder' for the educated idiots who masqueraded as 'Officers' on the basis of class alone and at the behest of a family feud!

Need that to sink in and understand I think or perhaps I understand it already if it is what I think.

I always think of the trainee Saudis I taught in their air force. Take away our upbringings and cultures and none of us want to go to war with each other. I pray the trainee I still keep in touch with does not allow his society to turn against mine.

Triumph in adversity and shows the futility of that particular war

Neither side's troops actually 'hated' the other and they were all effectively 'cannon fodder' for the educated idiots who masqueraded as 'Officers' on the basis of class alone and at the behest of a family feud!

i think our government { not our king } took us to war after Germany invaded neutral Belgium to attack France { which was and is not a sovereign state and whose government had declared war on Germany } from the north.
the vast majority of officers as is today had been trained at Sandhurst or Woolwich and like the conscripts were brave young men ,many of whom lost their lives or came back as shells of their former selves.who led an ill trained army to victory...

Triumph in adversity and shows the futility of that particular war

Neither side's troops actually 'hated' the other and they were all effectively 'cannon fodder' for the educated idiots who masqueraded as 'Officers' on the basis of class alone and at the behest of a family feud!

i think our government { not our king } took us to war after Germany invaded neutral Belgium to attack France { which was and is not a sovereign state and whose government had declared war on Germany } from the north.
the vast majority of officers as is today had been trained at Sandhurst or Woolwich and like the conscripts were brave young men ,many of whom lost their lives or came back as shells of their former selves.who led an ill trained army to victory...

A sensitive subject when we start judging the soldier in the field.

You are right they were brave men and so were the conscripts. We won the war by the skin of our teeth. where lessons were learnt and that being mainly against our leadership aka officers. Leading a bunch of men where you are responsible for their lives is the most difficult job to do. A leader will find out his leadership qualities when put in the situation and not when going through Sandhurst.

I'm ex military. However the chances of me going on a field of battle was zero. I was trained for it apparently. A had what they called a Green Card which made it legal for me to kill someone in time of war. My qualifications for that was I fired off 20 rounds of a SLR every year and attended a Ground Training Day (GTD) once a year. In reality I could not hit a barn door with the SLR from 3 yards and would be more than a liability if I was put in with a group of solders who had to attack the enemy on the front line. Hence why my job was well away from that environment and in a cosy building fixing high tech equipment. Even so it was always ask as a Green Card holder would you ever shoot one. My answer and most others in my position was that you cannot answer that until you are in that position,

I went to visit that area in Belgium where the football game was, near Ypres. There is a pile of footballs people still leave today with messages on them.
Done some battlefield tours around the area too. Ypres is a beautiful little town and every single night of the year they play the last post under the mennin gate which is a huge tunnel with the names of tens of thousands of dead soldiers.
It's a pretty emotional and unique experience if I'm honest. well worth it if that stuff interests you.

I'm out in Iraq now and staying with a load of Germans. They are a good laugh. I haven't made any jokes about the war though.... Yet...

I went to visit that area in Belgium where the football game was, near Ypres. There is a pile of footballs people still leave today with messages on them.
Done some battlefield tours around the area too. Ypres is a beautiful little town and every single night of the year they play the last post under the mennin gate which is a huge tunnel with the names of tens of thousands of dead soldiers.
It's a pretty emotional and unique experience if I'm honest. well worth it if that stuff interests you.

I'm out in Iraq now and staying with a load of Germans. They are a good laugh. I haven't made any jokes about the war though.... Yet...

I went to Ypres during the Euros for the last post. I thought there would only be a few of us as this happens every night. The place was packed.

I went to visit that area in Belgium where the football game was, near Ypres. There is a pile of footballs people still leave today with messages on them.
Done some battlefield tours around the area too. Ypres is a beautiful little town and every single night of the year they play the last post under the mennin gate which is a huge tunnel with the names of tens of thousands of dead soldiers.
It's a pretty emotional and unique experience if I'm honest. well worth it if that stuff interests you.

I'm out in Iraq now and staying with a load of Germans. They are a good laugh. I haven't made any jokes about the war though.... Yet...

I went to Ypres during the Euros for the last post. I thought there would only be a few of us as this happens every night. The place was packed.

Very popular tourist spot without being spoilt. There was a good crowd there every night I was there on a random weekend.

Nice birds and larger too which always rounds off a good trip.