During World War II, only a few miles away from the battlefield, there were soldiers playing football, running, jumping, and boxing, and discovering the types of physical sports, and thus sport helped them forget all the scenes of violence and death.
The surprising thing here is that the great war played an important role in the history of sports, a history whose first daughters were laid by soldiers from all over the world, from America, Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand and Italy. The era is the worst and biggest breather during the wars of the twentieth century.
In the following, we review the movie “Games on the Battlefield”, which examines the relationship of World War II with sports and its development after that, and how sport became an outlet for soldiers in the midst of battle.
The great battle has begun
At the beginning of the last century, only a few Europeans were practicing sports, as enjoying leisure time was the preserve of the elite only.
In the summer of 1914, the French were waiting for the Tour de France cycle on bicycles organized by the Lotto newspaper, the most famous sports newspaper in France, and it is an epic of 15 parts that will go down in history for several reasons.
While the contestants crossed the city of Abbeville at 10:15 a.m. on the twenty-eighth of June, someone killed the Crown Prince of the Austrian Empire and his wife in Sarajevo, and that is something that the contestants do not care much about, but the war broke out in less than one month due to diplomatic relations and position conflicts The contestants find themselves getting off their bikes and joining the ranks of the war.
Then the editor of the Lotto newspaper and sponsor of its race Henri de Grand wrote: My dear little champions, my French champions, listen to me, these Prussians are bastards, you must have them or they will have you, you have a decisive game to play, but watch out, when you get them at the end of the battle they will beg you to Have mercy on them, do not listen to them, but strike them without mercy, imagine how the world will breathe a sigh of relief if you win, this is up to you, my little heroes, my French heroes.
Sport has become an outlet for soldiers in the heat of battle
Closed for war
After three months of bloody war, the winter season has entered, and most of the athletes participating in the war have chosen to be on the front line. meters, and he fell in a battle that took place on the twenty-ninth of September 1914, at the age of 26.
The war put an end to upcoming sporting events, such as the Fifth Nations Rugby League and the Berlin Olympics in 1916, but at the same time it played a role in the development of many sports activities, which produced a new batch of athletes among the soldiers and the working class that originated in the fields of entertainment, amusement and games that were Soldiers amuse themselves with it in order to hunker down against their worst enemy in war, which is boredom.
The entertainment was in order to compensate for the promised vacation that had always missed its dates, but it was enough to rotate on the front and back lines between the soldiers during the war to change the pattern and relieve them, and in some video clips two soldiers appear messing around in front of the camera and pointing weapons at her in an attempt, perhaps to kill time.
Sport helped the soldiers forget the war
Hope springs from the depths of pain
Some of the soldiers who loved sports used to attend football to play when they were in the back rows, others played rugby, and others swimming or practicing boxing, and as for those who did not know anything of all this, their colleagues who knew it taught him, until the atmosphere became an atmosphere of fun and fun at a distance A few kilometers from the confrontation site, which was giving them new hope.
Corporal Andayon says about one of the moments of the war, “It is very comfortable to play rugby from time to time. This does not tire the men, but rather preserves their energies and moves their joints, and this is what they really need, and communication with comrades is very important.”
Sport was a help for the soldiers to forget the war, as they did not get tired of it, until some enthusiastic young officers suggested replacing military exercises with sport, and the high command was aware that this would make life easier for the soldiers, so it agreed to that, and that movement returned to the soldiers their sense of humanity again However, this spectrum of pleasure does not last long, as it is a short break from the war, after which the infantry soldiers take off their fun clothes and return to their war clothes.
The entertainment was in order to make up for the promised vacation
A true and false feeling
In the spring of 1915 a member of the Luxembourg faction called François Fabier was summoned to the Aragua region in France, and this man had won the Tour de France in 1909, won two stages of the 1914 tournament, then joined the Foreign Legion, and when he learned that he had become the father of a child On May 8, 1915, he wrote to his wife while he was on the frontiers, saying, “Yes, I was right, my feeling is never wrong, you see?
It's a girl, how is she?
How did it all go?
how are you?
I think the big attack will happen soon, we are here in the camp ready, and I do not think that the German soldiers will enjoy it, I feel confident, and I hope that all this will be over.
From your husband who loves you.”
But Fabier's feeling was not always sincere, as he still presented his luck the next day when the attack began, and he fell dead under enemy fire without returning to his girl, who believed his feelings in her, and he was then 28 years old.
Some of the sports-loving soldiers would bring a soccer ball to play when they were in the back rows
For morale
In 1916, after the Battle of Verdun and the Battle of the Somme, normal life was out of reach, and sport suddenly stopped due to the intensity of the war, and it was the British who brought it back to the arena, and that was important to the morale of the soldiers, and they are men in dire need of morale-raising, as every soldier used to go To the front he plunges into the gloomy solitude that accompanies facing death, while those who were on a temporary holiday from the guns were playing football as a recreational activity, and then it became officially practiced in appropriate football fields and with equipment designated for it and teams with different clothes, but when it is on Close to the front, so that sport is no more than a way to forget the war.
“In some units they play football and organize matches, and senior officers join in, which is excellent for men’s morale, and in another place there are boxing rings and many enthusiasts for a noble sport,” says one of the officers.
Some enthusiastic young officers suggested replacing military exercises with sports
Battle of Verdun
When the guns fell silent in the battle of Verdun, the result was dead and alive, grief and fear, and trenches they had to take risks sometimes and leave, all the soldiers were thinking the same thing, it was a race against time, a race against death, they were running in open space under bombardment, it's a plan It was placed in cold blood a few meters away from the front, then lit on it, waiting for the starting shot to be fired.
The battle leveled Verdun, but what about the safety of those involved in a war that has no end line in sight?
It is enough for you that they were alive at least until that moment, as the army was losing its men little by little, so they asked for reinforcements, whose call was answered by gang members under the age of twenty, with mustaches and muscles indicating the metal of virility and manhood in that era, then they would train them to run, jump, climb and use Pikes, those war sports that later turned into official tournaments in addition to the sport of throwing bombs, were later included in sports competitions at the request of these young athletes, and their heroes had bombs reaching approximately 54 meters with great speed and accuracy, and they were able to throw 45 bombs during 60 seconds.
“Grenade throwing is a real sport in real tournaments,” says one of the officers. “It is an important part of our sports training.
Because we need men of excellent build, excellent training, strong breath and great perseverance.
These qualities of our young athletes were very important in bomb battles.”
The military leader encouraged his Thomiz soldiers to play sports for their physical training and to raise the morale of the group
tommies
At the beginning of the war, it was the British soldiers who earned everyone's respect. People admired them and their courage. They were called the Tomies, and a large number of them came, up to four million, carrying a lot of military strength on their backs, fitness in their muscles, and sportsmanship in their souls.
The military commander encouraged his soldiers to practice sports for their physical training and to raise the morale of the group, and this position affected the officers of other armies, so that the sports soldier might be a better fighter.
In early July, the great battle of the Somme broke out, which was famous for the high physical fitness of the soldiers
Battle of Somme
In early July, the fires of the Great Somme Battle broke out, which was famous for the high physical fitness of the soldiers, and the painful human tragedies as well. In this battle, British Captain Neville offered a reward for anyone who reaches the enemy lines while he was kicking a soccer ball, and whenever a soldier fell, he took the ball from after him another.
As for the captain himself, it was not written for him to see his men rob the Germans of anything, on the same day he was among the British soldiers who died in this battle, numbering twenty thousand, and that was the worst moment for the British army.
The war killed many and maimed many as well, some of whom were pierced by bullets in their face and tongue, until their faces became stained with the dye of war forever, and among them was the British soldier Augie Kreki, who was found on the battlefield on the brink of death with his lower jaw smashed, but he recovered after two years of surgeries and treatments And he returned to his work before the war as a boxer, despite the advice of doctors to the contrary, and he had already succeeded in returning to the boxing arenas and winning prizes. In 1923 he became the world champion in featherweight, to be called the Iron Jaw.
The Battle of Somme lasted four months, and left behind 450,000 dead, so a priest performed the last prayer over those killed among the wastelands, where nothing remained in those quarters, neither reconstruction nor nature nor place nor almost alive, but the lack of living overcame the abundance of the dead, so they honored their bodies They buried all of them, including the German soldiers, although they took some pictures that did not show much pride.
Some of the soldiers were playing rugby, others swimming or boxing
I desire war
The French organized a rugby match between the French and New Zealand soldiers who were on holiday from fighting in the city of Vincennes, east of Paris. Pouaya, a flying hero that France lost after six months in the war.
The French rugby team paid the highest price in the war, as it did not allow 120 of France's best rugby players to return home.
Mutiny at the front
In 1917, the Allies suffered a resounding defeat, losing two hundred thousand soldiers in just two months. As for the rest, they felt enough of the war after three years of fighting. They had the feeling that they were just sheep to be slaughtered in the people’s endless wars. Difficulty getting vacation.
Rebellion began to grow among the soldiers, as told by a member of the 36th Infantry Battalion, who says in a letter to him, “We refused to go to the enemy lines on Tuesday night, we did not want to advance, they considered us stupid, and there was not enough food, we were on strike, and some The other teams do the same thing. You may not receive this message, and they may have opened and burned it because it describes what happened. I do not care, I have had enough of their wars.
General Philip Petain took command of the French army, and made some improvements in the living conditions surrounding the men at the front and behind the front lines, and he was able to put out the flames of rebellion within the ranks of the army, and since then the soldiers on the front have three days to rest from carrying guns, and activities have revived Sports at the initiative of senior officers who allowed their men to practice sports without any restrictions, which was beneficial to the physical structure of the soldiers and their psychological state, and one of the measures of that policy was that the Minister of War ordered to send five thousand soccer balls to the soldiers.
The many sporting events were part of a great wave of patriotism
sky heroes
Military aviation attracted flying heroes to join aviation, as flying became an art of war after it was considered a mere sport, and in 1916 the cyclist Octave Lapiz was trained in air combat, so his boldness in flying was clear for his courage gained from the climbing hobby he was practicing.
He won the Tour de France competition in 1910, the first competition that included the stage of climbing the Pyrenees Mountains, and when Lapiz reached a high place, he shouted with great anger in the faces of the organizers, saying: You are murderers.
On July 14, 1917, Lapiz's plane crashed during a flight mission at the age of thirty, thus becoming a real hero after he had been a cycling champion in his life;
A French newspaper wrote about him as follows: Lapiz died, like many of our heroes, an honorable death. We have lost one of our heroes, a hero from our best men, a wonderful integrated athlete and also intelligent, we are all grieved by Lapiz’s death.
The American Millionaire
After the summer of 1917, two million American soldiers arrived in the battle with their distinctive military equipment, shaved heads, bare chests, and abundant money. Preventing the rise of black war heroes.
The Americans brought a miniature America with them to French territory, so they built 1,500 barracks along the front lines, in which they smoked their cigarettes, read their books, and chewed their gum. They also brought with them their sports game, basketball, which later spread in Europe, and the baseball game, which remained purely American and unpopular. in Europe.
Between June 1917 and November 1918, the US Army lost about 120,000 soldiers in the battles, and when the war ended, America, with its ability to compete and play games, left the effects of its sports culture on the old continent.
The propaganda was intended to inform people that these playing soldiers are capable of fighting in the trenches in difficult conditions
Vibrant Paris
In 1917, the furnace of war was raging on the front, and many villages were destroyed and deserted by the war, with only the wind moving around them, but the city of Paris was in constant motion, peace and war, and it never stopped moving, and there were no soldiers in it except those who came for Vacation, to immerse them in Paris with its vibrant movement.
The many sporting events were part of a great wave of patriotism, but the effort and the atmosphere of the war dominated it. All the propaganda was aimed at informing people that those soldiers who played were able to fight in the trenches in difficult conditions.
In the following year, the audience for sports increased and its competitions increased, until the Olympic Games were held in Colombes near Paris, which is the largest game held during the war, in which the British, Americans, Italians, Portuguese and French competed, so they were taking a modest step in the long path of sports, and as for the soldiers, that was for They have fun away from trenches, guns, disease and death.
France Football Cup
There is no doubt that the World War in its four years was a major economic disaster for the world, but from the womb of this disaster a major sporting event emerged, namely the French Football Cup, in which 48 teams participated in its first session, and that session bore the name of Charles Simon, who died in the war In 1915, in honor of his name and in appreciation of his efforts, he was a fan of football, and before the war he founded the nucleus of the French Football Association.
The final match of the Cup was held in Paris on May 5, 1918, in front of two thousand spectators, and the Olympique de Pantan team, the owner of the white uniform, defeated the De Lyon Football Club, with a score of three goals without charge, and most of the participants in the competition were from a young age group. , while the adults were fighting in the field.
Among the war dead were radiating thousands of famous names lost to the sporting world
Eve Sports
In 1917, a purely women's football match was held in Paris between two teams from the Féminin club, and the girls who participated in it were from distinguished families, their brothers went to war, leaving them with stadiums, racetracks, and others.
This year and the next witnessed the start of women's competitions in Olympic sports, football and running, but the doctors at the time saw that this was harmful to the women who practiced it and wasted their chances of having children. Even Pierre de Coubertin, the godfather of the Olympic Games, did not encourage this despite not completely objecting to it.
Where he says, "The role of women should be limited, as in the old tournaments, to crowning the victors. I only see the true Olympic champion as an adult man."
Despite what Baron de Coubertin said, after the war 12,000 spectators witnessed an all-female match between a team of France's best players and an English team from Bristol.
Brothers of the victors
On November 11, 1918, the armistice was declared, and the throats of the guns fell silent, so the atmosphere of joy prevailed in Paris, but then tears were shed abundantly to mourn the lives of the 18 million soldiers and civilians who lost their lives in the war, and at the end of the year the soldiers who were still in a state of mobilization and anticipation were playing Football, spreading fun in parallel with preparing for intense fighting.
Among the war dead were radiating thousands of famous names that the sports world lost, but the following years were among the greatest years that Europe had ever seen in the sports field, and the first post-war sporting event was the Allied Games in Paris, which represents the military version of the Olympics. They were presented as games to promote brotherhood, but apparently they were only the brotherhood of the victors, as the losing nations in the war were not called upon to participate in the games.
It was the Americans who financed the construction of the stadium named after General Pershing, the commander of the US army during the war, and presented the medals himself to the winners. General Pershing's soldiers occupied the first places in the Games, ahead of France and Italy.
After the war, sports in general enjoyed an era of prosperity and popularity
Tour de France
When the Tour de France competition returned in 1919, its course changed slightly thanks to the war, as it passed through Alsace and Lorraine, the two regions that were under German control, then returned to French sovereignty again, and the number of participants at the start of the competition did not exceed 69 competitors, and he won the Belgian race Vernal Lambeau celebrated by the crowd in front of the Parc des Princes in Paris on July 27, 1919.
During the war, French cyclist Betty Breton talked about a prosperous future for cycling, saying, “Men learned the meaning of suffering, they will remember their suffering in the trenches, and this is what will give them strength, when peace comes, everyone will be happy to live without fear and without regret, and everything will seem simple and easy, then Cycling will live its golden age.”
Champion sports not war
After the war, sports in general enjoyed an era of prosperity and popularity, and were no longer monopolized by the minority, but became available to all social classes, including women and children as well, while football in particular had the largest share of popularity, as it became the first sport that was preferred by everyone, which One of the most important legacies of the great war.
After the war, the stadiums hosted matches, and the human body became able to achieve sporting victories instead of military ones, and the war hero was replaced by the sports hero in the minds of the crowds.