A copy of the Daily Mail from Dec. 31, 1914 reports on the Christmas truce. Source: The Star
As a follow-up to this question about impromptu football / soccer games between troops from opposite trenches during the Christmas truce of 1914, were any officers or men brought up on charges as a result of the unofficial truce and fraternization?
British commanders had early on recognized the potential for fraternization in 1914, and had issued warnings and orders against fraternization with the enemy:
It was natural for each side to wonder about the men living so close them who endured the same wretched cold and wet conditions, and who faced the same prospect of an early death. The top brass recognized the danger this curiosity posed to military order. On December 5, 1914, British General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien sent a warning to the commanders of all divisions: “Experience ... proves undoubtedly that troops in trenches in close proximity to the enemy slide very easily, if permitted to do so, into a ‘live and let live’ theory of life...officers and men sink into a military lethargy from which it is difficult to arouse them when the moment for great sacrifices again arises.” ...
By the time Christmas Eve arrived, so much interaction had occurred between the British and Germans that Brigadier General G.T. Forrestier-Walker had officially forbidden fraternization. In his book A Century of War: Lincoln, Wilson, and Roosevelt, Judge John V. Denson quoted the directive. Fraternization “discourages initiative in commanders, and destroys offensive spirit in all ranks. ... Friendly intercourse with the enemy, unofficial armistices and exchange of tobacco and other comforts, however tempting and occasionally amusing they may be, are absolutely prohibited.”
[Source: Independent Institute - The Christmas Truce of World War I, emphasis added]
After quoting Forrestier-Walker's order in his book (see above), John V. Denson goes on to say:
Later strict orders were issued that any fraternization would result in a court-martial.
Thus, it seems plain some of the British commanders recognized the possibility of fraternization and had issued explicit orders against any such camaraderie. What does not seem plain is whether those orders were backed up with disciplinary action of any kind when those orders were disobeyed during the impromptu Christmas truce of 1914.
The only record of a court-martial I can find is this case of Captain Iain Colquhoun which took place as a result of a lesser Christmas truce a year later in 1915:
On Dec. 25, 1915, the 28-year-old Colquhoun had written in his diary: “A German officer came forward and asked me for a truce for Christmas. I replied that this was impossible. He then asked for three quarters of an hour to bury his dead. I agreed.
“Our men and the Germans then talked and exchanged cigars, cigarettes etc for quarter of an hour and when the time was up I blew a whistle and both sides returned to their trenches.
“For the rest of the day ... not a shot was fired. At night, the Germans put up fairy lights ... and their trenches were outlined for miles ... It was a mild looking night with clouds and a full moon and the prettiest sight I have ever seen. Our machineguns played on them and the lights were removed.”
After another 10 days on the front line near Lille, marked in the diary by shelling and sniping but also drinking and gambling with fellow aristocrats of the Guards Division, Colquhoun returned to a billet in the rear to find himself under arrest.
Charged with conduct to the prejudice of good order and of military discipline for “approving of a truce with the enemy”, his five-hour trial on Jan. 17, 1916, heard evidence in person from General Douglas Haig, the British supreme commander.
Found guilty, Colquhoun escaped, however, with a reprimand. [Source: Reuters]
I have not been able to find any record of charges or courts-martial for any officers or men as a result of the previous 1914 truce. But I have very limited abilities to be able to perform any searches in French or German terms so there may be readily available cases that my English searches have simply not turned up. Was anyone charged (even if perhaps not tried, or even perhaps tried but acquitted) on any side for the unofficial and unauthorized 1914 Christmas truce?