“Christmas at Cherbinovka”
On Christmas Eve we attended midnight Mass at a church re-consecrated by our chaplain. A Russian choir sang in shrill, heart rending tones. Outside the snow fell in large flakes. Lying behind their machine guns, several of our soldiers occupied combat positions at the four corners of the building. ….
…. We spent Christmas and New Years joylessly, holed up in our smoky rooms. A manger scene, drawn in charcoal on the mud wall, recalled for us December in our own homes. A few poor votive lamps smoked. Stretched out on the straw, we stared into space. At the top of the hill, on wooden crosses, the steel helmets of our dead wore clumps of snow, like chrysanthemums fallen from heaven…
-Leon Degrelle
The Eastern Front
