Chapter 901 Christmas

Time passed day by day, and soon it was late December.

In a camp on the German-Soviet front line, several soldiers were happily building snowmen. It snowed heavily two days ago, which was perfect for building snowmen.

They took the engineering shovel and built a round and fat body. After beating it firmly, they made another snowball into a head. Then I found a bucket and put it on it as a hat, and used two round stones as eyes. I also picked up carrots and red peppers from the cooking class and made them into noses and mouths.

Finally, I found two branches and inserted them into the snowman's body, and hung a "Merry Christmas 1941" banner in the middle of the branches, so I easily completed a Christmas snowman.

"Come on, everyone is here to take pictures!" Their squad leader brought his Leica camera. With the development of various processes and production technologies, the price of cameras, which were high-end gadgets just a few years ago, has dropped significantly, making them affordable to anyone with some spare money. Moreover, the military has special subsidies, making the purchase price even cheaper.

A group of people gathered around the snowman and smiled happily at the camera.

Another wave of soldiers came back from a nearby mountain to cut down a Christmas tree and set it up in the middle of the camp. "Christmas tree" does not refer to a specific kind of tree. As long as it meets a few conditions, it can be used as an evergreen tree and the tree forms a triangle. Although the most popular Christmas tree species in Europe is fir, this species does not exist in the nearby mountains. What they cut back are ordinary pines and cypresses.

There were many ingenious people in the army, and soon the Christmas tree was filled with all kinds of decorations, including various flowers, stars, and dolls made of brightly colored paper or strips of cloth; The various exquisite handicrafts made from the most common bullet shells can be described as a dazzling array.

Coupled with various supplies such as cigarettes and beer specially distributed during the festival, the entire front line was immersed in the joy of the festival.

However, the Soviets on the opposite side were not so comfortable.

At an anti-aircraft gun position outside Moscow, the anti-aircraft gun crew members on duty were shivering with cold.

Among them, the operator of the high and low machines complained softly. "I really can't understand why we are still on this kind of shift." Their anti-aircraft guns couldn't reach the German high-altitude bombers. Even if they found the German bombers incoming, firing the cannons would be in vain. Putting them on duty in this cold night, isn't this deliberately tormenting them? Isn't there something called radar that can detect German planes in advance?

The fuse setter said with some confusion. "I haven't seen any German bombers in the past two days. Could it be that they have used up all their bombs?"

"It would be great if that were the case." The steering machine operator breathed a sigh of relief. "Tomorrow is their Christmas. They must be preparing for the holiday and don't care about bombing us."

The others gave him a confused look. "Christmas? It's not even January yet. What kind of Christmas is it?"

The steering wheel operator shook his head. "The calendar used by the Germans is different from ours. It should be said that the calendar used by the whole of Europe is different from ours. We use the Julian calendar, while other people use the Gregorian calendar. Tomorrow is their Christmas. "

In Western Europe and America, which is dominated by Catholicism and Protestantism that broke away from Catholicism, the date of Christmas is December 25th. Because Protestantism and Catholicism have the greatest influence in the world, Christmas on December 25th is also the most well-known. But in Eastern Europe, where Orthodox Christianity is common, Christmas is celebrated on January 7 every year.

On October 4, 1582, Roman Catholic Pope Gregory XIII announced the abolition of the Julian calendar originally used by the Roman Empire and the implementation of a new calendar. Later generations called the new calendar the "Gregorian calendar." Later, Western European civilization had a huge impact on the world, and the Gregorian calendar also followed it to the world and became the Gregorian calendar used worldwide today.

However, when the Gregorian calendar began, it was mainly used in Western Europe. At that time, the Orthodox areas that were not under the influence of Catholicism still used the original Julian calendar of the Roman Empire. The Julian calendar of the Roman Empire was thirteen days later than the Gregorian calendar, which led to differences in the dates of major festivals in Catholic and later Protestant areas and the Orthodox Church. Because the date is thirteen days later, Christmas on December 25 in the Julian calendar falls on January 7 in the Gregorian calendar. This is a bit like the difference between the Chinese lunar calendar (lunar calendar, based on the waxing and waning of the moon) and the Gregorian calendar (solar calendar, based on the return of the sun). It’s just that the Chinese lunar calendar and the Gregorian calendar generally differ by about 30 days, while the Julian calendar and the Gregorian calendar differ by 13 days.

The others nodded in realization. The steering machine operator was the most highly educated among them, so what he said was naturally convincing.

"I don't know what activities there will be there." Because the Soviet Union did not celebrate Christmas, this made them even a little envious of the Germans opposite.

Interestingly, the Soviets in the original time and space only celebrated Christmas once. After the October Revolution, the Soviet government eliminated Christmas as an official holiday. In the winds of change of 1990, the authorities of the Russian Federation, headed by Yeltsin, restored Christmas as an official national holiday. After the Soviet people happily spent Christmas on January 7, 1991, the Soviet Union announced its disintegration on December 25 of that year. The miserable Soviet people can only spend the next Christmas as citizens of Russia and 14 other countries.

"Maybe there will be a nice dinner or something tonight."

One of the ammunition carriers muttered. "If there's anything delicious to eat, doesn't it mean they're so poor that they can't even open the pot?"

“…” The others looked at the new recruit who had just arrived with strange expressions.

“What’s the matter?” Being stared at by several veterans, the new recruit seemed a little nervous. “Didn’t Comrade Political Commissar say that?” Comrade Political Commissar did say two days ago that the Germans on the other side were so poor that they couldn’t even open the pot, and people in some parts of Europe were even starving to death.

The German army seemed fierce, but it was just a last-ditch struggle. Now they stopped attacking because they were too hungry to move. When all these damn invaders starved to death, the great Soviet army would push back and liberate the whole of Europe.

The gunner sneered disdainfully. “It’s just to deceive you new recruits.” His grandfather and father had both joined the army, but because of his family background, he could only be a gunner with no chance of promotion. Under the influence of his family, he also accumulated a lot of military knowledge. At that time, he almost laughed out loud when he heard the political commissar’s passionate speech. The Germans are almost starving to death? You can think of such an excuse. Not to mention that famine rarely occurs in Europe, now even Ukraine, known as the Soviet Union's "granary", has been robbed, how could the Germans starve to death?

The reason why the Germans stopped advancing was just to avoid winter combat and conserve their strength. They would launch the most fierce offensive next spring.