IV. German defense of a forest strong point (Feb 1942)

HQ staffs were pccasionally set up in cellars of burned out buildings, but the troops remained in the open. Whenever they were not on the move, they assembled around fires in the forest. The prisoners told of how some of the Russian companies spent their nights in bitter cold.

A company of men would line up along a long rope, which was then wound up like a skein of yarn. Thus pressed together closely and warmed by the heat of each other's bodies, the men would sleep while standing on their feet.

Each hour, the skein would be unwound and rewound in such a manner that ghose on the inside would form an outer ring and those who had been exposed to the cold wind would benefit from the relative comforts of an inside position.