Customer Reviews:
Great Overview.......2006-01-26
An excellent overview from the German point of view, best used with Erickson's volume "The road to Stalingrad." Although in the end both lack concrete numbers for Soviet losses, but Erickson's volume presents the Soviet point of view in much better terms than Ziemke's. The maps are very helpful to the text, something that Erickson's volume lacks at times, and the narrative is easy to follow and very interesting. I was very much impressed about how difficult the German situation was both after the Moscow Counter-Offensive and the encirclement of the 6th Armee at Stalingrad. Zhukov's opinion that if the Moscow Counter-Offensive was follwed up by concentrated attacks against Army Group Center only, it would have resulted in a greater German 'retreat' or even a full scale rout seems very much in tune with the situation Army Group Center actually found itself in in late December of 1941 and January of 1942. Yet in the end Stalin choose to attack on 9 out of 10 fronts and in the end the results were less than impressive, to say the least. Overall a dated but still excellent study of the Eastern Front in 1941 and 1942.
The definitive study of the Russian War from German records.......2001-08-03
Excellent operational study of the Russian war from German records. This was the classic way of westerners studying the conflict as the Russian archives had been sealed for decades. This book should be studied with Erickson's work (the Russian side) for a more balanced study.
A Solid Operational-Level History of the Russo-German War.......2000-06-07
World War II was not one, but a whole series of wars which raged over a good portion of the planet from 1939 to 1945. We let the existence of this singular noun influence and cloud our perception of the actual situation, the cross-purposes and confusion of those times. Hitler fought wars on various fronts and also at least one behind the lines, against a people he had decided to destroy, that great massacre which we call today the Holocaust. Nazi Germany's war against the Soviet Union was undoubtedly the largest of them all. Did the strategic bombing of Germany and our operations in North-western Europe influence the final decision in the East? Yes, but it was the actual Soviet victory on the ground which made the difference. For that reason both sides deserve an impartial analysis as far as the operational military history is concerned. Let's leave the other considerations aside in this instance.
Professor Earl F. Ziemke's Moscow to Stalingrad: Decision in the East is the second of a planned three volume set of the US Army's historical series of the Russo-German War. The first three chapters of this volume take us up quickly to the failure of the Wehrmacht's Operation Taifun before Moscow. The German Army was the most combat experienced and militarily efficient force in 1941. It consisted of masses of good light infantry but only a thin layer of panzer and motorized troops for long distance movement. The Luftwaffe too was designed and equipped to support short swift wars of annihilation. The Soviets, on the other hand, hadn't fought competent enemies at all before 1941 except for the Finns and had subdued them only with difficulty. Ziemke's story actually starts with Chapter 4, where he describes the Soviet Counteroffensive in detail and the German response to it. All in all this is a good operational history of this period of the war put together overwhelmingly from primary sources. Here one can read of the build up for Manstein's operations in the Crimea, including the deployment of `Dora', the most powerful artillery piece in history. In addition the book provides good history of Soviet Operation Star, the battles along the Finnish border and the combat involving Army Group North (including the capture of Soviet General Vlasov) as well as the German build-up for the Stalingrad campaign. The author uses the official unit war diaries whenever possible for the Germans, but must rely on pre-1991 Soviet official histories for the Russians. Due to the sources, the emphasis is more weighted to the German side, but the author doesn't ignore Soviet development as he describes the evolution of the reeling Soviets of 1941-42 into the unsure practitioners of the vast mobile operations, which nearly destroyed Hitler's southern flank in 1942-43.
A mention of the situation with sources is necessary. Since 1985 when this book was published the former Soviet archives have partially opened. While some interesting information is now available - most importantly perhaps the actual losses that the Soviets suffered - compiling and analysing documents takes time and dedication as well as `distance' on the part of the historian. Ziemke has a good grasp of the German side in this regard from a decades-long thorough study of the archival material. It will be some time yet before we will have someone with as good a view of the Soviet side, perhaps due to nothing else but that their archives were kept secret for so long. The definitive study of this war has yet to be written, but the last volume of this set, that covering the period of June 1941 until the failure of the German drive on Moscow may be the first to combine both the German and Soviet views objectively.
Amazon.com
Hitler made two fundamental and crippling mistakes during the Second World War: The first was his whimsical belief that the United Kingdom would eventually become his ally, which delayed his decision to launch a major invasion of Britain, whose army was unprepared for the force of blitzkrieg warfare. The second was the ill-conceived Operation Barbarossa--an invasion of Russia that was supposed to take the German army to the gates of Moscow. Antony Beevor's thoughtfully researched compendium recalls this epic struggle for Stalingrad. No one, least of all the Germans, could foretell the deep well of Soviet resolve that would become the foundation of the Red Army; Russia, the Germans believed, would fall as swiftly as France and Poland. The ill-prepared Nazi forces were trapped in a bloody war of attrition against the Russian behemoth, which held them in the pit of Stalingrad for nearly two years. Beevor points out that the Russians were by no means ready for the war either, making their stand even more remarkable; Soviet intelligence spent as much time spying on its own forces--in fear of desertion, treachery, and incompetence--as they did on the Nazis. Due attention is also given to the points of view of the soldiers and generals of both forces, from the sickening battles to life in the gulags.
Many believe Stalingrad to be the turning point of the war. The Nazi war machine proved to be fallible as it spread itself too thin for a cause that was born more from arrogance than practicality. The Germans never recovered, and its weakened defenses were no match for the Allied invasion of 1944. We know little of what took place in Stalingrad or its overall significance, leading Beevor to humbly admit that "[t]he Battle of Stalingrad remains such an ideologically charged and symbolically important subject that the last word will not be heard for many years." This is true. But this gripping account should become the standard work against which all others should measure themselves. --Jeremy Storey
Book Description
This gripping history is the definitive account of the battle that shifted the tide of World War II.
Historians and reviewers worldwide have hailed Antony Beevor's magisterial Stalingrad as the definitive account of World War II's most harrowing battle. In August 1942, Hitler's huge Sixth Army reached the city that bore Stalin's name. In the five month siege that followed, the Russians fought to hold Stalingrad at any cost, then caught their Nazi enemy in an astonishing reversal.
As never before, Stalingrad conveys the experience of soldiers on both sides as they fought in inhuman conditions, and of civilians trapped on an urban battlefield. Antony Beevor has interviewed survivors and discovered completely new material in a wide range of German and Soviet archives, including reports of prisoner interrogations, desertions, and executions. The battle of Stalingrad was the psychological turning point of World War II; as Beevor makes clear, it also changed the face of modern warfare. As a story of cruelty, courage, and human suffering, Stalingrad is unprecedented and unforgettable.
"A fantastic and sobering story . . . fully and authoritatively told." -Richard Bernstein, The New York Times
Customer Reviews:
Engrossing.......2007-08-29
Stalingrad . . .
The greatest battle of World War Two. The very name evokes images of horror, suffering and inhuman endurance that no man who sleeps comfortably in his bed every night could ever imagine.
But imagine it we do, and Anthony Beevor's vivid narrative still haunts my dreams. The first hand accounts of the fighting, of the surviving, both German and Russian, are riveting.
As an anecdotal history of the soldiers who fought and bled, died or survived, often to live through further suffering, this book is a page-turner, though not the kind you would bring to the beach.
For the serious historian, Mr. Beevor's documentation of the Nazi and Communist attitudes regarding the ideological struggle, especially as it relates to their actions at the front, are eye-opening and invaluable.
A great book.
Glad I Wasn't there.......2007-07-22
The value of this book lies in the author's ability to tell the story from the foot soldier's point of view juxtaposed with the near fantasies of the leadership. At the start, Hitler seemed rather lucid, while Stalin was delusional; later it was Hitler who was living in fantasy land , while Stalin seems to have snapped to it. Beevor is a brilliant writer, but it is his access to and use of archival materials, including the reportage of Vasili Grossman, the censored novelist and reporter, that puts us in the battle front and center. Beevor moves well between the command posts of the Axis and Allied camps. We watch as the maddened and possibly lost Stalin slowly comes to grip with the prospect of defeat. His ability to see things realistically is the crucial factor in the Soviet victory. Hitler's bizarre turn away from the truth, the fact that he became a stranger to reality is what defeated the Germans. The rats, the lice, the moment to moment horror of survival and of death is what makes Stalingrad so memorable.
Tasteless pro-German account of the battle.......2007-05-30
Typical Beevor. This book reads more like an excuse to recount tales of Soviet brutality than a serious attempt at a history of the most important battle of the 20th Century and the bloodiest battle ever fought.
Beevor's style and approach to history are truly dishonest. He deflects potential criticism by setting the record straight early in the book: Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 with the intention of killing or enslaving the entire population. He then proceeds to tell the story of Stalingrad mostly in terms of Soviet atrocities and German suffering and heroism -- juicy stuff that gets you published and on the Best Seller list nowadays, but not exactly a sound historical approach. I found myself constantly flipping back to the beginning of the book to make certain that Beevor fully understood what the Soviet-German war was really about. All that is bad enough in itself, but Beevor's accounts of Soviet atrocities are mostly anecdotal in nature, poorly referenced and questionably researched, all of which casts serious doubt as to their truth and accuracy. The accounts of Soviet mistreatment of German prisoners are grossly misleading. The truth is that all of the railroads running into and out of Stalingrad had been destroyed by the Luftwaffe during the battle. The Soviet Union was itself slowly starving, and generally lacked the means to care for 100,000 prisoners at Stalingrad in the middle of winter, when most of them were already close to death as a result of the 3-month seige. Nor does Beevor emphasize the fact that over 3 million Soviet prisoners of war died in German captivity.
Beevor also fails to impress upon the reader the real story of the battle: tremendous self-sacrifice on the part of the Soviet soldiers and civilians and brilliant strategy on the part of Soviet generals Zhukov, Vasilevsky and Koniev. The Soviet counter-offensive in November, 1941 was one of the most stunning reversals of fortune in the history of war but very little credit is given to the Soviets for pulling it off. The impression that one gets from the book is that the Germans lost the battle because of Hitler's meddling and the Soviets did nothing to win it.
In summary, Beevor's book lacks balance, does little in the way of introducing new evidence or insight into the battle, and is poorly documented. No one doubts that the Stalin regime did some terrible things, or that the German soldiers suffered, but to tell the story of the Battle of Stalingrad primarily in those terms is to fail to tell the real story. The best English-language books on the subject are still John Erickson's The Road to Stalingrad and William Craig's Enemy at the Gates.
Misfire.......2007-04-16
Sure Mr Beevor has done lots of research but his book fails in many areas - poor and limited maps, being not clear whether he is referring to Axis or Allied units, very poor character establishment of all leading figures with the exception of a very average attempt at Gen. Paulus, chronologically all over the shop, very limited attention to civilians.
Yes, very interesting but not at all satisfying for either a military historian or anyone interested in the history. Looks like a Grade C attempt at history by an earnest student of popular journalism. I won't bother with "Berlin".
The First and Best Fully Dedicated Book About Stalingrad I Have Read.......2007-03-10
I think that Antony Beevor told the story well and made it coherent - something I just have not found in other descriptions of Stalingrad's tale. The author really helped me to feel the day-to-day and moment-to-moment circumstances of both the Soviets and the Germans from beginning to end. Very few points were glossed over; I craved the details and the author delivered. Finally, I can say I have a comprehensive understanding of Stalingrad from both (or all) sides of the city.
Product Description
The author, Adelbert Holl, was a 23-year-old infantry Leutnant when he rejoined his unit in Stalingrad after recovering from wounds he suffered in April 1942. This book records his own experiences as a junior infantry commander during Stalingrad. The infantry bore the most laborious and difficult role during the battle. They were not propelled forward by engines, were not protected by armour-plating. They stood eye to eye with the enemy. That is why this report is so impressive, so enthralling, so stirring. It is sobre, factual, without pathos as written by a front-line soldier. Holl was awarded many medals, including the Wound Badge in Gold, which demonstrates that he had never spared himself from the dangers of combat. This book does not glorify the war: it shows the terrible true face of it. 25 photos, 24 maps, 19 aerial photos, 40 supporting documents
Customer Reviews:
Daily log........2007-09-28
This is a simple daily log of an individual. Interesting, but not alot of detail or opinion. Some may like the book for this reason, I'm neutral.
A soldier's tale.......2007-08-16
In the wake of Theodor Plievier (1969) the epic battle for Stalingrad has been re-told in the past ten years or so by several eminent historians like Anthony Breevor (1999), Geoffrey Roberts (2002) and Michael Jones (2007). Therefore one might ask what added value there might be in yet another book on the same subject, in this case "An Infantryman in Stalingrad" by Adelbert Holl. My conclusion is that the material offered in this book is interesting enough for reading. Where other books present the full scope of the battle with emphasis on the strategic and operational interactions of armies, divisions and regiments, in which the individual soldier is often reduced to a simple cogwheel in the war machinery, this book tells the day-to-day story of an infantryman in the ruins of the city. As a consequence the horizon of the story is often limited to the factory behind the next block or the houses across the street. The momentous battle of the 6th Army is reduced to the struggle of a Wehrmacht officer to stay alive and to keep his men alive while fulfilling his duty. This book, a diary actually, covers the period of 23 September 1942, when Holl reports back from convalescence leave to his battalion commander, up to and including 1 February 1943, when he is waiting for captivity with a few other survivors.
When I started reading this book I wondered if the author would reveal anything about his motives for serving in the Wehrmacht and to what extent he would justify the invasion of Russia, which brought so much misery to the population. Holl is surprisingly quiet on these moral issues, even in hindsight. He only tells us that he took the oath for Führer, Volk und Vaterland voluntarily at the age of 18 and that he considered it his duty to fulfill this oath in the belief that the free world should be protected from the curses of Bolshevism. It is scary to realize that similar distorted views on certain groups in our society are still the driving forces behind the atrocities that fill our newspapers today. As if nothing has been learned from history. The positive side of this lack of reflection is that the character of the narrative, which is very much matter-of-fact, is not weakened by attempts to justify the actions described in the book.
The publisher deserves credits for the quality of this book. The translation is excellent and the text is richly interspersed with illustrations and maps, many in the form of aerial photographs. Additional information is provided in the form of footnotes. In my experience military history books often suffer from a lack of clear maps in places where they would be helpful for a better understanding of the military movements described in the text. That is not the case in this book where maps are abundant and always on the right spot.
Conclusion: Contents are interesting and presentation is excellent. A recommendation for readers interested in the history of the Nazi-Soviet war from 1941-1945.
Excellent.......2007-07-30
This is the second book that we owe thanks to Jason Mark for his meticulous research and efforts.It follows naturally from his first work, a history of the destruction of the 24 Panzer Div. at Stalingrad - "Death of the Leaping Horseman", going from the Divisional scale down to the individual scale. They should be read together.
While it is a memoir of a soldier who was there, in his own words, Mr. Mark's research expands and develops the account with maps, documents, cross references to the personalities referred to by Holl, and photographs. It makes for a professionally produced memoir and an invaluable reference for serious researchers and students of that battle.
You won't find heart wrenching torment,soul searching or soaring prose in Holl's memoir - he is very matter-of-fact and, if anything, downplays the terrible events and suffering involved. However, that does not detract from the recounting. This is not a sensational telling but solid, factual and in that way, authoritative and very moving account.
Again, I thank Jason D. Mark for bringing Adelbert Holl's memoirs to us. Its a perfect "collaberation".
A Soldier's Story.......2007-05-25
If you already have a good understanding of the battle of Stalingrad, then this book is worth reading. It is one soldier's experience, and does not discuss the big picture. There are lots of maps, many created out of aerial photographs. The maps and the sit-reps give one a good sense of what the author is talking about. He does not overly dramatize and is quite matter-of-fact. Nevertheless, one gets a good idea of just how awful the conditions were.
Stalingrad .......2007-01-10
As I am an avid reader of any literature relating to the battle for Stalingrad, I can't rate this book high enough.
Many of my Russian relations fought, or were used as translators, during the battle, hence the interest in accounts from either side.
What is so significant about this book is the picture that is painted by the interaction between the battle orders, maps, and personal accounts. Extremely poignant image. Movement orders, mundane daily (relatively) contact / battle reports all complement the junior officers perspective of warfare in an inhospitable climate.
The inevitable camaraderie that builds up within fighting units at the front line is admirably portrayed. Along with the interaction between incompetence, inefficiency, intolerable conditions, and the sheer bloody hard work that is the burden of the modern Infantryman. Holl buffers as much of this from his troops as possible, and earns their respect as a result.
In summary, this book combines personal information of the fighting on the front line with factual data in a way that is addictive to read.
Average customer rating:
- Excelent
- Rottenkrieg, not Rattenkrieg
- Buying on Amazon.com
- War of the Rat's Enemies at the Gates
- Excellent
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War of the Rats
David L. Robbins
Manufacturer: Bantam
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ASIN: 055358135X
Release Date: 2000-06-06 |
Amazon.com
David L. Robbins grimly recounts the merciless determination of the German and Soviet combatants of the battle of Stalingrad in War of the Rats. Drawing from real events, Robbins tells the story of one of the battle's most pivotal contests: the famous sniper duel between Chief Master Sergeant Vasily Zaitsev and S.S. Colonel Heinz Thorvald. Zaitsev, a cunning Siberian hunter hardened by Stalingrad's butchery, has formed an impromptu sniper school in the midst of the battle, training his comrades to kill with implacable efficiency. The hundreds of bodies left in their wake prompt the Nazi leadership to send Thorvald, the cold-blooded master of the Wehrmacht's elite sniper academy, to assassinate the Soviet prodigy. Robbins's nerve-wracking prose depicts the two adversaries as they pursue their private war across a twisted hellscape of burning tanks and gutted factories. In the novel's most impressive section, Robbins leaps between the thoughts of Zaitsev and Thorvald as they struggle, in their final battle, to put the crosshairs on each other's head. A war novel that reveals the shrewd savagery in human nature, War of the Rats vividly reveals why the Germans referred to the fighting at Stalingrad as Der Rattenkrieg. --James Highfill
Book Description
For six months in 1942, Stalingrad is the center of a titanic struggle between the Russian and German armies—the bloodiest campaign in mankind's long history of warfare. The outcome is pivotal. If Hitler's forces are not stopped, Russia will fall. And with it, the world....
German soldiers call the battle Rattenkrieg,
War of the Rats. The combat is horrific, as soldiers die in the smoking cellars and trenches of a ruined city. Through this twisted carnage stalk two men—one Russian, one German—each the top sniper in his respective army. These two marksmen are equally matched in both skill and tenacity. Each man has his own mission: to find his counterpart—and kill him.
But an American woman trapped in Russia complicates this extraordinary duel. Joining the Russian sniper's cadre, she soon becomes one of his most talented assassins—and perhaps his greatest weakness. Based on a true story, this is the harrowing tale of two adversaries enmeshed in their own private war—and whose fortunes will help decide the fate of the world.
Customer Reviews:
Excelent.......2007-08-01
This book is nothing short of amazing. Unlike the majority of other war books I've read, this one is devoid of any and all of that Hollywood garbage. As far as its depictions of the warfare itself that is. Somewhat peculiarly, while the warfare itself is as vivid as it is believable, the characters, and their interactions with one another, could've been taken straight from any stereotypical action movie **cough** tenia **cough**.
Also, though I wouldn't want to spoil anything, I will say the ending is climactic, but, overall, somewhat of a letdown.
Nitpicking aside though, from an entertainment perspective, if you enjoy war books, you'll definitely like this one.
Rottenkrieg, not Rattenkrieg.......2006-06-03
Simply put, this book is a sheer waste of time. The author fails miserably in an attempt to brew a concotion of fact+fiction. Although this book has all the right characters (Vassily Zaitsev, Heinz (Koenig) Thorvald, Tania etc), it is evident that the author cannot weave a compelling plot.
If you are interested in the duel between Vassily and Thorvald, see "Enemy at the Gates" MOVIE. If you want to know about the battle for Stalingrad, read "Enemy at the Gates" BOOK. Stay away from this one!
Buying on Amazon.com.......2005-09-15
I heard about this book (War of the Rats) and I realised I didn't read yet. I thought it will be the fastest way if I'll order it via Amazon.com. It was my first order but the process was easy and fast. I received the book in one and a half week from the order, even I living in Hungary. I'd like to say thank you for everyone...
War of the Rat's Enemies at the Gates.......2005-07-03
It's always nice to see war novels use the Russian Front in World War II; especially the epic battle of Stalingrad. "The War of the Rats" is the book on which the screen play for "Enemy at the Gates" was based. The book is a reasonable portrayal of the horrors of war especially street to street fighting. The characterization of the Communist political officers, the German Gestapo and the high ranking officers on both sides are two dimensional and horribly predictable. The "heroes" are righteous, valiant, selfless and experts in their sniper knowledge domain. Both want to share their knowledge and generate clones of themselves.
Sound formulaic and trite? You are correct. But, don't go to the movie for any relief. It is also formulaic, trite and has an unbelievably hokey love scene. If you want a really great war movie see "Black Hawk Down". If you want a great war novel of read "Flight of the Intruder". Do NOT bother with this book or its poor derivative movie.
Excellent.......2005-06-25
One of the better historical fiction novels I have ever read. Mr. Robbins places the reader in the middle of the action in the Battle of Stalingrad. In this novel, a master Russian sniper, Zaitsez, nicknamed the "Hare" due to his slight frame and quickness, becomes a hero among the Russians because of his dexterity with long range rifles. The German government has become aware of the "Hare" and decides that killing him will help destroy morale among the Russian troops and give their army a bit more momentum. They decide to bring in a "schoolmaster" who trains young German soldiers to be snipers. He's also got better shooting range than does the "Hare" and enlists Nikki, a bright young German soldier to accompnay him the field.
What's interesting is that an arrogant General by the name of Nikita Kruschev makes an appearance to award the "Hare" with a medal of courage for his efforts in the war.
Reading the final 150 pages was like watching an intense chess match. Robbins has scored big with this one and I am looking forward to reading more books by him.
Book Description
limited 1,000 copy edition reprint of an extremely scarce memoir only previously published in England, and published by Aberdeen Bookstore. This is a story of Stalingrad seldom talked about. Dibold relates his experiences in Stalingrad during the battle, and the utter helplessness he felt as the casualties were so high and in conditions so appalling with little or no medical supplies. Then after capture Dibold remained in Stalingrad and in conditions that are beyond comprehension. Part of the time he was in the huge underground Timoshenko bunker the Russians built. Often working in complete darkness in narrow corridors crammed full of injured soldiers, Dibold again was in a position of being able to offer little in comfort. The lice were atrocious, Dibold talks of scooping them from injured abdomen, the stench unfathomable, and the black tarry walls dripping with stench from the condensation of steam coming from wounds. Tyhpus was rampant. Even after the last shot was fired in Stalingrad, things were far from over for Dibold. He words aren't minced, and he tells of the finest and darkest of human behavior during these times, only 1000 copies printed, bound in full cloth using an exact copy of original dust jacket published originally in 1958!
Customer Reviews:
A Well Deserve Penance!.......2006-07-31
As an historian and avid reader who purchases dozens of books each year and who researches each purchase beforehand, I rarely have cause to be disappointed in the books I buy. This book, however, was a major exception. I found it less than compelling reading; poorly written, disjointed, confusing and certainly not worth the purchase price.
Also, I found that the author's underlying theme of his own martyrdom and that of his fellow German prisoners in Soviet Prisoner of War camps, irritated me tremendously. Indeed, the book's full title, "Doctor at Stalingrad. The Passion of a Captivity" says a great deal about the image the author wished to create.
One wonders about his piety and those of his fellow soldiers when the German armed forces were running rampant over the Soviet Union, exterminating Jews and Slavs, razing cities, and starving the population of the Soviet Union. German historians have now made it very clear that the German army played a major role, alongside the SS, in the large-scale atrocities committed throughout Soviet Russia. Indeed, most of the prisoner of war camps, in which some millions of Soviet POWs died, were run by the German army. And thus it is hard to pity Hans Dibold or his comrades taken prisoner after the German Sixth Army's debacle at Stalingrad.
Yes, life in Soviet POW camps was terrible, a virtual hell, but Dibold and his colleagues were only reaping the hate-filled whirlwind they had sown. And unlike millions of Red Army soldiers who fell captive to the Germans, Hans Dibold survived. Had the Red Army not defeated the Third Reich in battles such as Stalingrad, Hitler's Wehrmact would have exterminated a good part of the Soviet population, while enslaving the rest. And it would have been virtually impossible, without the hundreds of Wehrmact divisions tied down by the Soviet Army, for the remainder of the Allies to invade and liberate Europe.
Rather than buy this book readers would do better to turn to some of the new histories and Red Army memoirs of the Eastern Front in World War II. Most are much better written and a great deal more compelling, honest and insightful than this book.
A rare view of the war.......2005-11-10
This is one of the rare first hand accounts of the fall of Stalingrad and the end of the German 6th Army. This first rate book was produced with a very high quality binding and with great care given to the choice of paper used as a reproduction. Limited numbers of these books have been printed.
A Ghastly Reality.......2003-04-27
This book is a great read and an account that portrays what it was like to fall into Russian captivity after the German surrender at Stalingrad. Be warned, this book is not for the faint hearted as the author descibes the appalling and ghastly conditions experienced as he remained in Stalingrad with the worst cases of the sick and wounded. The author creates a picture of the 'living dead' as the remnants of the Sixth Army waste away with starvation and diease as he and his fellow doctors work unrelentlessly to keep them alive. This is no easy task considering the doctors are suffering under the same conditions as that of the other German prisoners, conditions of a cruel Russian winter, no adequate warm clothing and shelter and near to nothing in way of food and medical supplies. Incredibly the author bears no grudges againsnt the Russians and at times shows them with a compassion and in a more favourable light than some of the German prisoners.
Although this a book of much suffering, death and dispair, it is also a book of survival and shows the grim results of war and how man can endure such terrible conditions. Conditions of living in darkness in the Timoshenko bunker with condensation dripping off the walls, thousands of lice and rampant diseases of typhus, dysentery, scurvy to name a few and of course starvation. These conditions destroyed the soul and will to live of many. Those that survived had the ultimate courage and faith in mankind but would be tormented mentally or physically for the rest of their lives for what they experienced.
A special thankyou should go to the publishers Aberdeen Books for reprinting this rare and tragic account of life after the battle of Stalingrad. This is an essential read.
Customer Reviews:
This is an absolute must read....... 10 stars.......2007-04-11
If you saw Enemy at the Gates and enjoyed it then you must read this book. What the movie showed was not all true. This book is outstanding and really tells the story of Vassili Zaitsev, and the type of person and heroe he is. Its wonderful that we can now get this information from the former Soviet Union and learn more about WWII from another perspective.
Notes of a Sniper by Vassili Zaitsev, For Us There Was No Land Beyond the Volga.......2006-09-30
outstanding account by one of the leading snipers of the Red Army.Much more intersting than the movie Enemy at the Gates, which heavily distorts the history, and infinitely better than David Robbins crappy p.o.s. attempt. Zaitsev is good writer who was there during the biggest battle of all time and he gives a blow by blow account of the dirt, the blood, the grime, the smells, when he first arrived he was a unit messenger and he only got the sniper assignment 4 or 5 weeks into the battle. Although he had high scores on the shooting range no one thought to make him a sniper until they saw him shoot a Nazi machine gunner and the Nazi's two loaders, at a range of 600 yards, using a gun with standard sights. Zaitsev reports that he had never seen a rifle with telescopic sights until he was in Stalingrad and he had no idea how to use a sniper rifle. He was a self taught marksman with only a few days of instruction from a graduate of the Moscow Army Sniper School. When his superiors saw his success they ordered him to create a sniper detachment in Stalingrad, and Zaitsev recruited his marksmen on the spot.
Zaitsev was blinded by a mortar shell and was hospitalized in Stalingrad when the battle ended. He heard the captive German army from his hospital bed as they marched by, jeered by the victorious Russian soldiers.
Of the various accounts of Stalingrad I have read, this one gave me the closest feel for the battle from the perspective of a Red Army foot soldier. To find that Zaitsev was a real person, and not a fiction invented by the Red Army propagandists, made for a riveting read.
An engaging tale.......2006-07-23
I came across this book after puchasing a 91/30 mosin nagant, the same rifle used by the author. After some web searching I found this book, and found an web site about the book. You could veiw a chaper in the book, and listen to the audio of the first chapter. I can't wait until it's all available. The audio was a window into a time and way of life most of us can't understand.
Product Description
Stalingrad symbolises many things: the ideological clash between Nazism and Communism, the battle of wills between Hitler and Stalin, and the absolute fortitude of the Soviet people.
In many peoples minds, however, it represents the savagery, folly and utter waste of urban combat, a city where dozens of lives were readily exchanged for a ruined building. And nowhere did this senselessness manifest itself more than in the Barrikady Gun Factory and its housing settlement.
The men of the German 305. Infanterie-Division had captured all of the factorys massive workhalls by the end of October 1942. The only obstacles standing between them and the Volga were a few battered houses and the remnants of the Soviet 138th Rifle Division. Five fresh pioneer battalions were brought in to help the Germans and the final attack in Stalingrad (known erroneously as Operation Hubertus) was launched on 11 November, 1942. The push to the river cut off the Soviet troops and left a tiny bridgehead. Grim fighting raged around this fiery perimeter for three months. To the Soviet soldiers, this bridgehead was known as Lyudnikovs Island, or Ognenniy ostrov Island of Fire.
Painstakingly compiled from German and Russian sources such as war diaries, combat reports, published works, eyewitness accounts, letters and photos, this book presents an unbiased chronicle of the pitiless struggle from both perspectives.
Customer Reviews:
Island of Fire.......2007-07-16
If you are looking for a street-by-street description of the Battle of Stalingrad, there is no better book. If you want 600 pages on the Battle of the Barrikady Gun Factory in Stalingrad (ten buildings) this is it.
If you add Mark's "Death of a Leaping Horseman, and David M. Glantz's "Atlas of the Battle of Stalingrad: Red Army Offensive Operations, 19 November 1942-2 February 1943 and two of his map series "Stalingrad Factory battles, 31 Aug-18 Nov 42" and "Stalingrad counteroffensive, 19-28 Nov 42", you can stop buying books on the battle.
They are that good.
Regards,
John
island of fire.......2007-02-28
excellent work!!!! I have read many and varied works on the battle for stalingrad and this is certainly one of the best. Mark's other title Death of the Leaping Horseman is worthwhile as well.
A Quality Work.......2007-02-19
This is yet another fine book by Jason Mark and an excellent follow up from his `Death of the Leaping Horseman'. `Island of fire' details the fighting in and around the Barrikady factory Nov 42 to Feb 43 and shows the Germans desperate attempt to seize the remaining pocket of resistance before the full onset of winter by making use of fresh Pioneer battalions. The attacks weren't as successful as hoped and the Germans then concentrated their forces to take one building at a time. The tactic started paying off but then the Soviets launched their counter attack to encircle the German 6th army. The book details the grim and ferocious fighting especially around the Kommissarhaus, the fuel tanks and on the banks/cliff face of the Volga itself in Rolik Gully. Also shown, are the heroic attempts to resupply and reinforce the battered Soviet 138th Rifle Division by way riverboats while under vicious sweeping fire. However, once the German 6th Army was encircled the initiative slowly but surely passed over to the Russians clinging onto their foothold.
The research that has gone into this book is incredible and the author draws on many 1st hand accounts, letters and diaries from both German and Russian combatants that show the horrific conditions that had to be endured. The book has many photos and maps that help explain the main thrusts of the day-by-day fighting. Success on a daily basis was measured in yards taken. What comes across in the book is that it may well have been Lyudnikov's leadership qualities that saved Stalingrad. The book is also a testament to the determination and desperation shown by the common fighting soldier of by both sides (e.g. the Germans were able to counter attack and recapture a workshop in the Barrikady just two days before the surrender).
Appendices to the book include the histories of the Pioneer Battalions and biographies of some individuals. (Be sure to read of the exploits of Unteroffizer Trollmann). This book is a must read to anyone with a serious interest in the Russian Front in WWII & highly recommended. Quality work at its highest.
The Best (and only) Since Chuikov..........2007-01-31
If you are interested in the -city fight- of Stalingrad, you must know by now that little has been published on this subject, in English. Stalingrader's have long relied on Chuikov's memoirs to get a closer look into the activities at the 'ground zero' of this epic battle. Jason Mark has now shattered that isolation by bringing to you for the first time in English, a detailed account of the Barrikady factory fighting "Operation Hubertus" (and beyond), the last rush made by Paulus to capture the city before encirlcement. This book is more 'Tom Jentz' than 'Antony Beevor'. It is loaded with facts, figures, and personal accounts. Included is a seperate tabloid size map of the Barrikady factory-a nice touch.
Production quality of this self published book is outstanding; heavy archival paper in a *stitched* binding that will last forever (HB & PB). The author takes great pride in his work & spared no expense on the printing & binding. Something that you hardly see nowadays.
Book Description
A Fascinating Perspective on World War II's Largest and Most Bitterly Fought Battle
*Includes never-before-published material from rare German and Russian KGB sources *Authored by the critically acclaimed author of Voices from D-Day *Features rare photographs from both sides of the front
No previous work about Stalingrad places such emphasis on the experience of ordinary fighters and civilians. This volume of human history and military strategy includes fresh translations from original sources describing this pivotal event of World War II as told by the German and Soviet soldiers who fought the battle, Russian civilians who watched the enemy at the gates as well as Western diplomat and newspaper correspondent onlookers.
Customer Reviews:
A unique perspective.......2007-10-10
Voices From Stalingrad takes the unique perspective of using letters from both Russian and German soldiers to tell the story of one of the most horrific battles of World War Two. Because it wasn't an American struggle, textbooks here rarely acknowledge this battle as one of the key tipping points of the war. Through these letters, the sacrifice that they made, and their complete unwillingness to surrender the city regardless of the cost, can be seen. One the other side, the hopelessness of a German army that only a short time earlier had seemed unstoppable, is captured through young men who want nothing more than to go home.
Well balanced look at the Eastern Front .......2007-07-13
Bastable's Battle for Stalingrad pastiche, composed of letters from front line soldiers of all ranks from both sides of the conflict, puts modern readers about as close to the battle as they can get.
Chronologically structured from the Germans' march to the Volga to Paulus's surrender, with a letter or note from one or more soldiers who participated in each event, "Voices from Stalingrad" well augments other scholarly works on the subject.
This book is basically a "survey" level study of the battle itself, but adds much of the human perspective element and distinguishes itself by having views from both the Soviet and German sides, contrasted to Vasilly Grossman's journals or books like "Ivan's War" that principally give the Soviet viewpoint.
Voices from Stalingrad.......2007-06-13
This book reminded be and be in some form equated to Cornelius Ryan's trilogy The Longest Day, A Bridge too Far, & The Last Battle. The historian is not as obtrusive because of the format using primary source accounts of the battle. Still he brings these sources together in such a way, so as to give the reader an outstanding overview of the conflict at Stalingrad in all its various facets. A quick read well worth the price.
An Interesting Grunt-level Account of Stalingrad.......2007-06-13
Jonanthan Bastable, an English journalist operating in Russia, has assembled an interesting collection of wartime first-person accounts from both the Russian and German sides to describe one of the greatest battles of the Second World War in Voices from Stalingrad. This book provides much insight into the leaders and troops who fought in that decisive battle, although it does not intend to provide a comprehensive survey of the entire campaign in southern Russia in 1942. Instead, Voices from Stalingrad provides an authentic look at sustained, horrific combat from the perspectives of those who fought it. As oral history, Voices from Stalingrad is superb. However, this book will only allow its readers to assess combat from a narrow perspective and these inherent limitations will force its users to consult other sources to get the `full' picture. For example, there is no mention of the failed Operation "Mars" that occurred in conjunction with the Soviet counterattack at Stalingrad and the German Fourth Panzer Army is barely mentioned. Voices from Stalingrad is an often interesting - sometimes gripping - look into some of the worst urban combat that has ever occurred on this planet and it packs a sense of veritas that other, dryer histories lack. Read this one to keep the human dimension of battle in mind.
Voices from Stalingrad consists of nine chapters, which move chronologically from June 1941 to February 1943. The author intersperses first-person accounts from both sides to provide the real grist of each chapter, but adds his own comments and observations. The first chapter provides background on Operation Barbarossa in 1941, its failure and the German effort to finish off the Soviet Union with Case Blue in 1942, which resulted in the Battle of Stalingrad. The battle proper begins in the second chapter when the German 6th Army under von Paulus reaches the city and moves into high gear in the third chapter with the German assault into the inner city. The detail provided on the fight for the grain elevator, the tractor factory, "Pavlov's House," horrific crossings of the Volga river ferries and sniper operations is far better than in most other accounts. Many of the accounts may serve to put in perspective what typical combatants can tell us about a given battle; one German soldier in 1942 said that, "We very seldom know what is actually going on."
The Soviet counterattack begins in chapter 5 and it is interesting to note an account of the Soviet commander of the spearhead that reached Kalach and closed the encirclement of the 6th Army; he commented that he reached the objective with only 5 tanks, one armored car and 5 trucks with 50 soldiers. It is amazing that such a small force played such a decisive role. Several accounts describe the German Christmas inside the pocket, with enlisted soldiers lucky to get a few strips of horsemeat while not far away their officers drank the last brandy and smoked cigars. The author also uses accounts to paint a much more unflattering portrayal of von Paulus' behavior than is usual (although most accounts depict him as a poor commander); once the 6th Army was encircled, von Paulus apparently turned over command to his chief of staff and spent much of the time in bed. His behavior during the surrender negotiations was positively weird.
There are a number of errors in this book and it is apparent that the author has not always checked his material. For example, at one point he refers to a Germany unit's "F" Company, even though German companies were numbered, not lettered. He claims that the Soviet Katyusha rocket was not used in 1942 but it was used in battalion-size units in 1941. The author also underrates the Romanians, which is typical if you only consult German sources (since they blamed the Romanians for the disaster). Of note, no Romanian accounts or sources were used in the book - one of its limitations. In fact, better research has indicated that the Soviets had a tougher time getting through the Romanians than German accounts suggest, and that in fact it was the failure of German armored reserves that caused the debacle. At any rate, there are better books out there on the operational aspects of Stalingrad, but this is certainly one of the very best on the human dimension.
Hell on Earth, Stalingrad Style!.......2007-03-01
The battle for Stalingrad, lasting from Aug. 1942 to Feb. 1943, was war at its most brutal. No sweeping maneuvers there, no glorious charges; just relentless, no-quarter-given, hand-to-hand combat waged by exhausted soldiers for the sake of mere feet in a ruined building. Stalingrad devoured German and Russian alike. The stories of some of those who fought - and sometimes died - in that ruined city on the Volga are related in this book, the third in the 'Voices From' series.
Whatever strategical aims initially mandated the capture of Stalingrad, possession of the city soon devolved into a battle of wills between Hitler and Stalin, a contest that ensured neither side would retreat whatever the losses suffered.
Using letters, diary entries and book excerpts from German and Russian sources, Bastable provides a wide-ranging look at the German Sixth Army's advance to Stalingrad, their ceaseless attempts to seize all of the city and the equally determined efforts by the Russian soldiers to hold on to the prize. When the Russians launched a surprise counter-offensive that saw the encirclement of the Sixth Army, all the previous efforts of the German soldiers went for naught as Hitler forbade them for breaking out of the death-trap that became Stalingrad.
The stories related in this book are often wrenching and heartbreaking. No more so than when the soldiers, especially the ill-prepared Germans, describe the terrible conditions they found themselves in with 40 below weather, lack of food, lack of sleep, etc. As related in the book, Stalingrad was hell on earth for the Sixth Army.
Bastable's book is an excellent introduction to the Russian Front, providing an eye-level view of what combat was like for German and Russian soldier alike. Reading these stories, it's incredible what those men endured.
Book Description
Operation Barbarossa—as this campaign is famously called—was arguably the greatest land campaign mankind has ever fought. Hitler named his assault after the 12th-century Frederick I Barbarossa, an emperor of the First Reich. Although he succeeded in capturing almost 40 percent of European Russia, Hitler was defeated there. Exploiting newly available Soviet archives, David M. Glantz challenges the time-honored explanation that poor weather, bad terrain, and Hitler’s faulty strategic judgement produced the German defeat. He reveals how and why the Red Army thwarted Hitler’s seemingly inexorable progress.
Customer Reviews:
A must read on the initial phase of the German-Soviet war.......2007-06-17
Of the three books I have so far read from Glantz, this one is for sure the best and easiest to read. (OK, also the shortest.) I personally very much enjoyed this book, and also found a lot of new information in it.
Excellent, but very dry history.......2006-12-08
Like all of Glantz' books, this one also tells its story with authority. However, the focus is on the large scale, strategic operations and the high command, and therefore does not make for interesting reading.
A Tough Read, But Rewarding.......2006-09-28
This is not a book that goes into great detail about individual battles or skirmishes. It does, however, provide an extremely detailed account of the horrendously, seemingly impossible task Stavka faced in dealing with the German onslaught. Glantz provides readers with mind-numbinlgy detailed summaries of armies created on paper only to be slaughtered on the field, of Fronts being designated by desperate planners only to be shattered, and of Generals placed at the heads of armies only to be sacked, or worse, when they, almost, inevitably failed to win victories.
The huge amount of data Glantz provides is almost impossible to keep track of. This book was slow going for me. More maps, higher quality maps, and more charts and tables would have been welcome. The nearly frequent typographical errors were annoying. The excellent endnotes were sometimes hard to locate. I would have preferred footnotes.
Soviet reasons for failure of Barbarossa.......2006-01-08
David M. Glantz's book, Before Stalingrad rewrite the operational history of the German invasion of Soviet Union between June to December of 1941. Glantz's approach is to informed the reader that it took more then German's missteps and mother nature that determined the outcome of the 1941 campaign but the Soviet's efforts and mobilization of fresh units that also had a major hand. One of the major factors of German failure according to Glantz was the appearance of fresh Soviet reserves units that defied the German intelligence service. One point Glantz really wanted to make was that the German efforts toward Kiev wasn't an error by Hitler but an necessary objective to ensure any chance of German victory in Moscow if there was to be one. He cites the huge amount of Soviet troops trapped around Kiev, wide open flanks that the Germans will be exposing and fresh Soviet units waiting for the Germans in front of Moscow before many of them were expended in premature Soviet offensives that allowed Germans to advanced toward Moscow. I believed there is many merits to his line of arguement if we looked at German's efforts at Rostov and its consequences.
The main angle of study seem to be centered around central operation of the campaign, Soviet responses to Army Group Center seem to highlights the book's main theme. I think the author chooses this approach since this was where the campaign of 1941 was ultimately decided.
The book appears to be well written and well researched with plenty of Soviet material. Its an operational study of the 1941 campaign and looked closely from the Soviet point of view as all of Glantz's books. Its a short book and far more simply written then many of Glantz's other works. It could have used more maps and a more clearer order of battle table.
The book come highly recommended to those interested in this subject matter.
Astoundingly good book.......2005-09-09
This book will remain best account on Barbarossa:Hitler's invasion of Russia.As we know Barbarossa marked the beginning of biggest land campaign in the History of Warfare.For a long time Barbarossa has continued to fascinate Historians and layman alike.As a result it came to be shrouded in a fog of falsehoods and half-truths.Thanks to the author this stands dispelled.Author shows why Wehrmacht despite its immense qualitative edge over Red Army failed to destroy Russia;capture Moscow.
It must be remembered when Hitler invaded Russia Stavka[ General Staff] had not fully recovered from the damage inflicted upon it by Stalinist purge.Besides Red Army was in the midst of a re-organisation designed to reform its force structure,leadership,training ,equipment,tactics.Many foreign observers thought the country was saddled by a hollow,defunct military establishment and defeat appeared imminent.Against such overwhelming odds Russia survived and ultimately triumphed.Since then many academics have argued Rasputitsa[Oct rains which turn Russian countryside into a sea of mud]harsh winter combined to thwart Wehrmacht when it stood at gates to Moscow.This book,however questions this view.
Wehrmacht's unprepardeness to fight in Russian winter certainly contributed to German defeat.Primary reason leading to German failure lay in the fact Wehrmacht miscalculated Red Army's strength precisely reserves which it could bring from the depths of the country.This helped Stavka to raise fresh divisions from scratch,enabling the erection,of several lines of resistance astride invader's path,as Red Army quickly replenished its losses.New divisions launched incessant counter-attacks;for the Germans struggle started with Battle of Smolensk.Though these attacks were smashed it imposed tremendous attrition upon Wehrmachtso much so when it reached the gates to Moscow German strength ebbed,eroded considerably.Now on the approaches to Moscow Germans encountered fresh Russian resistance.Appearance of T-34 tanks in large numbers -impervious to German anti-tank guns- stunned Nazis.This shows how much they underestimated Russian colossus;exposes faulty nature of German intelligence prelude to Barbarossa.
Germans could hope overcoming this final barrier only by bringing in fresh troops,rearming and refuelling their emasculated armoured spearheads.This was not possible because of poor quality Russian roads and failure to put int operational use of Russian railway network.The errors further aggravated by Hitler's failure to moblise German economy for 'TotalWar'.Army Group Centre launched its final bid to seize Moscow without receiving any reinforcements.
Author has demolished the view of some Historians that Moscow could have been taken had Hitler not diverted Gen Guderian's Second Panzer Group toward Kiev.Fact is after reduction Smolensk pocket considerable Soviet forces remained which barred the road to Moscow.This prompted Hitler go for a easy prey.This manoeuvre in turn created conditions for a successful start of the offensive along Moscow axis[operation Typhoon]
Account of Barbarossa is incomplete without stressing the contribution of Richard Sorge,Soviet spy attached to the German embassy in Tokyo.After all where did Stalin find forces which barred German road to Moscow? Fro the Far East thanks Sorge's intelligence that Japan was going to attack US which helped Soviet leader ruthlessly denudeFar Eastern front rush Siberians to defend Moscow.Later Marshal Zhukov used Siberians divisions to launch Moscow counter-offensive.An author of Glantz's stature has remained silent about this,and I find hard to digest.
Despite this drawback this book will remain an indispensible source for those who want to know why Barbarossa ended in a fiasco.
Book Description
Mansur Abdulin fought in the front ranks of the Soviet infantry against the German invaders at Stalingrad, Kursk and on the banks of the Dnieper. This is his extraordinary story.
His vivid inside view of a ruthless war on the Eastern Front gives a rare insight into the reality of the fighting and into the tactics and mentality of the Red Army's soldiers. In his own words, and with a remarkable clarity of recall, he describes what combat was like on the ground, face to face with a skilled, deadly and increasingly desperate enemy. The terrifying moments of action, the discomfort of existence at the front, the humorous moments, the absurdities and cruelties of army organization, and the sheer physical and psychological harshness of the campaign - all these aspects of a Soviet soldier's experience during the Great Patriotic War are brought dramatically to life in Mansur Abdulin's memoirs.
Of special interest is the insight he offers into ordinary operations and daily life in the lower ranks of the Soviet army. As he tells his story he reveals much about the thinking of the men, their attitude to the war and their loyalties. He also sheds light on the tense relationships between the disparate national groups that were thrown together to create a huge fighting force. But most memorable are his honest, horrifying descriptions of combat, of being bombed and shelled, of trench warfare, of enduring tank attacks and friendly fire, and of coping with the wounded and the dead. The Author Mansur Gizzatulovich Abdulin was born a Tatar in Anzhero-Sudzhensk, near Tomsk in central Siberia, in 1923. He worked as a miner before volunteering to fight for the Red Army in June 1942. After completing his course at the Tashkent infantry school, he fought on the Stalingrad front, during the encirclement of the German 6th Army, participated in the bitter, decisive battle at Kursk and harried the Germans as they retreated across the Steppes to the banks of the Dnieper river where he was seriously wounded. After the war he returned to his work as a miner and he now lives in retirement at Novotroitsk near Orenburg in the Urals.
Customer Reviews:
Deep breath.......2007-04-14
I enjoyed this book. Better yet, "I'm sorry I finished this book." I read this before I went to sleep every night. I could have gone on reading it right up to the present. NOTE: it didn't go on to April 13, 2007. There is a very human and humble quality to this book which I appreciated. I have read the German accounts of the various battles and got a better appreciation of the hardships. Is this the difference between "winner" and "loser" I don't know? Maybe you do?
Excellent view of the common Soviet Soldier.......2007-02-07
This is an excellent account of the war as seen by a mortarman attached to a Soviet infantry division. It is very moving to read of the hardships Abdulin and his comrades experienced in this most brutal of wars. I was particularly struck by one story, in which the author and his friends feel overjoyed to immerse themselves in human excrement in an old latrine that had been forgotten and covered by snow. Compared to the -50 degree temperatures they had experienced, the feces were like a warm blanket. This really brings home just how unfathomably horrible the Eastern Front could be. Abdulin also gives us a view of the take-no-prisoners mindset that characterized both sides on the Eastern Front. He boasts of an incident where he and his men shoot several wounded Germans after overrunning their positions. As anyone who has studied the Eastern Front knows, this was an unfortunate, but common, practice on both sides. It makes the reader hope quite fervently that war will never reach this level of cruelty again. It should also be remembered that it already has, many times even if on a smaller scale, since the last shot rang out in Berlin.
One of Russia's Greatest Generation Remembers.......2006-07-31
A series of new World War II memoirs by soldiers of the Red Army provide fresh and valuable insights into the Soviet armed forces of the Great Patriotic War. Readers will find Mansur Abdulin's "Red Road From Stalingrad" among the best written, compelling and moving works recently published.
Abdulin reminds us that Ivan, the Red Army soldier, was a living, breathing being, who cherished life as much as his counterparts in the West and who was willing to defend his family and his homeland fanatically and lay down his life dearly for all that he loved. This stands in stark contract to the myth of the Soviet soldier - savage, unfeeling, and following orders unquestioningly - embedded in the military culture of the West by the officers of the defeated Wehrmacht seeking to exploit the growing rift between the West and the Soviet Union after the war.
In the first months of his invasion of the Soviet Union, Hitler's Wehrmacht inflicted catastrophic losses on Stalin's Red Army, causing many to wonder how it was Russia managed to survive. By December 1941, or only six months after the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, the Red Army had lost 177 divisions, comprising some five million men, including almost three and a half million, which had been captured by the Germans. Gone too were tens of thousands of combat aircraft, tanks and artillery pieces. Abdulin's book makes it clear that by 1942 Russia's strategic situation was already stabilizing, although much hard fighting and further defeats lay ahead. Still, in 1942 and 1943 Soviet Russia and the Red Army were fighting to survive a Wehrmacht bent on nothing less than the complete annihilation and enslavement of the Jews and Slavs and winning Lebensraum [living space] for Hitler's Third Reich. Liberation of the wide expanses of the Soviet Union captured by the Germans seemed a distant hope in 1942. It was only through the heroic efforts of tens of millions of Red Army soldiers like Mansur Abdulin that Hitler and the Wehrmacht found only defeat in Russia.
Born a Tartar in central Siberia in 1925, at a time when the newborn Soviet state was suffering from prolonged famine and disease, Abdulin experienced a hard childhood. "My mother would sometimes get hysterical from constant starvation and despair, screaming madly," he remembers. Abdulin went to work at a young age as a miner alongside his father. In June 1942 he volunteered to fight for the Red Army. After completing his course at the Tashkent Infantry School, he fought as mortar man on the Stalingrad Front during the Soviet counter-offensive, which crushed Field Marshal Paulus' Sixth German Army in the city between November 1942 and January 1943, killing and capturing hundreds of thousands of German and Romanian soldiers. Later, in July 1943, Abdulin took part in the battle of Kursk, where the Red Army held its ground against an unprecedented German onslaught led by Hitler's most elite divisions and supported by hundreds of new Tiger and Panther tanks. The Wehrmacht and the German panzer force were gutted during the battle and the Red Army followed up with a stinging counteroffensive, which hurled the Germans back across the Steppes all the way to the banks of the Dnieper River. It was there that Abudlin was seriously wounded.
Throughout his book Abdulin describes the small delights as well as the agonies of being a soldier in the Red Army during the war. "It was a great joy for us to receive a letter, a note, or a parcel from home," he writes. "Also, in each box containing shells, bombs or cartridges, we found pleasant surprises: a piece of paper bearing the address of an unknown girl, so that we could write her, or tobacco pouches filled with makhorka [strong Russian tobacco]." These small joys, however, were overshadowed by the death of friends and family, which dogged every Red Army soldier with each step westward. "I cried, like women cry, beside the dead boy of their beloved," admits Abdulin, poetically, as only a Russian can, on the death of a close friend in January 1943. "I howled, like little children howl, when they are greatly and unfairly offended by someone." The author also details the atrocities uncovered by Red Army soldiers as they advanced westward, liberating Russian villages and towns. "We entered a concentration camp for Soviet prisoners. Some of the men were on the verge of death; they were speedily evacuated to hospital," he remembers. "Several thousand corpses were stacked in an open field. One horror followed another. How can I survive this nightmare? If a bullet doesn't find me, surely I'll lose my mind..." Indeed. In all, more than three million of the almost five million Soviet prisoners held by the Wehrmacht died in such camps during the course of the war. Such atrocities fed Ivan's hatred for the Germans, prompting the Soviet solder to attack even more attack fanatically and defend even more tenaciously than before. More ominously, such massacres also fed Ivan's thirst for revenge. The author admits that at one point he ordered the execution of more than two hundred German prisoners held by his unit. "By nature I am a tender and sensitive person," writes the author. "I was never a hooligan or a brawler. But when I went to war I wanted to destroy the Fritzes; `Kill or be killed.' This was my message to the newcomers. I was consumed by the idea that while alive, I would have my revenge on the Germans in advance: for I never expected to survive that slaughter."
In January 1943, Abdulin's 293rd Rifle Division was redesignated the 66th Guards Rifle Division for its role in the battle of Stalingrad. "Fighting for our Soviet Motherland against the German invaders, the 293rd Rifle Division proved to be a model of bravery, courage, discipline and order," noted the order signed by Joseph Stalin, designating the unit an elite formation. "Engaged in continuous combat...the division inflicted heavy casualties on the Fascist forces and with its shattering blows destroyed enemy manpower and equipment, mercilessly crushing the German invaders." Abdulin was one of the fortunate few to have survived the war. Having done his part to defeat Hitler's armies, he returned to his work as a miner. He lives in retirement near Orenburg in the Urals, one of Russia's Greatest Generation.
Pretty good, but..........2006-05-02
Overall this is a pretty good book. It shows the very hard life of a Soviet soldier in WWII. One does, however, have reason to question the accuracy of the author's memory. For example, he tells us that just prior to the battle of Kursk he and other veterans told inexperienced soldiers about the strengths and weakness of various German tanks, including the Ferdinand. Since that particular tank made its debut at Kursk, his claim is hard to believe.
Honesty and Objectivity Trump Literary Value.......2006-04-27
If the reader approaches this memoir as literature, he'll learn quickly enough that Red Road from Stalingrad is no War and Peace - hence my three-star rating.
BUT - if the reader is interested in real history, in raw "data", in developing a feel for what it took to beat into pulp the greatest Army the world has ever seen, this book and its ilk are invaluable resources: the simple records of simple men.
Books:
- Night (Oprah's Book Club)
- Number the Stars
- Olga's Story: Three Continents, Two World Wars and Revolution--One Woman's Epic Journey Through the Twentieth Century
- Operation Barbarossa in Photographs: The War in Russia As Photographed by the Soldiers (Schiffer Military History)
- Rescuing Da Vinci: Hitler and the Nazis Stole Europe's Great Art - America and Her Allies Recovered It
- Sharpe's Company (Richard Sharpe's Adventure Series #13)
- Sharpe's Sword (Richard Sharpe's Adventure Series #5)
- Sherman's March to the Sea 1864: Atlanta to Savannah (Campaign)
- Slaughterhouse: The Handbook of the Eastern Front
- Sledgehammers: Strengths and Flaws of Tiger Tank Battalions in World War II
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Stalingrad to Berlin
Slaughterhouse: The Handbook of the Eastern Front
Thunder on Dnepr: Zhukov-Stalin and the Defeat of Hitler's Blitzkrieg
An Infantryman In Stalingrad From 24 September 1942 to 2 February 1943
Before Stalingrad: Barbarossa, Hitler's Invasion of Russia 1941 (Battles & Campaigns)
