Product Description

This is a timely analysis and re-creation of the turning point of World War II. In October 1942, a panzer officer wrote "Stalingrad is no longer a town...Animals flee this hell; the hardest stones cannot bear it for long; only men endure". The battle became the focus of Hitler and Stalin's determination to win the gruesome, vicious war on the eastern front. The citizens of Stalingrad endured unimaginable hardship; the battle, with fierce hand to hand fighting in each room of each building, was brutally destructive to both armies. But the eventual victory of the Red Army, and the failure of Hitler's Operation Barbarossa was the first defeat of Hitler's territorial ambitions in Europe, and the start of his decline. An extraordinary story of tactical genius, civilian bravery, obsession, carnage and the nature of war itself, "Stalingrad" will act as a testament to the vital role of the soviet war effort.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #45341 in Books
• Published on: 1999-05-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
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 defences 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

Review
The ordinary Russian infantryman is the hero of Beevor's Stalingrad, fighting for his life and the destruction of Nazism, faced with the alternatives of genocide or his own continued slavery. Till Stalingrad, the German Panzer divisions had proved unstoppable: as they gazed at the city across the river Volga, watching it blaze from the firestorm of the first air raid which killed 40,000 civilians, many believed the war had been won. Yet in Stalingrad they were ground down by the ferocity of the street-fighting, while unbeknown to them a trap was sprung and they found themselves encircled far from home. This account of one of the decisive sieges of history is based on original research into primary sources which include war diaries, chaplains' reports, personal accounts, letters and diaries, and reports on interrogations of prisoners. It explores and explains the grand strategy but is more interested in the morale and survival of the people, German and Russian, in a battle of terrifying butchery and chaos. It is a powerful and definitive piece of military history. Winner of the inaugural Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction in 1999. (Kirkus UK)

From independent historian Beevor (coauthor, Paris After the Liberation, 1994, etc.), a meticulously researched and gripping account of the horrific battle that culminated in the collapse of Adolf Hitler's blitzkrieg offensive in Russia, and ultimately ordained German defeat in WWII. In June 1941, when Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, with a vast surprise attack comprising three large army groups, a quick defeat of the Red Army seemed probable if not inevitable: Germany's massive blitzkrieg style of war had quickly subjugated Poland and France. But, as Beevor makes clear, Hitler never prepared his army adequately for war with the Russian behemoth, and the blitzkrieg petered out as the Russian winter closed in. Hitler delayed the attack on Moscow, and by the early spring of 1942, when General Friedrich Wilhelm Paulus assumed command of the Sixth Army, the combination of surprise and terror on which the Nazis had depended was lost. Despite strategic victories along the way, the objective, Stalingrad, proved elusive, and after Paulus's repeated sanguinary assaults against the city proved ineffective, his position became a trap for thousands of German troops, few of whom survived the battle or the rigors of the Soviet gulag. Beevor is evenhanded in his treatment of the two sides: By contrasting the German and Soviet points of view, he conveys the experiences of Axis generals and fighting men (who comprised thousands of Romanian, Hungarian, and disaffected Russians as well as Germans) in the midst of a total war, and those of Soviet soldiers, who had to fear the NKVD and SMERSH, the Soviet intelligence services, as much as the Nazis. A painstakingly thorough study that will become a standard work on the battle of Stalingrad. (Kirkus Reviews)

Synopsis
This is a timely analysis and re-creation of the turning point of World War II. In October 1942, a panzer officer wrote "Stalingrad is no longer a town...Animals flee this hell; the hardest stones cannot bear it for long; only men endure". The battle became the focus of Hitler and Stalin's determination to win the gruesome, vicious war on the eastern front. The citizens of Stalingrad endured unimaginable hardship; the battle, with fierce hand to hand fighting in each room of each building, was brutally destructive to both armies. But the eventual victory of the Red Army, and the failure of Hitler's Operation Barbarossa was the first defeat of Hitler's territorial ambitions in Europe, and the start of his decline. An extraordinary story of tactical genius, civilian bravery, obsession, carnage and the nature of war itself, "Stalingrad" will act as a testament to the vital role of the soviet war effort.

Customer Reviews

essential reading FULL STOP!
well what can i add to the many glowing reviews already given?

all i can say that this book made me pause for thought on many occasion and try to appreciate or even just comprehend the sacrafices, scale and atrocities of this poignant part of WWII.

simply fantastic.

Great writer
Great book from a great writer. It puts you reading without stop waiting for what happens in the next page. It gives the all dimension of war (and what a battle he choose for this). Every world war 2 enthusiast must read this one.

Excellent Read
I am not going to get into the dynamics of this book or any details concerning the story line. This would spoil the treat for the reader. The author has produced a book about the Battle for Stalingrad that is first class. The book looks a heavy read but i found the content easy to digest (in bite size chunks over several nights reading)and extremely enjoyable and informative. The story (history) unfolds in 3 parts; The Russians struggling against the might of the German 6th Army, The Germans struggling against the determined (sometimes bloody suicidal) fightback from the Russians and finally, a look into the aftermath of this now famous conflict during the Second World War.
The Author has not taken sides whilst writing this book and brings out the politics, the tactical flaws (on both sides) and human story within this web of human suffering. The book allows you to make your own mind up on the rights and wrongs of this story!
Well written ,easy to read and in a logical order. They say a picture paints a thousand words but this books thousands of words paint a clear picture. Well done to Antony Beevor......Highly recommended. You will read this more than once!

ChrisD