Product Description

By the time Hitler declared war on the Soviet Union in 1941, he knew that his military machine was running out of fuel. In response, he launched Operation Blau, a campaign designed to protect Nazi oilfields in Romania while securing new ones in the Caucasus. All that stood in the way was Stalingrad. Here, Joel Hayward chronicles Luftwaffe operations during that campaign, focusing on Hitler's use of the air force as a tactical rather than strategic weapon in close support of ground forces. He details the Luftwaffe's key role as "flying artillery", showing that the army relied on Luftwaffe support to a far greater degree than has been previously revealed and that its successes in the East occurred largely because of the effectiveness of that support. Hayward shows the poorly conceived strategies of Hitler, Goering and others in Berlin doomed the efforts of air commander Wolfram von Richthofen, a resolute leader attempting to come to grips with an increasingly impossible situation. By reconsidering the campaign in the light of a wider body of documentary sources and analyzing many previously ignored events, Hayward offers military historians and general readers a more complete understanding of the Battle of Stalingrad and its impact on World War II.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #203847 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 412 pages

From the Author
Some recent scholarly reviews:
"Stopped at Stalingrad is a first-class publication. It is authoritative, drawing on a wide range of sources, is very readable and an example of how 'new military history' should be written. It should firmly cement Joel Hayward's reputation as a talented writer and a fine historian."

- Lt. Col. Glyn Harper, New Zealand Army Journal, No. 19 (July 1998), p. 65.

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"Š an original and formidably researched study Š Stopped at Stalingrad is an absolutely indispensable work not only for its revelations about Stalingrad, but equally for a more complete understanding of the nature of Soviet-German operations in a critical year."

- John Erickson [author of The Road To Stalingrad, and The Road To Berlin], RUSI Journal, June 1998, p. 80

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Customer Reviews

Essential and authoritative
This acclaimed book explains in an insightful and thorough way all of the German strategic decisions for the whole Stalingrad campaign, which went from June 1942 to March 1943. Serious scholars of Stalingrad MUST have Hayward's masterpice, which has the best analysis of German eastern strategy for 1942/43 ever written. Air-power enthusiasts will be thrilled to read how crucial it was to the Germans' successes in 1942 but saddened to read that the Luftwaffe, under Goering's mad direction, ignored the local air general's advice and promised, but failed, to keep 6th Army alive. GREAT book!

Lufwaffe operations from the Crimea to Stalingrad
An exellent study of the German Airforce from the fall of Sevastopol in the Crimea to its failure at Stalingrad. Very well written, with a clear analysis of the events. Well worth the money and it belongs in every major collection on World War II's Eastern Front.

This is THE Stalingrad book!
This is the only Stalingrad book I recommend without any qualifying "but"s. It is based almost exclusively on unpublished German military archival sources, which are translated perfectly, it is stunningly original in its approach and focus, and it is written in an engaging way for such a thick and detailed book.

Who knew before this book the scale and nature of the Luftwaffe's contribution to German eastern front victories during 1942 and the first half of 1943? NO-ONE!

Kharkov, Kerch, Sevastopol, the Don bend, Stalingrad, the airlift, the battles for the Kuban, Manstein's 1943 counteroffensive: all these battles were decisively shaped by the Luftwaffe and not merely as army-support. In many of these battles, Hayward teaches us for the first time, the army served as airforce support!!!!

This story is gripping and dramatic, but also analytical and very, very accurate.

Outstanding and essential. If you can only afford one Stalingrad book this month, make it this one.