# STALINGRAD - Antony Beevor



## portcullisguy (24 May 2003)

A few weeks ago I read a harrowing tale of the German assault and subsequent abandonment of Stalingrad during WW2.

Antony Beevor is well suited for to author such a work.  A former military officer, of the 11th Hussars, he authored several books on military history, including The Spanish Civil War, Inside the British Army and Crete: The Battle and the Resistance.

Stalingrad is a tour de force.  In writing it, Beevor gained access to never-before-seen archives in Russia, as well as in Germany.  It describes in painstaking and thrilling detail the stubbornness of Hitler‘s intention of taking the city named for his Soviet rival, the gradual pounding of that city into rubble, and the resilience its defenders.  Thought to be a turning point for Nazi fortunes, Stalingrad was certainly where the Soviets were able to finally gain a meaningful victory over the invaders, repulsing them after months of suffering.

Stalingrad is, of course, the city that set the scene for the movie "Enemy at the Gates".  And the tale of the Russian snipers does feature in this book - but only briefly.

Far more interesting are the stories behind the refusal of the Russians to accept defeat at Stalingrad, and the refusal of Hitler to allow retreat, when the tides changed.

Russian soldiers shot or pubished for failing to achieve victory, the repeated bombing of the city which had already been reduced to rubble, the German front lines crumbling under the counter-attack, the final dispatch from one German unit, outgunned and surrounded, of "The Russians are almost on us, we are out of ammunition.  We did not retreat.  Heil Hitler."

The book is an essential read for any military historian, and certainly for anyone with an interest in modern urban warfare.

Some quotes by other reviewers:

"Antony Beevor has produced a compelling and extraordinary story, richly detailed and engrossingly written.  Western scholars owe him a very great debt.  We now have a real history of Stalingrad without myth or embellishment." -- Richard Overy, author of "Why the Allies Won"

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Beevor‘s subsequent book is "The Fall of Berlin 1945", published in 2002.

I am currently reading this tome of history, which is written on as grand a scale as Stalingrad, and tells of the collapse of the Third Reich in equally rich detail, using resources not accessed before now.

I will be glad to write a review once I have finished this latest book.


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## Danjanou (24 May 2003)

Well done, nice review. Sounds like one I should pick up.


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## Michael Dorosh (25 May 2003)

I‘m not sure I understand the initial comment about the Germans "abandonment" of Stalingrad.  Had they actually done that, 6th Army might have lived to fight another day.  Sixth Army actually surrendered with many combat elements still in the city proper; Paulus‘ command post in the department store was right downtown, wasn‘t it?

I‘m always suspicious of histories re: German units written by British historians since they have an annoying tendency to presume things about the Germans because they were true of the British Army. Unfortunately no real firm examples come to mind; I wonder if anyone else has the same misgivings, though, about British historians?


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## onecat (26 May 2003)

I will have to agree with above here.  I haven‘t read the book and from details given here it sounds like it might not be as true as it could be.  But then history is always one sided.  I would like to read some German histories on the war, as only they can actually give you the german point if view.  I do find British historians to be better than American for giving a voice to stories other than US ones.  I‘ve yet to find a good British historian write about Canada and war; and have it sound like we are colony.... and books on WW1 are the worst. They totally over look the Canadian effort the Canadina role in save their a$$. It‘s worst is your looking for info on Indian and their role in the war.


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## Michael Dorosh (26 May 2003)

I don‘t know if I agree about the part where Canada saves Britain‘s ***  in World War one, though we may have had a hand in part of a cheek.  Surely there were others on the Western Front who pulled their weight too; the Aussies come to mind, but there were good French, Indian, etc. units in the line also - not to mention the Americans, who like to admit it or not, energized the Allies in the last year of the war.

As for other people writing our history...why?

I don‘t blame American movie makers for concentrating on their own history, and I certainly wouldn‘t blame British historians for not doing Canadians or Indians, South Africans, Kenyans or anyone else justice.  We‘re capable of writing our own history - I have to believe India is also.  There are some good websites, actually, dealing with Indian histories and it would appear some good books have been written on their service; by their own historians.

Lamenting the fact that British historians or American moviemakers (as is often done) don‘t pay attention to Canada is silly.  We‘re capable of doing it ourself, though if we continue to leave it in the hands of the National Film Board, or the McKennas, then we deserve what we get!

Partners in Motion out of Saskatchewan did a wonderful TV show on Canadian VC winners.  Has anyone here subsidized them by buying a copy on VHS?  Sadly, I haven‘t either, and one of my best friends played Smokey Smith in that one.  Guess we can all blame ourselves, huh?


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