Stalingrad was not only the most-crucial battle on the Eastern
Front, it was the main turning point of the whole Second World War
in Europe. The Third Reich had suffered setbacks earlier, notably
at El Alamein in North Africa in October 1942, but the scale of the
fighting on the Eastern Front was incomparably larger than any of
the other war fronts and it was the fate of the armies there that
decided the outcome of the global conflict. After the demise of the
German 6. Armee at Stalingrad in February 1943 it was clear that
Nazi Germany would lose the war. This book brings together three
After the Battle stories devoted to that historic struggle. It
opens with a detailed account of the fight for the city of
Voronezh. Lying on the great Don river, it was a prime initial
objective of the German summer offensive towards the Caucasus
launched on June 28, 1942. Possession of Voronezh would secure an
eastern anchor point for a northern defensive line needed for the
southward advance to Stalingrad. The city was taken with relative
ease in early July but, when the Soviets launched a
counter-offensive, the Heeresgruppe S d commander,
Generalfeldmarschall Fedor von Bock, allowed his panzer and
motorised divisions to be drawn into the protracted fight. This
week-long delay which infuriated Hitler severely disrupted the
timetable for the main offensive, and fatally contributed to the
failure to seize Stalingrad in a surprise raid. The main part of
the book is taken up by a comprehensive description of the
gargantuan seven-month battle for Stalingrad itself. All stages are
described in detail: the advance of the German armies to the city
in August, the stubborn and heroic defence of the besieged Soviet
62nd Army against overwhelming German superiority in
September-November; and the subsequent encirclement and
annihilation of the doomed 6. Armee in the winter, ending in total
capitulation on February 2, 1943. Due to the wholesale destruction
of the embattled city, it was long thought impossible to apply
After the Battle s then and now format to Stalingrad but with the
help of a local expert and acknowledged student of the battle,
Alexander Trofimov, we managed to match up numerous combat photos
taken all over the city, giving full treatment to the months-long
struggle for the city on the Volga. The same goes for Voronezh
where we found another local expert, Sergey Popov, who achieved
equally astounding comparisons. Without them, this book could not
have been made. The German catastrophe at Stalingrad, with around
150,000 men killed or succumbing to the winter cold and around
100,000 taken prisoner (of whom only some 5,000 survived
captivity), remained a national trauma in Germany. Coming to terms
with the event proved difficult, the sorrow over the loss of so
many German lives being surmounted by guilt over the fact that
Germany had been the aggressor. In many ways, Stalingrad became a
taboo, remembered in silence but avoided in public discussion.
Illustrative of this is the fact that it took a full 50 years
before a major feature film on Stalingrad could be produced in
Germany. It was only in 1992 that the German film industry felt the
time was ripe and produced and released Stalingrad, the first
full-fledged war movie on the battle. We include the story of the
making of this film as an epilogue to the main story.
General
Imprint: |
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Series: |
Then an Now |
Release date: |
June 2023 |
Authors: |
Karel Margy
|
Dimensions: |
246 x 172mm (L x W) |
Pages: |
224 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-399-04626-8 |
Categories: |
Books >
Humanities >
History >
General
Books >
History >
General
|
LSN: |
1-399-04626-8 |
Barcode: |
9781399046268 |
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