Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad (Movie Tie-In)
by William Craig

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Book Reviews of Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad (Movie Tie-In)

Book Review: Great Account of Stalingrad Though Schoolish in Places
Summary: 4 Stars

ABOUT THE CONTENT: I enjoy reading about W.W.II when I get the chance, but I mostly review books about the Arab-Israeli Wars. This book, however, has a very interesting tie-in: many of Israel's soldiers were SURVIVORS of Stalingrad (On the Soviet side, of course!). William Craig didn't ignore the Jewish tie-in to The Battle of Stalingrad. His research includes interviews of several Israelis who were soldiers, Russian or Polish nationals, and survivors of Stalingrad. Among them were: Ignacy Changar, Mikhail Goldstein, and Hersch Gurewicz.

The book in most places flows very well. Craig accomplishes this by interspersing personal accounts from the war from the hundreds of interviews that he performed over five plus years in several countries including Russia, Germany, and Israel. Hearing the personal accounts of an Italian doctor on march as a prisoner of the Red Army really gives the book some human interest. Reading of how this same doctor would regale his fellow prisoners with stories about delicious meals in Italy, while the prisoners were surviving on a few frozen cabbages and hunks of bread (not enough to sustain human life and well below minimum caloric needs) was very colorful. Craig also didn't ignore some of the more gruesome aspects of captivity under the Red Army: cannibalism. Many of the Italians and other prisoners of the Red Army during W.W.II were treated so poorly and were so desperately hungry that they resorted to cannibalism. Pretty gruesome, but very entertaining. Very few soldiers left the Red Army camps. Of the estimated 90,000 Axis troops (Italian, Hungarian, German, etc.) who eventually surrendered and went into captivity less than 5,000 of them were able to return to see their countries and families again (and the great majority of them, only after twelve years in tortuous captivity as described above). In this respect, the novel reminded me of "One Day in the life of Ivan Denisovitch" or the "Archipelago Gulag" books by Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

The military history was commendable and presented details such as the significance of the battle, the major personalities and the battlefield butchery that have made this battle a thing of legend. However, Orders of Battles (OOB) or TO&E (Tables of Organization and Equipment) are not included in the novel. While this may be a disappointment to many wargamers, the colorful accounts of many battles would be very inspirational to scenario writers. One of the most interesting tributes to this book is that it spawned an entire game that is well known to W.W.II gamers: ASL (Advanced Squad Leader).

BEST THING ABOUT THE NOVEL: The author's many interviews with actual survivors and the use of those same survivor's personal diaries is without a doubt this book's greatest strength. The wide range of narratives from German, Italian, Hungarian, and Russian soldiers, support staff, commanders, and civilians gives this book its' considerable realism and entertaining strength. Even better, William Craig didn't leave the story unfinished; he wrote a short epilogue that tells about many of the characters as they survived the war as of 1973 (when the book was first published). For the film's fans, it was interesting that Tanya Chernova (the femme fatale) didn't end up marrying Zaitsev (the protagonist) after the war. She thought that Zaitsev had died and didn't learn until 1969 that he had both survived the war and married someone else. It's really hard not to like a novel that has such facts!

ABOUT THE TIE-IN TO THE MOVIE: My edition of the book was the movie tie-in version and I view those words with dubiousness since the film's main characters occupy about 6 pages of this 455-page book. The movie focused on the micro drama of two snipers battling, but the book focuses on the ENTIRE conflict from the moment German troops entered Soviet soil until the defeat of German General Paulus at Stalingrad. Many believe that "Enemy at the Gates," the movie, is more closely based on the fictional novel "The War of the Rats" (which in turn uses this book for a lot of its information). I agree with this conclusion. Another reviewer wrote:

"If you want to be educated, read Craig's book. If you want to be educated AND enthralled, read David Robbins' WAR OF THE RATS instead."

I like the spirit of his words, but disagree with the idea that "War of the Rats" by David Robbins is educational and entertaining. While very entertaining and educational in that it uses William Craig's book as a source, the book would include a caption "based on fact" if it were made into a movie today (curiously enough like the film "Enemy at the Gates"). Robbins is a better writer in that his prose is much more entertaining, but his research wouldn't light a candle to that of William Craig. I would recommend reading both novels: "Enemy at the Gates" by William Craig for the facts and "War of the Rats" by David Robbins for entertainment.

SUGGESTIONS: I would also suggest seeing the movie "Stalingrad" directed by Joseph Vilsmaier. This German-produced film follows the story of "Enemy at the Gates: Movie Tie-In" much better. The film does a better job of showing the horrific face of the battle than "Enemy at the Gates."

I also recommend the film "Europa Europa" for an account of Solomon Perel, a Jewish-German boy who manages to conceal his identity from the Nazis and ends up a member of their Youth Party as well as a soldier in the W.W.II German army. The movie is based on Solomon Perel's autobiography, also a good read.

REVIEW BY: Maximillian Ben Hanan

Summary of Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad (Movie Tie-In)

World War II Books

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