Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege: 1942-1943
by Antony Beevor
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Book Reviews of Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege: 1942-1943
Book Review: CITY OF THE DEAD, THE NEAR DEAD AND DEADER THAN DEAD
Summary: 5 Stars
Well written, easily understood chronicle of the German Sixth Army suicidal crusade into the jaws of the Stalingrad pocket in the dead of a fierce Russian winter. A balanced report of the suicidal efforts of German and Soviet forces to occupy the city named in honor of Stalin. The hardcover edition includes 30 dramatic photos and several situation maps, including locations of airfields on the outskirts of the city where Luftwaffe transports attempted round the clock deliveries of food, fuel, ammunition, medical supplies and winter clothing for 250,000 troops. We learn that the aerial logistics of supply was a utopian dream hatched by Goering, approved by Hitler and believed by commanding general Fridrich von Paulus. To fly in a minimum daily requirement of 800 tons would have required 427 daily flights of JU-52 transports, equivalent in todays terms of seven daily Boeing 747-200F cargo flights, each carrying 225,000 LBS. Because of lack of transports and bad winter weather, less than 10% of necessary supplies arrived. Troops dug into the ground and ruins of the city in -20F temperature were left hungry, short on ammunition and without adequate winter gear. Soldiers ate horses and some resorted to cannibalism, many froze to death. Equally suicidal were the tactics of the Soviets who used shock troops who would shoot the front line soldiers if they retreated from their assault on the occupied city. At great human sacrifice the Soviets eventually mangled their way into town. The author was unbiased in reporting successes and failures of either side. General Paulus it seems was the wrong commander for this job and he alone is to blame for the demise of the German 6th Army. He was nothing more than Hitlers poodle, a staff officer, not a battle experienced field commander, strategist, tactician. For the most part Paulus lacked a survival instinct, allowing himself to be boxed into a corner and cut off from the supply chain. Instead of tying up his panzer army inside the city, a smart commander would have used the tanks to fight off any encirclement, or to take the initiative to break out of the siege, making a partial withdrawal if necessary, irrespective of Hitlers barking orders to stay put. In Africa, for example, Rommel had used intelligent freedom of movement, advancing and retreating, all without reprimand. We learn that General Paulus was a coward, hunkered down in his HQ, the cellar of a department store, warm and well fed, he surrended only when Soviet soldiers literally knocked on his door; and he was driven into captivity with a fair amount of personal luggage. The author also devoted 35 pages to the aftermath; to the fate of prisoners; to Stalin propaganta politics; to squabbling and personality conflicts among some of the 23 general officers in captivity. There are no desperate situations, only desperate people; And dead people.Book Review: Well researched historical account.
Summary: 4 Stars
Beevor's approach in writing of Stalingrad was to remain as objective and analytical as possible. It would be easy for any author to be drawn into the subjective experiences of this combat, the sniper battles, the personal suffering on both sides and the sheer horror of the coal face of the eastern front.
What Beevor does instead is to remain one step outside the suffering. He draws our attention to all of these elements, but concentrates his greatest efforts into an understanding of the management of the campaign. He meticulously traces the decision paths that led the Germans into Stalingrad and the stragegic problems faced by the Russian Stavka high command.
Most importantly he traces the history of decisions by Paulus, the subjugation to Hitler, the position of Manstein in leading the relief, and the reasons why the 6th army failed even to attempt to break out of the Kessel.
His analysis demonstrates how the Germans made one bad strategic decision after another to compound their errors leading to ultimate disaster. The day they entered Stalingrad they lost their key advantage of mobility against the Russians. Once tied down the battle became a numbers game of production, supply and troops, which could only end in favour of Russia.
"Failure to plan is planning to fail" might be the motto of the 6th army in Stalingrad. A second winter spent in Russia without adequate winter gear is incredible. The blatant lies from the Luftwaffe high command in Berlin regarding what supplies could be flown in really beggar belief. And Hitler's "no retreat" orders sealed the fate of the 6th Army.
But Beevor also demonstrates the skill of the Russians in developing their own strategy. They held onto Stalingrad by the skin of their teeth, but once they stopped the German advance, they realised the moment had arrived for a bold strategic thrust. From being a resource deprived army on the retreat they changed into a dynamic mobile attacking force. The boldness of operation "Uranus" shocked the Germans to the core, as they realised they had been ouflanked by a movement out of their own textbook.
Furthermore, the Russians correctly analysed the follow up options open to Manstein, and brilliantly neutralised his ability to relieve Stalingrad with operation "Little Saturn".
Finally, this book is summarised for me by two of the photographs in it. The second photo in the book shows victorious confident clean shaven young german troops, dressed in summer shirts, sleeves rolled up, marching into Russia. The final two photographs show tired, starving, unshaven germans, huddled miserably in greatcoats, with scraps of cloth tied to head, hands and feet, being hearded off to captivity. This is a story with a moral. Pride comes before a fall!
Book Review: An Exercise in Good Journalism
Summary: 2 Stars
Mr. Beevor has done an admirable job in portraying the conflict at Stalingrad. Surmising (I assume) that other works have suitably treated the military side of the battle, Mr. Beevor takes a more jouranlistic approach. Often going 'behind the scenes', Mr. Beevor takes on a whirlwind tour of factors not often well considered in other works, from the employment of Russians in the German Army to the treatment of prisoners and the severe Russian attitude towards its own soldiers. This said, many of Mr. Beevor's generalizations detract from his historical treatments. Mr. Beevor is often at his worst when attempting to portray the attributes of various leaders on both sides, and additionally he struggles with distinctions. For example, when describing the effects of shell-shock and combat fatigue in the German Army, Mr. Beevor closes off by noting that while the Germans rarely acknowledged shell-shock in official reports, it must have been fairly bad because British records of shell-shock in Normandy indictaed this to be true of their own soldiers. This kind of generalization needs qualification to be taken seriously. The British Army in Normandy (well-portrayed by Max Hastings in his book Overlord) suffered from some unique problems-namely the use of formations that had fought throughout the desert campaigns and felt they 'had done their bit', as well as scraping the bottom of the manpower barrel. For a suitable treatment of the German soldier, look to the book Frontsoldaten by Stephen G. Fritz to see what motivated the German soldier to fight when others quit. Atrocities committed to German prisoners, while adequately described, are fobbed off when Mr. Beevor suggests that this should have been the typical Soviet response after what Russians had suffered at the hands of the Germans. Perhaps so, but little analysis is put into why-is this type of barbarism to be expected of any nation which has suffered at the hands of an invader, or is it typical response of a regime like Soviet Russia (who committed many an atrocity upon their own people, to say nothing of the Germans, which Mr. Beevor does note making his generalization alll the more puzzling)?
Unfortunately, the book is rife with generalizations of this kind, and aims less to be a work of history than a 'sweeping drama' more characteristic of a work of journalism. There are parts that feel rushed and disconnected from the whole, with little indication of any serious research. There are enough errors that would mislead the reader with little background on the battle that ultimately the book fails. For an account of the human side of the conflict, it is a good read, if not heavily tilted to the Russian experience. For the reader interested in the military aspoects of this fight, it cannot be recommended.
Book Review: Russian heroism and german atrocities
Summary: 4 Stars
This book may be not the best book abot Stalingrad battle, but I think that is a good book, well balanced between the description of army movements and the feelings and mood of the soldiers ( I miss the point of view of peasants and citizens of Stalingrad that suffered the battle inside the city, but I know that it's difficult to get it ). Also it show clearly the lie that the SS were bad and the wehrmacht good. The spectacle of german soldiers take off the clothes to the women and , even the babies ! , and throw them out their homes to die in winter and how let to die of hunger 3000 russians prisioners, take off every possibility of pardon and respect about the german people and their soldiers. And don't forget that of 4,5 millions of russian prisoners only 1,8 come back to Russia. How many mothers, wifes, children suffered it ¡ And incredibily the world still think about Germany as a civilizated country ¡, and the germans feel themselves not guilties of all the atrocities thy did in Europe. Not one country did that Germany did.If only one german prisoner come back to Germany is a gift of Russia after the germans did in Russia.I think that Russia was very generous with Germany after the war, would be logical take off all the population of East Germany and repoblate The cities of Russia with them after so much murders they did.And the russian don't did it. Even Paulus died in Germany in a house and not in jail ¡ Russians are the most generous people I know.
About the book only two small details. One is that the graphics seems very old fashioned, today with so many computers and good graphics , the maps of the book seems like 50 years old.
And the last detail is that to the finish of the book there are a lot of pages about Hitler and their generals and the pain and mood of german soldiers, most that about russian soldiers and russian citizens, if someone read it may be feel pity of the killers and forget that everything was created for them destroyed a beatiful city, killing thousands of children and mothers . Had payed Germany for them ? I think that not enough. And sadly with the cold war many nazi officials and soldiers lived freely in Germany and USA, and more recently the USA gobernment help to the same ukranians separatists , and their sons, that killed russian citizens and helped to the nazis, to create a artificial country - Ukrania- united for more of 350 years to Russia. Sad, very sad.
In Spain there are a proverb " if you aren't grateful you aren't a honor man" , what about Ukrania and all the russian blood wasted in WWII, Chernobil, etc ?
Anyway I think that this is a good book for a general vision of the battle.
Book Review: A great primer, which is anyway what it intends to be..
Summary: 4 Stars
For what A.Beevor is interested in covering he's doing a great job. I start off with this remark because i think quite some unfair criticism had been directed at his book for a variety of reasons.I think that some of that criticism is to a degree justified. Beevor is an author who's more adept in the logistics at war and the descriptions he can put together from eyewitness accounts or other source books. He's much less adept on the "whys" and especially on the "hows". His function is more like that of a reporter who was there and who relays what he saw. Often he fails on the "bird's eyeview" perspective or at going in more depth and he has trouble going into the collective psychologies of the sides involved. This is more apparent in other history books he's written like the "Battle of Crete" where he totally failed to capture the psychology of the Cretan who fought there and even that of the German which was more researchable (?) in comparison. I think he exhibits the some of same flaws in "Stalingrad".
But having said all that, for what this purports to be I'd have to repeat that it's one of the must-reads on the subject. It's an account that uncovers all the data you'd need to understand the enormity of what went on, and the truly horrifying scale of that incredibly significant battle. True, his penchant for detail might tire those readers not very much interested as to what brigade did what or what sector was covered by what army.
Nevertheless, this is a definite cantputdowner of a book even if you'll have to resort to more books if your intent is to get a fuller understanding.
However, if you read Beevor's book you'll already have a very vivid picture of what went on in Stalingrad, a picture very much upsetting in the atrocities and horrors it lays out for us.
On another note, for some reviewers who think Beevor's account is "too favorable" for the Russians or "pro-soviet" i think this is a total exaggeration. Beevor lists in detail the atrocities of the soviet army towards its very own soldiers:
-executions for deserters or for those "not exhibiting adequate courage", or sending whole platoons to certain death with less than inadequate equipment (something the Germans commited too but for different reasons partially) or the total disinterest for civilian casualties while the city was under siege.
Overall, a great primer on this tremendous historical event. Perhaps a more complete book on this event is yet to be written but there are several books on the market each covering this battle from different perspectives.