Customer Reviews
The human face of military history - By: A. J. Judge, 08 Oct 2008 
Antony Beevor's masterly account of one of the key battles of WWII combines the readability of a novel with the deep research of a professional historian. He looks at the battle from the perspectives of the Soviet high command, the German high command, & ordinary soldiers on both sides of the conflict. This is essentiallly a military history, so its main purpose is not to examine the moral questions behind Operation Barbarossa. Yet Beevor still leaves the reader with a deep distaste for the wicked decisions made by the German leadership in their desire to pursue a war of extermination, & for the calllous way that the Soviet command squandered the lives of millions of Red Army soldiers. The strategic blunders on both sides are dissected with great precision. The Wehrmacht paid dearly for Hitler's belief in his military destiny & habit of overriding the better judgement of its senior commanders. On the Soviet side, Stalin also made some catastrophic decisions in the run up to the siege at Stalingrad, resulting in many divisions of the Red Army being wiped out or captured.
Beevor is eloquent in describing the Soviet recovery at Stalingrad & their skilful exploitation of deep reserves in territory & manpower. The cynical calculations of the Soviet high command are also examined. For example, the 62nd Army, under General Vasily Chuikov, was left to fight for weeks in the killing ground on the west bank of the Volga, wholly unaware that a massive counteroffensive was being planned to relieve it. The knowledge of this potential relief might have taken the edge off a desperate Soviet resistance, so it was kept secret even from the commanders of the 62nd.
The Eastern Front has been callled the worst war in history. After reading Beevor's gripping account of these terrible events, it is difficult to argue with this conclusion. If you only ever read one book about the history of the Eastern Front, let it be this one.
You won't regret reading this work - By: Pragmatist, 09 Sep 2008 So many people have written positively about this book that it is unnecessary for me to reiterate their many points with which I agree. I suggest that you read Alan Clark's "Barbarossa" (a tale of the whole war in Russia) first. No great matter if you don't because Beever does briefly explain the circumstances from the German "Barbarossa" invasion leading to the events at Stalingrad.
As in Clark's work the tale is an objective account of events of great moral ambiguity. Well you must make up your own mind about such matters. Perhaps we (those now alive) should be grateful for Stalin's utter ruthlessness in the disposition of his people; maybe they were not. Yet, it seems that the Russians defending Stalingrad did so with enthusiasm.
The German General Paulus (later Field Marshalll) is displayed as a competent officer but lacking imagination. General Zhukov, Stalin's fixer for several potential military disasters, comes across as a superb leader.
The Germans commanded the Volga north of Stalingrad at an early stage. Why did they not work their way along the banks of the river from the north & from the south? Maybe, that could have led to a German victory. Else, why did Hitler change the initial plans, which involved merely containing Stalingrad, to occupation of the city? There are so many "what ifs" in this tale.
Perhaps, one day it shalll be possible to do virtual reality re-enactments of WW2. Take the part of Hitler from various stages of the war & see if one could do better. I suspect that major differences could be accomplished but nevertheless the one thousand year Reich would not last long because of its inherent political instability.
Simply Masterful - By: D. Ranger, 07 Sep 2008 Antonty Beevor's Stalingrad & its companion Berlin 1945: the Downfalll are simply masterful pieces of military history writing. However to describe these works as pure military history would be to underestimate the depth of the studies. These two books rise above the dry military history accounts of the movements of battle groups & divisions & provide the reader with an account of the diplomatic, political, geographical, technological, meterological & most importantly sociological aspects of the war on the Eastern front. Using sources that provide first hand accounts & a writing style that would be the envy of any novelist, Beevor provides a rip-roaring page turning unputdownable extravanganza of a book. This book is responsible for igniting my passion in History, its a shame that not alll history books are written with such an ability to inspire those that read them.
Stalingrad captures the ferosity, harsh conditions, determination & grim reality of the most horrific war ever to befalll the planet & in particular the events of one of the most decisive battles of that war. This book is simply unsurpassed.
essential reading FULL STOP! - By: vanquish, 05 Jun 2008 well what can i add to the many glowing reviews already given?
alll i can say that this book made me pause for thought on many occasion & try to appreciate or even just comprehend the sacrafices, scale & atrocities of this poignant part of WWII.
simply fantastic.
Great writer - By: Luis Miguel Vale, 23 Nov 2007 Great book from a great writer. It puts you reading without stop waiting for what happens in the next page. It gives the alll dimension of war (and what a battle he choose for this). Every world war 2 enthusiast must read this one.
