Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad by William
Craig
As far as I know, other than this author’s brilliant “The Fall
of Japan”, this is the only non-fiction book that William Craig penned. Like “The Fall of Japan”, this book is an
excellent account of one of the worst atrocities of World War II – The Battle
of Stalingrad.
This book tells a very ‘human’ angle to the specific
battle. Yes, the particulars of strategy
and battle movements are included here, but when those are the sole focus of a ‘war’
book, I confess that my attention span becomes exhausted after a short
while. Instead, William Craig chooses to
also emphasize the key people affected by the battle as it was happening. Not necessarily the soldiers; the battle
devastated the entire city of Stalingrad, so lots of civilians were forced to
suffer unbearable consequences as well.
By focusing on the people as well as the intricacies of the battle, it
doesn’t make the story more enjoyable, but it helps sink in the much-needed
reminder of just how awful war can be.
This battle began in late 1942. At this point in the global
conflict, Adolph Hitler and Germany had basically succeeded with every act of
barbaric butchery they had inflected on their mass of European neighbors. Stalingrad was their first failure, and one
can help but wonder if the main cause of the failure of Germany was nothing
more a sense of arrogance and cockiness.
Germany hadn’t lost any other battle so far, so maybe their deranged leader
WAS some sort of genius and the military believed that it was invincible. It was odd that Hitler idolized Napoleon
Bonaparte, as he seemed to replicate many of Bonaparte’s mistakes from a
century ago. Mainly, marching through
the vast territory of Russia with the threat of a brutal Winter on the
way. From what we know of Hitler, he
probably thought he was much more brilliant than his Austrian idol of yesteryear.
Reading this book didn’t really make you feel like you were rooting,
in any sense of the word, for the “good guys to beat the bad guys”. I came away with the sober realization that
all of the brutal deaths and sufferings were not caused by an evil race of
people, yet by maniacal leaders in power who refuse to let calmer heads offer
rational advice in times of calamity.
In a sense, Hitler realizes (or SHOULD have realized) that his army was
doomed at some point, yet he refuses to let his army retreat nor
surrender. In Hitler’s twisted mind, his
generals need to literally fight to the death.
If hundreds of thousands of soldiers must perish to advance the cause of
the diabolical 1,000-year rule of the Third Reich, why should these ordinary
soldiers care if they must be brutally sacrificed?
The Russians really don’t have it any easier. Their leader runs a close second in the
lunatic department to Hitler, yet at least his directives seem to make more
sense. Defend the city at all
costs. I mean, what else could the
people do? Still, though, the stories we
read throughout the book are devastatingly awful. One thinks that if television cameras had
been around in 1942 and the world could actually witness the atrocities as they
happened, you might come away with the hypothesis that there would have been fewer
wars in the immediate aftermath of World War II. See the use of media during the Vietnam War as an
example.
To be honest, there are an awful lot of people and their stories
in this book, and I simply couldn’t remember nor keep up with who was who. In many instances, I couldn’t remember if I
was reading about a German or a Russian. Even the last names of the individuals
didn’t help. Plus, there were one or two
Italians in the narrative as well. This
really wasn’t too bad of a detriment, however.
As I mentioned earlier, you sympathize with ALL of the people in this
account; regardless of what side they were fighting. We never really felt ‘justified’ nor ‘relieved’
when these soldiers die of starvation, or freeze to death, or worse. We’re
simply reminded of just how awful this time and place was in the second world
war. Be prepared to be grossed out
more than you might think. We must remember that ‘war in the movies’ really
never showed the horribleness as it really was.
The average movie goer simply wouldn’t be able to stomach it.
This book was a painful read, but necessary if one wants to
truly learn about and study history during war time. No matter how bad your life might be right
now as you’re reading this reviw, I challenge you that you would much rather be where
you are now, then if the stars had been realigned and you found yourself in
Stalingrad in 1942.
I now know why all the Germans in “Hogan’s Heroes” would
always shutter whenever they were threatened with being transferred to “The Russian
Front”.
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