Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege, 1942–1943

The Battle of Stalingrad was not only the psychological turning point of World War II: it also changed the face of modern warfare. Historians and reviewers worldwide have hailed Antony Beevors magisterial Stalingrad as the definitive account of World War IIs most harrowing battle. In August 1942, Hitlers huge Sixth Army reached the city that bore Stalins name. In the five-month siege that followed, the Russians fought to hold Stalingrad at any cost then, in an astonishing reversal, encircled and trapped their Nazi enemy. This battle for the ruins of a city cost more than a million lives. Stalingrad conveys the experience of soldiers on both sides, fighting in inhuman conditions, and of civilians trapped on an urban battlefield. Antony Beevor has interviewed survivors and discovered completely new material in a wide range of German and Soviet archives, including prisoner interrogations and reports of desertions and executions. As a story of cruelty, courage, and human suffering, Stalingrad is unprecedented and unforgettable.