Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a book to read if you want to get a sense of the scope, intensity and human drama of the incredible battle between German and Russian armies on the banks of Volga. It was one of the most important battles of the WWII (if not the most important). It demonstrated the incredible heroism of both the Germans and the Russians. It also showed that Hitler made a mistake of underestimating ability of Stalin to regain control and learn from mistakes of disastrous summer of 1941 and determination of Russians to fight for each building in Stalingrad.
Written by the American author, the book for the most part describes events from the German point of view. I am Russian and admittedly it is not easy to stay totally objective about an account with slight pro-Axis slant, but I am interested in Stalingrad battle and have read some other books on the subject. I also been to Stalingrad (now city of Volgograd) myself, and my main criticism is this: Mr. Craig, despite the fact that he spent five years researching for this book, unfortunately didn't quite familiarize himself with some aspects of Russian life and culture. I don't know, may be he didn't have an opportunity...But that would have made his book more balanced and more readable for the Russian audience.
For example, "Kazakhs" on page 321 aren't "Kazakhs" but Cossacks. There were no "Kazakhs" living on river Don, only Cossacks. Kazakhs live in Kazakhstan. These are two different peoples. "Kaytusha" throughout the text of the book is misspelled; it is really "Katjusha" - a Russian rocket launcher. I was surprised that it was misspelled, since it was not only famous Russian weapon of war, but also a woman's name, derivative of Katja (Russian for Katie). It would be equivalent for a Russian author to call German tank "Mark" as "Mrak".
Another example - on page 283 Mr. Craig assumes that December 24th was a Christmas Eve for both Germans and Russians. Close, but no cigar...The Christmas in Russia is celebrated due to Christian Orthodox tradition on January 7th, hence the Christmas Eve is January 6th. But during Communist times it was prohibited anyway.
Perhaps as a result of the author's lack of firm grasp of Russia's cultural context, the Russians in a book depicted a little bit like caricatures (despite the author's effort to do otherwise). Germans are more believable, better developed and likeable. To summarize, despite the fact that I thought the book was good, I have encountered many errors about the Russians that it made the book less enjoyable to read and sometimes even a little annoying. Otherwise the book is well written. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in history of WWII, military history, and German or Russian history.

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Two madmen, Hitler and Stalin, engaged in a death struggle that would determine the course of history at staggering cost of human life. Craig has written the definitive book on one of the most terrible battles ever fought. With 24 pages of photos.

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The 900 Days: The Siege Of Leningrad Review

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(More customer reviews)Few events in the annals of modern history compare to the saga of the terrifying siege of Leningrad for almost three years by the German Wehrmacht during World War Two. In this classic historical work, "The 900 Days" written by long-time New York Times correspondent and editor Harrison Salisbury, the incredible toll in terms of blood, sweat and tears of the millions of Russian protagonists trapped by the Nazis in the city is told. The story is told in such a graphic and moving fashion that the individuals involved are portrayed from a common sense, human perspective, in terms of describing breathing, struggling individuals locked into a living nightmare, each of them having to make a titanic effort day after day just to endure the hardships and survive.
The scale of the siege itself boggles the mind; some three million residents and soldiers were encircled and entrapped at the beginning of the Nazi incursion into Russia in Operation Barbarossa, intensifying with a ruthless German offensive in early October of 1941 that literally strangled the lifeline for food and critical supplies from the embattled urban area. Of those trapped, almost half succumbed, and most of these fatalities were in a relatively brief period of time, commencing with the events of October 1941 and climaxing in early April of 1942. People starved, froze, drowned, were run over by tanks, walked into mine fields, succumbed to a wide range of diseases, were murdered by German soldiers, and sometimes were caught in artillery fire. In all, almost one and one half million people were lost during the siege.
Yet in the midst of all this immense suffering and the degraded conditions that forced many to the brink of extinction, the people of Leningrad consistently fought back, fighting environmental conditions, temperatures that dipped below 30 degrees below zero, with no heat, no light, little or no food or water. Yet the fighting on the front went on, supported by the inhabitants, who did everything from digging ditches to helping to care for the wounded in the midst of their own daily struggles to survive. In this instance, they didn't merely endure; in fact they prevailed against incredible odds. In the final analysis, it was the German army that was destroyed.
The scope of this achievement seems to be little appreciated today. And while Salisbury traces the causes in the tragedy of Leningrad in Stalin's sectarian governmental policies that ultimately played into Hitler's plans for capturing the city, he also describes the incredible contributions of a cross-section of the citizenry of the city, including artists, factory workers, soldiers, teachers, housewives, children, writers, and others engaged in the common daily struggle to survive without ever ceding the ground or the war to the foe. Even more impressive is his unflinching attention to detail, and his retelling of the final coup-de-grace delivered by Stalin, jealous and politically fearful of the genuine heroes made by the siege, who then arranged to charge, convict and execute all the principals of the city's campaign against the Germans based on trumped up charges of treason. This was one of the first books to deal with the levels of Soviet suffering and contribution to the war effort, and it has been praised quite consistently by readers and critics alike. I can recommend this book without reservation.
Enjoy!

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The Nazi siege of Leningrad from 1941 to 1944 was one of the most gruesome episodes of World War II. Nearly three million people endured it; just under half of them died. For twenty-five years the distinguished journalist and historian Harrison Salisbury pieced together this remarkable narrative of villainy and survival, in which the city had much to fear-from both Hitler and Stalin.

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