The book
“Stalingrad: The City That Defeated the Third Reich,” Jochen Hellbeck-editor/Christopher Tauchen-translator (Public Affairs, 482 pages, $28.99)
May 8 was the 70th anniversary of VE Day (Victory in Europe Day), which marked the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end stages of World War II. One of the crucial turning points of the war in Europe occurred at the Russian city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd). It was at Stalingrad that Hitler’s foolhardy invasion of the Soviet Union finally ground to a dead stop. Stalin’s Red Army refused to budge and ultimately encircled and defeated the German Army. This crushing defeat sounded a death knell for Hitler’s conquests.
A recent book provides vivid insights into what it was like to actually be there during the siege. In “Stalingrad: The City That Defeated the Third Reich” the historian Jochen Hellbeck has assembled archival eyewitness accounts from participants. After the war the man who originally directed this wartime project fell into official disfavor-until recently these archives had been hidden away.
The historians working for “The Commission on the History of the Great Patriotic War” arrived in Stalingrad in late December of 1942 to begin conducting interviews-the battle was still underway. Hellbeck writes that “they collected many one-on-one interviews, eventually collecting 215 eyewitness accounts: from generals, staff officers, troop commanders, simple foot soldiers, commissars, agitators, sailors of the Volga Military Flotilla, nurses and a number of civilians … .”
As these interview sessions commenced the city lay in ruins and the Germans had become trapped, freezing, starving, and demoralized. This book also provides the viewpoints of some German soldiers obtained through interviews after their surrender. Some most revealing insights were obtained from letters and diaries that were found among the possessions of the German dead.
Interview excerpts fit together like puzzle pieces. Hellbeck skillfully assembles them so readers can visualize the battle as it unfolds. Those eyewitnesses return to life. Here are some snippets:
As the German attack begins: “… the enemy hoped to demoralize the people. They knew that we hadn’t evacuated anyone. There were bombs everywhere, fires everywhere. People were stunned. There was a mass panic, no leadership.”
The Red Army fought back: “Igor Mirokhin was an excellent shot. He was the first one in our division to shoot down a Messerschmitt with an antitank rifle. And now he shot at the tank on the right and stopped it with his first shot, and with the second shot he set the middle tank on fire.”
Soviet propaganda: “Once a cat came into one of the bunkers … he’d come all the way from a German bunker sixty meters away. The cat came because the Germans had nothing to eat. We used this cat in our work to demoralize the enemy troops. First we tied a leaflet to his tail and sent him to the Germans. After a while the cat returned. We did this a few times, and then we made him an apron that held about a hundred leaflets.”
From a German soldier’s diary found on his body: “I’m still feeling faint. No help to be had. … All because of the encirclement. I smoked my last cigarette. Everything is coming to an end … they’ve been shelling us since last night. What a harsh existence! What a terrible country! I am putting all my hope in God. I have lost my faith in mankind.”
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