- Hardcover: 176 pages
- Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books (Jan 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0312269439
- ISBN-13: 978-0312269432
- Product Dimensions: 29.4 x 22.2 x 1.9 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
2,085,989 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #89 in Books > History > Military History > World War II > Stalingrad
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This lavishly illustrated book covers one of the most decisive battles of WWII, shifting the tide on Germany's invasion of Russia and it's fortune in the war. It went on for close to six months turning a large city into rubble, fighting for street to street, house to house and even room to room. It's scale and bleakness consuming men at a high rate. The reader is drawn into the battle with vivid description of heartbreaking sacrifice and the nightmare of combat. This definitive work covers the whole battle from divisional, battalion and company down to squad level in this ruined city in the heart of winter. BUY IT!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
16 reviews
35 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Good but not great.
8 Jun 2003
Format:Hardcover
I was pleased to see Dr Joel Hayward's review of this book below. His own book "STOPPED AT STALINGRAD: The Luftwaffe and Hitlers Defeat in the East" (also available from Amazon.com) is, alongside John Erickson's book, easily the best book on Stalingrad. I strongly recommend these Stalingrad authors as best: Joel Hayward, Anthony Beevor, John Erickson, Graig. Your library is not complete without all these.
But when we look at this book, by Stephen Walsh, we find a different type of book. It focuses too much on ground operations, ignoring the Red Air Force (VVS) and the Luftwaffe. And it is weak on explaining strategy. To counter these weaknesses are terrific black and white photos, many of them appearing in print for the first time.
Walsh's narrative is average. You won't find it as thorough and authoritative as Hayward's or as compelling and racy as Beevor's, but it does the job.
Overall, I still recommend this book and give it 4 stars.
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Just good enough to be pretty good
24 Dec 2002
Format:Hardcover
I gave this book Four stars because it really does give you just the overall Picture of the battle. It has few quotes but the overall strenght of the book is that it goes a long way to explain where each army is and their objective. The movements of each army group and the statistics.
I think this book would better be served called "Operation Blue" because it concentrates a lot on that and that is where all the author gives us the unpersonal view of the battle. He does also talk a lot about Stalingrad but not in a way to actually describe the battle but just to show you where each Corps, Battalion wants to go and who is there to stop them. The book does that really well. Which is if you want a book that explains just that than this book is it.
If you want to know the battle from a personal view, the soldiers, comamders on BOTH sides then Anthony Beevor's "The fateful Seige" is your book. But for what this book does, it does it really well. If you would read this book and Beevor's book at the same time than you would know everything about the battle. But then who has the time for that.
I think this book would better be served called "Operation Blue" because it concentrates a lot on that and that is where all the author gives us the unpersonal view of the battle. He does also talk a lot about Stalingrad but not in a way to actually describe the battle but just to show you where each Corps, Battalion wants to go and who is there to stop them. The book does that really well. Which is if you want a book that explains just that than this book is it.
If you want to know the battle from a personal view, the soldiers, comamders on BOTH sides then Anthony Beevor's "The fateful Seige" is your book. But for what this book does, it does it really well. If you would read this book and Beevor's book at the same time than you would know everything about the battle. But then who has the time for that.
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
A decent overview - brief and well illustrated
27 Mar 2001
Format:Hardcover
Walsh is the very best type of military historian - that is, both a soldier and a scholar. He's done a good job of putting together a brief, slim overview of the battle of Stalingrad (including the lead-up to it, Operation Barbarossa, and the aftermath). It's most notable for its illustrations - many photographs have never been published before - and for its brevity, presenting almost a bullet-point account of the whole saga.
Walsh sometimes tries too hard to interpret the photographs, and the feelings of the men in them: for instance, many have captions on the lines of "the full enormity of the defeat sinks in...". Conversely, the bulk of the prose is very dry, almost as though trying to offset the picture captions.
The history seems reasonably straightforward, relying on dependable sources. For example, the one German soldier's private diary which is extensively quoted is the very same one used in the magnificent BBC "World at War" documentary. The narrative would have benefitted a little from being more tightly linked to the maps, to help those of us who are geographically challenged, or less familiar with tank battle tactics.
All in all, a good single source for those wanting a reliable overview that's quick to read, and for completists looking for more pictorial evidence; but for those with more time to invest, Beevor's book is more sweeping, comprehensive and dramatic.
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