Mr Mosquito Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 70th Anniversary of German defeat at Stalingrad A very big day indeed as it's now a man's lifetime ago (from the biblical 3 score years and ten) that the Germans were beaten at Stalingrad. Not shown anywhere on the EU's propaganda BBC newsagency (Brussels Broadcasting Corporation). I doubt very much that current German leader - Angela Merkel - will be commemorating today either but I am with this post...... The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943 and was marked by constant close-quarters combat and lack of regard for military and civilian casualties. Wikipedia states that it's among the bloodiest battles in the history of warfare, with the higher estimates of combined casualties amounting to nearly two million. The heavy losses inflicted on the German army made it a significant turning point in the whole war.After the Battle of Stalingrad, German forces never recovered their earlier strength, and attained no further strategic victories in the East. August 1942, German bombing raid on Stalingrad..... “Bombing started at ten in the morning and we saw a large number of planes flying over. The planes were dropping bombs into the centre of the city. Everything was ablaze. There was noise and screaming. Some people managed to get back to their ruined homes. There was constant fear that we felt. We wanted to survive the war. We were just always wondering where to get food. We were constantly hungry.” – Valentina Krutova, a child in Stalingrad October 1942, a beleaguered German soldier taking shelter in the rubble of Stalingrad..... The Red Army in the suburbs and closing in on the Germans and their allies..... German surrender and aftermath..... One aspect I hadn't thought of is that of an Israeli historian. In his 2004 essay "Celluloid Soldiers" about post-war German films, the Israeli historian Omer Bartov wrote that German film-makers liked to show the heroic last stand of the 6th Army at Stalingrad, but none has so far shown the 6th Army's massive co-operation with the Einsatzgruppen in murdering Soviet Jews in 1941 during its march across the Ukraine. Likewise, Bartov commented that German films tended to dwell on the suffering of the 6th Army during the Battle of Stalingrad and its aftermath without reflecting on the fact that it was the Germans who invaded the Soviet Union and that the Russians were fighting to defend their country. .......seems to me that the once mighty German 6th Army suffered a terrible curse as very few of them survived Stalingrad to ever see Germany again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marshy Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 If you've not already read it RG I would thoroughly recommend the book 'Stalingrad' by Antony Beevor, winner of several Non-fiction and History prizes. A magnificent account of the battle and the context in which it was fought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red-Robbo Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 Was on the BBc website though http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21303886 nice picture gallery linked to that story too. Anyone who hasn't read Anthony Beevor's excellent account of the battle, simply titled Stalingrad, is recommended to do so. Edit: Just read Marshy's endorsement above (and Gobbers below). Beevor's strength is that he explains the whole thing so well and humanises the conflict, so it's not just some dry 'maps and chaps' history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Mosquito Posted February 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 If you've not already read it RG I would thoroughly recommend the book 'Stalingrad' by Antony Beevor, winner of several Non-fiction and History prizes. A magnificent account of the battle and the context in which it was fought. Indeed, 'Stalingrad' is a brilliant book with plenty of eye witness accounts. It's already been mentioned on BCFC ziderheads that Germany's 6th Army was actually designated to take Bristol following any successful land invasion of England !!!!! Operation Sealion and the German invasion of England was cancelled so the German 6th Army were doomed to perish at Stalingrad instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Mosquito Posted February 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 Was on the BBc website though http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21303886 nice picture gallery linked to that story too. Anyone who hasn't read Anthony Beevor's excellent account of the battle, simply titled Stalingrad, is recommended to do so. Edit: Just read Marshy's endorsement above (and Gobbers below). Beevor's strength is that he explains the whole thing so well and humanises the conflict, so it's not just some dry 'maps and chaps' history. Oh well, at least the BBC managed a website article if not a national news TV announcement. One thing I didn't know until I read the BBC article: On Wednesday, the council of Volgograd passed a decision to restore the city's wartime name of Stalingrad on six specific days a year. The dates, all associated with military commemorations, are 2 February, 9 May, 22 June, 23 August, 2 September and 19 November. So, Stalingrad remains as Stalingrad on 6 days of the year - you could make a good pub quiz question from that fact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busterrimes Posted February 4, 2013 Report Share Posted February 4, 2013 There is also a very good German movie made in 1993 called Stalingrad starring Thomas Kretschmann which I quite like. A quick look on IMDB tells me Kretschmann is starring in a new Stalingrad film this year too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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