Walter Kerr (2)

An interesting and very detailed book about the Battle of Stalingrad. I viewed the primary focus of the book to be that the Soviet victory was not due the German's losing steam in their attack, but rather the Soviet actually having a huge, if not almost secret, reserve of Army forces to counterattack with. I don't know how the author, an American newspaper reporter, got the access he did to write the book, but he did a heck of a lot of research and quotes a number of sources including show more numerous Soviet radio dispatches. About a third of the way thru the book, I felt I was being flooded with details. Got to a point that the initial reading pleasure dragged into a relentless droning of details. I was able to glean the direction and conclusion of the book at about that one third point in to my reading. The conclusions of this book do differ from the classic historical reading of textbooks on this turning point battle on the Eastern Front.

My understanding of Stalingrad is from a general perspective. This book filled in some details I was not aware of. show less

To say the least, a most fascinating book. Learned more about the battle than from any other book. The battle really did take place, contrary to a report in the press in 1the spring of 1963. As always, the more you read, the more you wish to know. It brings up more questions, just as learning anything.