Book description
In October 1942, a panzer officer wrote 'Stalingrad is no longer a
town... Animals flee this hell; the hardest stones cannot bear it for
long; only men endure.
The battle for Stalingrad became the focus of Hitler and Stalin's
determination to win the gruesome, vicious war on the eastern front.
The citizens of Stalingrad endured unimaginable hardship; the battle,
with fierce hand-to-hand fighting in each room of each building, was
brutally destructive to both armies. But the eventual victory of the
Red Army, and the failure of Hitler's Operation Barbarossa, was the
first defeat of Hitler's territorial ambitions in Europe, and the
start of his decline. An extraordinary story of tactical genius,
civilian bravery, obsession, carnage and the nature of war itself,
Stalingrad will act as a testament to the vital role of the
soviet war effort.
Antony Beevor began his career as a professional officer in the 11th
Hussars. He is the author of several books, including
Berlin, The
Spanish Civil War, Crete
and
The Mystery of Olga Chekhova
. With his wife, Artemis Cooper, he wrote
Paris After the Liberation
, but he is best known for his book
Stalingrad
, the international No 1 bestseller, and winner of the Samuel Johnson
Prize, Wolfson Price and Hawthornden Prize. He lives in London and Kent.
