Doctor at Stalingrad [Hardcover]

Hans Dibold (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2001

limited 1,000 copy edition reprint of an extremely scarce memoir only previously published in England, and published by Aberdeen Bookstore. This is a story of Stalingrad seldom talked about. Dibold relates his experiences in Stalingrad during the battle, and the utter helplessness he felt as the casualties were so high and in conditions so appalling with little or no medical supplies. Then after capture Dibold remained in Stalingrad and in conditions that are beyond comprehension. Part of the time he was in the huge underground Timoshenko bunker the Russians built. Often working in complete darkness in narrow corridors crammed full of injured soldiers, Dibold again was in a position of being able to offer little in comfort. The lice were atrocious, Dibold talks of scooping them from injured abdomen, the stench unfathomable, and the black tarry walls dripping with stench from the condensation of steam coming from wounds. Tyhpus was rampant. Even after the last shot was fired in Stalingrad, things were far from over for Dibold. He words aren't minced, and he tells of the finest and darkest of human behavior during these times, only 1000 copies printed, bound in full cloth using an exact copy of original dust jacket published originally in 1958!

Product Details

• Hardcover: 196 pages
• Publisher: Aberdeen (November 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971385211
• ISBN-13: 978-0971385214
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,060,968 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Ghastly Reality, April 26, 2003

By 

W. B. Smith (Auckland New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Doctor at Stalingrad (Hardcover)

This book is a great read and an account that portrays what it was like to fall into Russian captivity after the German surrender at Stalingrad. Be warned, this book is not for the faint hearted as the author descibes the appalling and ghastly conditions experienced as he remained in Stalingrad with the worst cases of the sick and wounded. The author creates a picture of the 'living dead' as the remnants of the Sixth Army waste away with starvation and diease as he and his fellow doctors work unrelentlessly to keep them alive. This is no easy task considering the doctors are suffering under the same conditions as that of the other German prisoners, conditions of a cruel Russian winter, no adequate warm clothing and shelter and near to nothing in way of food and medical supplies. Incredibly the author bears no grudges againsnt the Russians and at times shows them with a compassion and in a more favourable light than some of the German prisoners.

Although this a book of much suffering, death and dispair, it is also a book of survival and shows the grim results of war and how man can endure such terrible conditions. Conditions of living in darkness in the Timoshenko bunker with condensation dripping off the walls, thousands of lice and rampant diseases of typhus, dysentery, scurvy to name a few and of course starvation. These conditions destroyed the soul and will to live of many. Those that survived had the ultimate courage and faith in mankind but would be tormented mentally or physically for the rest of their lives for what they experienced.

A special thankyou should go to the publishers Aberdeen Books for reprinting this rare and tragic account of life after the battle of Stalingrad. This is an essential read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional in its catagory, January 28, 2008

By 

Eric Hoover "hoover" (Walla Walla WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Doctor at Stalingrad (Hardcover)

Very good book, written by somebody who is not a writer but just wants to let people know how captivity was after the collapse of the 6th Army.

A true, no nonsense, no sugarcoating story that is unique in its kind.

From medical standpoint, a very interesting book.

He tapers off a little bit at the end and I didn't really like the way the book ended. But that does not take away the value of his expierence.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Doctor at Stalingrad, October 5, 2011

By 

M. A. Foenander "Margaret" (Melbourne,Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Doctor at Stalingrad (Hardcover)

Although we never want the bad guys to win,reading this book you cannot but feel compassion for those wounded German soldiers who are there with hardly any medical aid,The descriptions,you would think belong in a fantasy book,not something that did actually happen.Well worth a good read to show us just how dreadful it can be to be with the minimum of care and the devoted doctors and medics who went well beyond the call of duty.A sad books that will always leave an imprint on your mind.