Stalingrad: The Defeat of the German 6th Army [Hardcover]

Paul Carell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1993

With the 50th Anniversary of the battle of Stalingrad approaching, we present Paul Carell's first eastern front work in over twenty-five years on this legendary battle, considered by many to be the turning point of the Second World War. His previous works Hitler Moves East and Scorched Earth are considered the definitive works on the war in Russia.In this brand new book, Carellsets his talents to discussing the operations of the 6th Army from the 1942 German summer offensive, through the fighting in the streets of Stalingrad, to the final defeat in January 1943. Paul Carell is also the author of Operation Barbarossa in Photographs-The War in Russia as Photographed by the Soldiers, available from Schiffer Military/Aviation History.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.; 1st English ed edition (February 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0887404693
• ISBN-13: 978-0887404696
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,133,498 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Comprehensive Review of Plan Blau, March 16, 2003

By 

john m price, md (monroe, la United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stalingrad: The Defeat of the German 6th Army (Hardcover)

As opposed to many of the reviewers of this book, I found it to be a wonderful read about the turning point in the war. To be honest, the book is quite slanted toward the German point of view, but I do not find this objectionable. The book was originally written in german, by a german, for a german audience. Also, because of this, the text seems a bit odd at times, but simply it is how it would translate to english. The title of the book is a bit of a misnomer, as what is really covered is Plan Blau, the German summer offensive in Russia in '42. What many readers complain about I find as its' greatest treasure - the description of early portions of the offensive around Voronezh, the description of the Crimean campaign including the breaking of the siege of Sevastopol and the reconquest of the Kerch peninsula by General Manstein and his forces, and the 17th Army's campaign in the Caucasus where they nearly reached the Caucasian oilfields -the real strategic objective of Plan Blau. The maps included are numerous and of high quality, but are in German. Many photos are included, several in color - many of these are from his previous picture book on Operation Barbarossa. The actual description of the battle of Stalingrad receives perhaps no more than a third of the length of the book, but seems fairly in proportion to the whole Plan Blau campaign. Moderately good detail of this phase of the campaign is described, especially the units involved, their commanders, and the major stages of the Stalingrad battle. Hitlers' unreasonable desire to possess Stalingrad, mainly for prestige value was the main reason for German defeat, with logistics running a close second. Keeping such a long salient with the flanks protected by Axis allies of questionable quality was a recipe for disaster, and Hitler was told this by number of his Generals. In the long run, germans feel that the 6th Army was sacrificed to buy time for the forces in the Caucasus to retreat and avoid an even greater and disastrous encirclement of german forces. This, at least in part, is probably true. However, had General v. Paulus ( the commander of 6th Army )had the cajones to go against Hitlers demand for holding at all cost, I believe a large portion of the 6th Army could have been saved by a breakout attempt in December of '42. General Hausser did this at Kharkov in 1943, and though Hitler was furious, Gen. Hausser was not even relieved of command! In conclusion, I would recommend this book to serious students of military history for its comprehensive coverage of Plan Blau despite its' decidedly proGerman slant.

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars An ode to the German soldier on the Eastern Front in 1942., April 2, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Stalingrad: The Defeat of the German 6th Army (Hardcover)

Written by a German who spent WWII in his country's foreign service, only about a third of the written portion of the book is actually about the core Battle of Stalingrad - the rest of the book is about the approach to Stalingrad beginning with the German spring offensive of 1942. There are a number of what seem to be first hand-accounts of battle, which sound like they were obtained from individual soldiers involved in the campaign; unfortunately, the author does not bother with such formalities as footnotes to document his sources, and so it is not possible to assess the truth or accuracy of any particular story. Almost a quarter of the total number of pages in the book are photographs from the German campaign. The writing style of the book is chaotic - the author switches suddenly and often from highly detailed accounts told in a novelized form (complete with perky conversation, mood of the characters, etc.) to fairly serious analyses of events based only on historical documents. Another annoying aspect of the book is the rather unapologetic and strident German nationalism evident in the book - the author showcases the most noteworthy accomplishments of the German soldier and avoids all mention of the more unsavory aspects. When it comes to the actual core Battle of Stalingrad, the details of individual German heroism fade out (perhaps there were not enough suvivors to actually recount these end stage battles?) and the most interesting accounts actually come from the Russian side, including details that appear to have come from General Chuikov's memoirs. As in Joachim Wieder's book, "Stalingrad: Memories and Reassessments", General Paulus is defended for his role in causing the German debacle at Stalingrad, although with less fervor (I still favor Alan Clark's characterization of Paulus, in "Barbarossa", as a classic General Staff bureaucrat, virtually incompetent as a field commander). In short, the book provides some interesting vignettes from the Battle of Stalingrad, but has many fatal flaws as a historical account.

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A very old book under a new title, March 5, 2000

By 

Fedorov Maxim (Moscow, Russia [e-mail]) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stalingrad: The Defeat of the German 6th Army (Hardcover)

This is an old book under a new title. The author took the section on Stalingrad from his old book, published in the sixties under the title "Hitler moves East", and added a couple of new paragraphs. I have both books, which are identical, and I consider this book an attempt to sell the old stuff under a new title.