Antony Beevor graduated from Sandhurst in Great Britain and served 5 years in the British army, so he knows army life from the inside. His description of the enormous waste of human and military capital during the battle for Stalingrad is full of authoritative detail as well as poignant sketches of the human face of all-out war. The megalomania of Hitler and Stalin was astounding and contrasted by the bravery and resourcefulness of the troops on the ground and the civilians in the war zone. Millions of soldiers, airmen, peasants and city dwellers were killed or wounded. One of the most disgusting details is that many of Hitler's troops died of malnutrition or just plain hunger. The German army could not keep its own army fed! If hunger didn't kill them the weather did-the Germans were not prepared for the Russian winters. This book is depressing but well-written. Sometimes the reader is overwhelmed by the level of detail, including what seems like an endless list of military units' names, numbers and movements. There is, however, a good movement back and forth between narrative, quotations from the battle's participants, and vignettes of human wartime character-both good and bad-plus analysis of strategy and tactics. Several pages of compelling photographs are also included. "A fantastic and sobering story . . ." the book jacket proclaims-I agree.

Tags: military_history