Armageddon in Stalingrad: September-November 1942, The Stalingrad Trilogy, Volume 2 (Modern War Studies) - Hardcover

Glantz, David M.; House, Jonathan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0700616640 ISBN 13: 9780700616640

Publisher: University Press of Kansas, 2009

Synopsis

The German offensive on Stalingrad was originally intended to secure the Wehrmacht's flanks, but it stalled dramatically in the face of Stalin's order: "Not a Step Back!" The Soviets' resulting tenacious defense of the city led to urban warfare for which the Germans were totally unprepared, depriving them of their accustomed maneuverability, overwhelming artillery fire, and air support—and setting the stage for debacle.

Armageddon in Stalingrad continues David Glantz and Jonathan House's bold new look at this most iconic military campaign of the Eastern Front and Hitler's first great strategic defeat. While the first volume in their trilogy described battles that took the German army to the gates of Stalingrad, this next one focuses on the inferno of combat that decimated the city itself.

Previous accounts of the battle are far less accurate, having relied on Soviet military memoirs plagued by error and cloaked in secrecy. Glantz and House have plumbed previously unexploited sources—including the archives of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD) and the records of the Soviet 62nd and German Sixth Armies—to provide unprecedented detail and fresh interpretations of this apocalyptic campaign. They allow the authors to reconstruct the fighting hour by hour, street by street, and even building by building and reveal how Soviet defenders established killing zones throughout the city and repeatedly ambushed German spearheads.

The authors set these accounts of action within the contexts of decisions made by Hitler and Stalin, their high commands, and generals on the ground and of the larger war on the Eastern Front. They show the Germans weaker than has been supposed, losing what had become a war of attrition that forced them to employ fewer and greener troops to make up for earlier losses and to conduct war on an ever-lengthening logistics line.

Written with the narrative force of a great war novel, this new volume supersedes all previous accounts and forms the centerpiece of the Stalingrad Trilogy, with the upcoming final volume focusing on the Red Army's counteroffensive.

About this title

About the Author

David M. Glantz and Jonathan M. House have collaborated previously on three books, including To the Gates of Stalingrad: Soviet-German Combat Operations, April-August 1942 (Stalingrad Trilogy, Volume 1), When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler, and The Battle of Kursk.

From the Back Cover

"Glantz and House are writing the definitive history of the Stalingrad campaign. Their trilogy, backed by meticulous scholarship and refreshingly fair minded, significantly alters long-accepted views of several important aspects of the campaign. . . . A monumental work that is unlikely to be surpassed as an account of the most important single campaign of the Second World War."--Evan Mawdsley, author of Thunder in the East: The Nazi-Soviet War, 1941-1945

"A magisterial study that draws on a wealth of previously inaccessible Red Army records and will be indispensable reading for all serious students of the battle."--Michael K. Jones, author of Stalingrad: How the Red Army Triumphed

Edition details

• Publisher: University Press of Kansas
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0700616640
• ISBN 13: 9780700616640
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 920