Bitter struggle
Endurance and sacrifice in the rubble of Stalingrad

Stalingrad: Memories and reassessments
By Joachim Wieder and Heinrich Von Einsiedel. Weidenfeld & Nicholson. 320pp. $19.95.

Reviewer :: Cpl Troy Hutchinson

Written in three parts, this classic memoir of the world war two struggle for Stalingrad by one of the few Germans who survived, Joachim Wieder, was written in 1962.

Part one, Wieder's tale, tells of the courage and endurance of the abandoned Sixth Army, encircled by the Soviets in blitzed, frozen Stalingrad.

Wieder, a German orderly officer in enemy intelligence - well placed to contrast Russian and German tactics - recounts his disbelief of the sacrifices made by Hitler's refusal to allow 250,000 German troops to retreat from the city.

He discusses the psychological impact on troops torn between loyalty and self-preservation in this riveting tale.

Part two discusses the critical assessments, 50 years on, making in-depth evaluations on the decisions of the key military figures involved.

The third part is set aside for the appendices of where information was researched and obtained.

Wieder's tale was the first German book on Stalingrad to be published in the Soviet Union and should sit in the reference library of any serious student of WW2.