[rbg81]

This the only written account of Zaytsev’s duel with Col Konig

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I don’t mean to imply that the confrontation between these two snipers wasn’t interesting. It was. But it was a small footnote in a very massive & brutal battle. What rubbed me raw about the EATG movie is that the implication it left the viewer with is that the German defeat was directly attributable to the duel. Typical Hollywood hack job.

[rjsimmon]

I don’t mean to imply that the confrontation between these two snipers wasn’t interesting. It was.

The 'confrontation' never took place. The Russian sniper existed, but the Nazi sniper was propaganda. There were NO Nazi officer snipers and no such Colonel Koenig (the one written about was Major König who was entirely fictional). The Russians needed a folk hero to support the war effort and they found one in Vasily Grigoryevich Zaytsev that learned how to kill wolves from his Grandfather.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Some believe the famous sniper “duel” was a Soviet propaganda piece and did not really occur. Still makes a good story, but the movie did not tell the duel the way the soviet propaganda machine did.

[Bull Snipe]

Agree a small footnote at the very best. But it is one of the few thinks that people seem to recall about Stalingrad.
The incident as recorded by Chuikov may never have happened. Who in this country has heard of Sgt. Pavlov’s house. Or Rodimtsev and the 13th Guards rifle divison actions in Stalingrad. Very few, but anyone that saw EATG knows Zaytsev. Poor way to learn history IMO