Posted on 12/02/2016 2:42:03 AM PST by C19fan
Since July 2012, the world has watched in horror as the once-beautiful and vibrant Syrian city of Aleppo has been transformed into a perpetual battlefield. Those killed in Aleppo, as well as throughout the rest of Syria during the civil war, are reported to be approximately 300,000. During the U.S.-led war in Iraq from 2003–11, one study reported that 405,000 Iraqis were killed directly and indirectly as a result of the war, and from 2001–15, an additional 91,991 people were killed due to war in Afghanistan, for a three-country total, over a 15-year period, of 796,991. As staggering as the death toll in these wars have been, it pales in comparison to what remains the world’s most barbaric city fight, the Battle of Stalingrad, in which an incomprehensible 1.9 million German and Soviet soldiers and civilians are estimated to have been killed in six months.
(Excerpt) Read more at warisboring.com ...
Recommended viewing: “Enemy At the Gates”, with James Woods. Not for the squeamish, though.
Even a superficial study of World War II beggars the imagination with the extent and depth of the suffering endured.
On the approach to Stalingrad, General Hoth of the 4th Army recognized the opportunity to trap two Soviet armies on the outskirts of Stalingrad if von Paulus' 6th Army would swing a pincer south to meet Hoths' 4th Army pincer headed north.
Rather than recognize the opportunity and aggressively pursue it, Von Paulus dithered about long enough to permit the two Soviet armies to withdraw intact into Stalingrad.
And the rest is history.
Seen it although I believe you meant Ed Harris as Col Konig.
I remember Jude Law, Bob Hoskins, Ron Perlman and Ed Harris. I don’t remember James Woods in the movie.
A fantastic movie. But I’m pretty sure James Woods as not in it. Ed Harris played the German sniper.
Sorry, but “Enemy at the Gates” is only a middling movie that does NOT even come close to the full story about Stalingrad. In fact, its a cartoon-like simplification of that battle based on one small facet of it.
Instead, read the book “Enemy at the Gates”. Its pretty stunning. As much as I hate the Nazis, you can’t help but feel what the Germans in Stalingrad were going through as they were becoming ever more isolated and desperate. You know things are bad when you start bashing open the heads of your horses to eat their brains [yeah, that happened]. You know things are truly hopeless when soldiers don’t even bother to unload the few supply planes getting through.
Very few of the Germans who surrendered at Stalingrad ever made it home, but Paulus was treated quite well.
Ron Perlman (as Koulikov) had a British accent.....that was weird. Still good movie.
IIRC, only 5,000 of the 100,000 Axis troops were ever seen again (and that was years later). Italians and Eastern European allies were involved alongside German troops.
In hindsight, people mocked Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union but they forget that Hitler was a soldier 25 years earlier when Russia surrendered to Germany. If Japan hadn’t maintained their ceasefire with the USSR, the Soviets wouldn’t have been able to send their eastern troops westward to save Moscow (and the whole western half of the USSR) and it might have ended differently...
If you read the EATG book, Paulus could have easily broken out of the siege at Stalingrad early on, but Hitler ordered him to stay put. Against his better judgement, Paulus did so because he felt his family was at risk if he disobeyed.
If Hitler had left the war to his generals, Germany might have won. More importantly, though, if two world wars had not curbed the population of Europe, they wouldn’t be slowly turning into Eurabia.
I would also recommend reading “The Beginning of the Road” by Marshal of the Soviet Union Vasily Chuikov. Gives very good insight into His handling of the meager resources to fight the German army in the city. This the only written account of Zaytsev’s duel with Col Konig. Side Note, Marshal Chuikov is the only MSU not buried in the Kremlin wall. He lies near his soldiers at Mamayev Kurgan in Volgograd. The main weakness in the book is that it was released in 1963 and Chuikov had to give due deference to the Communist Party in the book.
This the only written account of Zaytsev’s duel with Col Konig
No wonder that the Russians drink.
“Even a superficial study of World War II beggars the imagination with the extent and depth of the suffering endured.”
I’ve watched several documentaries regarding the Final Solution where not only Jews where mass murdered, but the resistance folks, Russian soldiers and other classes of people.
What amazes me, is how the victims would just submit to being murdered. Just simply obeying the German command to enter a pit, stand there, and be shot. Or a mother ordered to hold up her baby in front of her, so when the baby is shot the round gets her too.
Or obeying the order to get into a pit filled with corpses, lay down on the pile, and just stay there until it’s your turn to be shot.
These people had absolutely nothing to lose by either running like hell, or trying to grab a gun and kill one of the Nazi’s before they met their own doom.
Every time I watch one of such documentaries I thank the Lord for the 2nd Amendment.
Good job Dan. If this is you posting—glad to see you’re at Freerepublic.
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.
More importantly, though, if two world wars had not curbed the population of Europe, they wouldn’t be slowly turning into Eurabia.
.............
that has more to do with birth control and the dechristianization of europe.
“More importantly, though, if two world wars had not curbed the population of Europe, they wouldn’t be slowly turning into Eurabia.”
There has to be ramifications of such losses, but the Muslims are being invited in. The Black Death killed about half or more of Europe’s population.
In fact, I think it was Charles de Gaulle who started it all, but there is not much available on that.
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