[ought-six]

I have read history pretty much my entire life (in fact, my degree is in History), and I’ve read scores of books and articles on Operation Barbarossa, and in particular the Battle of Stalingrad. Brutal is too weak a word for that carnage.

[MGunny]

All for the whims of one man.

[rbg81]

I have read history pretty much my entire life (in fact, my degree is in History), and I’ve read scores of books and articles on Operation Barbarossa, and in particular the Battle of Stalingrad. Brutal is too weak a word for that carnage.

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I read “Enemy at the Gates” many years ago. The book bears little relation to the (awful) movie, except for the fact that they are both about Stalingrad. Yeah, it was very bad. You know its bad when your troops bash open the heads of their horses to eat the brains (for the excellent protein).

[Rummyfan]

...and in particular the Battle of Stalingrad.

Stalingrad was Case Blue, and the initial objective was to take the Caucasus oil fields. The Battle of Stalingrad was stumbled into. And the Germans were at the end of a 1500 mile supply line. Hitler was warned they could be cut off and surrounded. He ignored those warnings. Paulus was only promoted Field Marshal near the end. Hitler expected him to kill himself. Instead he lived to a ripe old age in what became East Germanny (the DDR).