199 DAYS

An illuminating overview of the murderously destructive clash that, arguably, paved the way for Germany's defeat in WW II. Drawing on archival material recently released by the former USSR and other sources, the ever-prolific Hoyt (Hirohito, p. 300, etc.) offers a wide-ranging, albeit tellingly detailed, rundown on a savage turning-point encounter. Hitler (whose initial thrust into the Soviet Union had stalled short of Moscow) appreciated the propaganda value of Stalingrad, an agricultural/industrial showcase strategically located in the bottleneck between the Don and Volga rivers. During the summer of 1942, he split his Eastern Front forces, dispatching some to the Caucasus oil fields; the rest were directed to take Stalingrad. Preceded by a shattering aerial/artillery bombardment, the Wehrmacht pushed the Red Army back inside the city limits. A state of siege was declared, and the invaders paid a ruinously high price for every inch of ground they gained in fierce street-fighting with armed factory workers as well as regular troops. Another cruel Russian winter arrived, and relief expeditions (belatedly approved by Hitler) failed. By year-end, the German 6th Army (whose ammunition and food supplies had long since been exhausted) was surrounded. Despite orders to the contrary, General von Paulus surrendered what was left of his starving, battle-weary command on January 31, 1943. Like many famous victories, Hoyt shows, the Stalingrad campaign was a costly encounter for both sides: The city was reduced to rubble, and as many as three million lives may have been lost. Hoyt provides a vivid reconstruction of the conflict, complete with big-picture perspectives on the secret war councils that precipitated events and anecdotal accounts of the ferocious small-unit actions that, collectively, determined the outcome. Military history of a very high caliber. (Maps, plus 32 pages of fresh photos from the erstwhile USSR—some seen.)