Stalingrad: Memories and Re-Assessments

by Joachim Wieder

Stalingrad in the Second World War has become a by-word for misplaced military endeavour - and courage, endurance, heroism beyond all human belief. Joachim Wieder survived the German collapse, and the subsequent years in Soviet captivity, to write his memoir of the battle in 1962. It was no routine account; he found it necessary to re-examine what motives drove the Germans on in the face of hopeless odds, why orders were issued that could only lead to certain death, the lies promulgated by high command, the whole morass of unjustified and pointless conflict. This is an absorbing evaluation of war, revised in 1993 in the light of later information on the battle, and available now in English in Cassell Military Paperback for the first time. It was the first German book on Stalingrad to be published in the Soviet Union.

Genres: World War II

320 pages, Paperback

First published December 12, 1951

Reviews

[Stephen Hackney · Rating 4 out of 5]

A powerful memoir from a Wehrmacht officer serving as a staff officer with the LI Corps of the 6th Army at Stalingrad. He spent 10-years in the Soviet Gulag and was one of the few (approx. 5000) German soldiers of nearly 90,000 taken prisoner (out of an original force of over 250,000 men) to survive and return to Germany. The book is divided into three parts: the author's memoirs, an analysis of the leading commanders, and a review of the literature on Stalingrad. The author, towards the end of the hellish experience, is confronted with his own role and responsibility as representing an illegitimate power, a dictatorship every bit as evil as the Bolshevik regime under Stalin. The memoirs, the analyzes, are written in a very professional, yet personal level, with insight and excellent judgment. I would recommend this work for those interested in this subject.

[Simon Whitelaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very dry and dull read. I struggled to finish it. It rates as one of the least enjoyable of the many books I have read about this battle.