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Red Road From Stalingrad: Recollections of a Soviet Infantryman
Mansur Abdulin fought in the front ranks of the Soviet infantry against the German invaders at Stalingrad, Kursk and on the banks of the Dnieper. This is his extraordinary story.
His vivid inside view of a ruthless war on the Eastern Front gives a rare insight into the reality of the fighting and into the tactics and mentality of the Red Army's soldiers. In his own words, and with a remarkable clarity of recall, he describes what combat was like on the ground, face to face with a skilled, deadly and increasingly desperate enemy. The terrifying moments of action, the discomfort of existence at the front, the humorous moments, the absurdities and cruelties of army organization, and the sheer physical and psychological harshness of the campaign - all these aspects of a Soviet soldier's experience during the Great Patriotic War are brought dramatically to life in Mansur Abdulin's memoirs.
Of special interest is the insight he offers into ordinary operations and daily life in the lower ranks of the Soviet army. As he tells his story he reveals much about the thinking of the men, their attitude to the war and their loyalties. He also sheds light on the tense relationships between the disparate national groups that were thrown together to create a huge fighting force. But most memorable are his honest, horrifying descriptions of combat, of being bombed and shelled, of trench warfare, of enduring tank attacks and friendly fire, and of coping with the wounded and the dead.
The Author Mansur Gizzatulovich Abdulin was born a Tatar in Anzhero-Sudzhensk, near Tomsk in central Siberia, in 1923. He worked as a miner before volunteering to fight for the Red Army in June 1942. After completing his course at the Tashkent infantry school, he fought on the Stalingrad front, during the encirclement of the German 6th Army, participated in the bitter, decisive battle at Kursk and harried the Germans as they retreated across the Steppes to the banks of the Dnieper river where he was seriously wounded. After the war he returned to his work as a miner and he now lives in retirement at Novotroitsk near Orenburg in the Urals.
His vivid inside view of a ruthless war on the Eastern Front gives a rare insight into the reality of the fighting and into the tactics and mentality of the Red Army's soldiers. In his own words, and with a remarkable clarity of recall, he describes what combat was like on the ground, face to face with a skilled, deadly and increasingly desperate enemy. The terrifying moments of action, the discomfort of existence at the front, the humorous moments, the absurdities and cruelties of army organization, and the sheer physical and psychological harshness of the campaign - all these aspects of a Soviet soldier's experience during the Great Patriotic War are brought dramatically to life in Mansur Abdulin's memoirs.
Of special interest is the insight he offers into ordinary operations and daily life in the lower ranks of the Soviet army. As he tells his story he reveals much about the thinking of the men, their attitude to the war and their loyalties. He also sheds light on the tense relationships between the disparate national groups that were thrown together to create a huge fighting force. But most memorable are his honest, horrifying descriptions of combat, of being bombed and shelled, of trench warfare, of enduring tank attacks and friendly fire, and of coping with the wounded and the dead.
The Author Mansur Gizzatulovich Abdulin was born a Tatar in Anzhero-Sudzhensk, near Tomsk in central Siberia, in 1923. He worked as a miner before volunteering to fight for the Red Army in June 1942. After completing his course at the Tashkent infantry school, he fought on the Stalingrad front, during the encirclement of the German 6th Army, participated in the bitter, decisive battle at Kursk and harried the Germans as they retreated across the Steppes to the banks of the Dnieper river where he was seriously wounded. After the war he returned to his work as a miner and he now lives in retirement at Novotroitsk near Orenburg in the Urals.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published December 31, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
June 29, 2026
Very different for a Soviet memoir, perhaps because the Russian language edition was long since done and dusted and a historian interested in the story sought out Abdulin and asked him if he would work up an English language version when he was in his 80's, after Communism's demise and just at the outset of the Putin regime. It reads with some heart and soul and you can feel the fear come through at times, the very real sense he learned to live day to day in the war, always expecting to be killed or maimed, well aware the war was a long, long slog and his chances diminished the longer he went on.
Still, there is no regret over communism nor his belief in it, indeed he was a Party member, as his father had been. He had grown up in the immediate wake of the Russian Civil War and could recall the starvation in the country afterwards, as a child, the harsh life in Siberia, going to work in a mine at 8 years old, the joy of making his father happy and proud. This alone sets it apart from other Soviet/Russian memoirs.
He saw many horrors and improbable battlefield events, all the crazy oddities of infantry combat, the pettiness of immediate superiors, the terror of the idea of being accused of retreat or cowardice or possessing German items. There was a casual mention of helping, as he put it, to put an end to 200 Germans left behind in a field hospital, just one sentence, that in the West would be seen as a horrific war crime. He has no feeling about it, it's just one more event in his wartime experience. The assault that terrified him was what he called the Island of Death, a river crossing to an island in the river Dnieper that was all sand and artillery fire. The soldiers simply stuffed straw into their packs, sewed them tight to serve as an ersatz float and waded out into the river as if it were completely normal. Several days on this island of death, enduring nonstop German artillery and machine gun fire, affected him more than everything else he had endured.
This really stands apart for Soviet infantry memoirs of the war and I heartily recommend it.
Still, there is no regret over communism nor his belief in it, indeed he was a Party member, as his father had been. He had grown up in the immediate wake of the Russian Civil War and could recall the starvation in the country afterwards, as a child, the harsh life in Siberia, going to work in a mine at 8 years old, the joy of making his father happy and proud. This alone sets it apart from other Soviet/Russian memoirs.
He saw many horrors and improbable battlefield events, all the crazy oddities of infantry combat, the pettiness of immediate superiors, the terror of the idea of being accused of retreat or cowardice or possessing German items. There was a casual mention of helping, as he put it, to put an end to 200 Germans left behind in a field hospital, just one sentence, that in the West would be seen as a horrific war crime. He has no feeling about it, it's just one more event in his wartime experience. The assault that terrified him was what he called the Island of Death, a river crossing to an island in the river Dnieper that was all sand and artillery fire. The soldiers simply stuffed straw into their packs, sewed them tight to serve as an ersatz float and waded out into the river as if it were completely normal. Several days on this island of death, enduring nonstop German artillery and machine gun fire, affected him more than everything else he had endured.
This really stands apart for Soviet infantry memoirs of the war and I heartily recommend it.
April 30, 2021
Not as detailed in terms of factional going ons on the front, because it was written decades after the events, to my understanding, at constant nagging of authors comrades about "when will somebody write the book" about what they went through. Since nobody seemed up to it, Mansur took the heroic task upon himself like so many times before.
What's missing in geographical, timeline and other details, this book more than makes up in story about camaraderie, sacrifice, looking death in the eye pretty much every day, for years, and just being there. For instance, part about how they took pity on "little Fritz", all red haired and bespactacled (must have been -6, so thick the glasses were), lost in the whole charade because they forced him into that scorched earth nonsense from military music band. They spared his life and gave him some lard, and he returned the favor in buckets. Simply unforgettable.
What's missing in geographical, timeline and other details, this book more than makes up in story about camaraderie, sacrifice, looking death in the eye pretty much every day, for years, and just being there. For instance, part about how they took pity on "little Fritz", all red haired and bespactacled (must have been -6, so thick the glasses were), lost in the whole charade because they forced him into that scorched earth nonsense from military music band. They spared his life and gave him some lard, and he returned the favor in buckets. Simply unforgettable.
October 14, 2026
I quite enjoyed this. Not only is it a memoir of a man who was there but it is the memoir of a man who was voluntary and happily a member of the CPSU. Providing a invaluable look behind the curtain as it were into the reality of life at the front , life at the front while being a party member and also a recollection of life before and after the war for the average family in the Soviet Union.
March 17, 2021
Not so detailed as expected, but, still a good account of that time from a soviet perspective. Also, he has fought on the Stalingrad front, but there aren`t a lot of new pieces of information about that peculiar front.
July 29, 2011
Engrossing Personal Narrative from a Red Army Soldier ..., February 22, 2011
Considering the titanic struggle between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union generated some of the most tragic superlatives in human history (bloodiest battles, longest siege, greatest tank battle, etc.), it still doesn't get the attention it rightfully deserves in Western culture. While historians from Europe and North America thankfully produce a continuous flow of literature that analyze the myriad of components that comprise such an enormous and complex event, there seems to be a void when it comes to personal accounts of the conflict from the Red Army perspective. In my opinion, there are surprisingly few personal narratives from the Soviet point-of-view that captivate the desperation, death, hatred, brutality and enormous destruction that defined Eastern Front combat and "Red Road from Stalingrad" is one of those few. Mansur Abdulin's memoir as a junior officer in an elite Guards unit serves as a great example of the nightmare the average Red Army soldier must have experienced while serving on the front line amid the fury of Eastern Front combat.
One way to describe Mansur Abdulin is that he could likely be Soviet Union's version of GI Joe ... an ordinary man assigned to achieve an extraordinary task. Coming from the mines of Eastern Russia, Mansur was well-equipped mentally and physically to handle the strain of front-line duty in some of the most pivotal battles of World War II: Stalingrad and Kursk. Abdulin's account of his service, while gripping and vivid, is humbly written. His story provides rare insight as to what a surviving Red Army soldier experienced in fighting battles that are typically defined as bloodbaths.
There are several attributes to Abdulin's book that I found appealing. First, the book is engaging and easy to follow. Many first-hand accounts told by Soviet veterans, in my opinion, are not enjoyable to read because they are written in such a straight-forward manner and are void of any emotive quality. Running through a hail of bullets appears no more exciting that sitting in a foxhole smoking a cigarette; it was just something that happened and we're being told about it. Abdulin, on the other hand, articulates his experience quite well and makes it easy for the reader to empathize with his moments of fear, frustration, anger and elation. Rather than dutifully telling us where he was and what he did, we go there with him ... we see the mangled corpses and feel the concussion of an artillery barrage; we are blinded by the smoke and taste the powdery dry dirt and grass in our mouths. The descriptive quality of the author's writing is simply captivating. Second, his story comes across as sincere and modest. Mansur Abdulin tells us about what he sees and experiences but does not portray himself as heroic (regardless of the medals he was awarded). Third, his experiences are enthralling:
- Getting caught disobeying Stalin Order 227 (No retreat!) and not getting shot solely because the Captain he faced was Estonian.
- Several accounts of luck saving him from certain death ... including an informal gathering of Stalingrad survivors that was interrupted by a random artillery round ... killing everyone but Abdulin.
- The descriptive combat recollections of the Battle of Kursk from an infantryman's point-of-view.
- The numerous towns and villages he liberated during the Red Army advance. Seeing first-hand the brutal impact of the Nazis (who poisoned the wells and razed the buildings in their retreat).
- Possibly shooting down a German plane with small arms.
- Getting caught in a cross fire, playing dead and making a run for safety
"Red Road from Stalingrad" is the best first-hand account I've read from a Red Army soldier so far. As I continue my search to find more combat narratives from the Soviet perspective, Mansur Abdulin's book will serve as a benchmark.
Considering the titanic struggle between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union generated some of the most tragic superlatives in human history (bloodiest battles, longest siege, greatest tank battle, etc.), it still doesn't get the attention it rightfully deserves in Western culture. While historians from Europe and North America thankfully produce a continuous flow of literature that analyze the myriad of components that comprise such an enormous and complex event, there seems to be a void when it comes to personal accounts of the conflict from the Red Army perspective. In my opinion, there are surprisingly few personal narratives from the Soviet point-of-view that captivate the desperation, death, hatred, brutality and enormous destruction that defined Eastern Front combat and "Red Road from Stalingrad" is one of those few. Mansur Abdulin's memoir as a junior officer in an elite Guards unit serves as a great example of the nightmare the average Red Army soldier must have experienced while serving on the front line amid the fury of Eastern Front combat.
One way to describe Mansur Abdulin is that he could likely be Soviet Union's version of GI Joe ... an ordinary man assigned to achieve an extraordinary task. Coming from the mines of Eastern Russia, Mansur was well-equipped mentally and physically to handle the strain of front-line duty in some of the most pivotal battles of World War II: Stalingrad and Kursk. Abdulin's account of his service, while gripping and vivid, is humbly written. His story provides rare insight as to what a surviving Red Army soldier experienced in fighting battles that are typically defined as bloodbaths.
There are several attributes to Abdulin's book that I found appealing. First, the book is engaging and easy to follow. Many first-hand accounts told by Soviet veterans, in my opinion, are not enjoyable to read because they are written in such a straight-forward manner and are void of any emotive quality. Running through a hail of bullets appears no more exciting that sitting in a foxhole smoking a cigarette; it was just something that happened and we're being told about it. Abdulin, on the other hand, articulates his experience quite well and makes it easy for the reader to empathize with his moments of fear, frustration, anger and elation. Rather than dutifully telling us where he was and what he did, we go there with him ... we see the mangled corpses and feel the concussion of an artillery barrage; we are blinded by the smoke and taste the powdery dry dirt and grass in our mouths. The descriptive quality of the author's writing is simply captivating. Second, his story comes across as sincere and modest. Mansur Abdulin tells us about what he sees and experiences but does not portray himself as heroic (regardless of the medals he was awarded). Third, his experiences are enthralling:
- Getting caught disobeying Stalin Order 227 (No retreat!) and not getting shot solely because the Captain he faced was Estonian.
- Several accounts of luck saving him from certain death ... including an informal gathering of Stalingrad survivors that was interrupted by a random artillery round ... killing everyone but Abdulin.
- The descriptive combat recollections of the Battle of Kursk from an infantryman's point-of-view.
- The numerous towns and villages he liberated during the Red Army advance. Seeing first-hand the brutal impact of the Nazis (who poisoned the wells and razed the buildings in their retreat).
- Possibly shooting down a German plane with small arms.
- Getting caught in a cross fire, playing dead and making a run for safety
"Red Road from Stalingrad" is the best first-hand account I've read from a Red Army soldier so far. As I continue my search to find more combat narratives from the Soviet perspective, Mansur Abdulin's book will serve as a benchmark.
June 20, 2013
Since reading William Craig’s 1973 classic
Enemy at the Gates
I’ve always been fascinated with the Eastern Front due to the massive scope of carnage and attrition seen in this theater of World War II. The obscure war memoir
Red Road from Stalingrad
is a great supplement for anyone interested in the conflict known as the “Great Patriotic War” in Russia and the former Soviet Republics. First published in 2004 when the author was 81 years old, this title, while not what I would consider “literature,” is basically a collection of experiences and recollections put into story form in a simple and conjunctive manner. I enjoyed this one a lot despite the occasional typo or mistranslated English verb tense in the printed text. While war memoirs aren’t generally a definitive guide for military campaigns, they can be great in showing us the depravity and even the humanity of war. Regardless of which country and/or ideology the veteran-turned-author fought for, the published war memoir, in my opinion, is an excellent tool in educating current and future generations across the globe to learn from past mistakes and avoid repeating them.
What occurred in and around Stalingrad from August 1942 – February 1943 was to become the greatest and most destructive military conflict of all time resulting in 2,000,000 casualties. The USSR had over 500,000 men die there alone. (To put that into perspective, the United States lost approximately 400,000 in the entire war.) Mansur Abdulin, a 19-year-old multilingual Tartar, born and raised in Siberia, finds himself volunteering to serve in the Red Army despite having an exemption from service due to his occupation as a miner of ore. After leaving his home in the Southeastern region of the Ural Mountains near the Kazakhstan border, he completes Infantry School in Tashkent, Uzbekistan and is assigned to the Stalingrad front on the Volga River. He partakes in the Red Army’s maneuvers that lead to the complete encirclement and destruction of the German 6th Army within the city. Though he hailed from the Artic climate, the winter fighting conditions on the Russian Steppe took its toll even on him. The average lifespan of a Soviet infantryman at the front was two weeks. This guy defied the odds and served for over a year being present at Stalingrad and Kursk before being wounded near the Dnieper River in the Ukraine. What’s unique about this memoir is that it was written from behind the Iron Curtain during the 1980’s and few exist from the Soviet perspective. Unlike soldiers within other armies, Abdulin and his comrades were in fear of being shot by their own if they retreated even from the most hopeless of situations. The author escaped such death three times while the Reds pushed the enemy westward.
Anyone interested in the history of Germany, Russia, WWII or who simply wants to read a good story of survival will dig this book.
What occurred in and around Stalingrad from August 1942 – February 1943 was to become the greatest and most destructive military conflict of all time resulting in 2,000,000 casualties. The USSR had over 500,000 men die there alone. (To put that into perspective, the United States lost approximately 400,000 in the entire war.) Mansur Abdulin, a 19-year-old multilingual Tartar, born and raised in Siberia, finds himself volunteering to serve in the Red Army despite having an exemption from service due to his occupation as a miner of ore. After leaving his home in the Southeastern region of the Ural Mountains near the Kazakhstan border, he completes Infantry School in Tashkent, Uzbekistan and is assigned to the Stalingrad front on the Volga River. He partakes in the Red Army’s maneuvers that lead to the complete encirclement and destruction of the German 6th Army within the city. Though he hailed from the Artic climate, the winter fighting conditions on the Russian Steppe took its toll even on him. The average lifespan of a Soviet infantryman at the front was two weeks. This guy defied the odds and served for over a year being present at Stalingrad and Kursk before being wounded near the Dnieper River in the Ukraine. What’s unique about this memoir is that it was written from behind the Iron Curtain during the 1980’s and few exist from the Soviet perspective. Unlike soldiers within other armies, Abdulin and his comrades were in fear of being shot by their own if they retreated even from the most hopeless of situations. The author escaped such death three times while the Reds pushed the enemy westward.
Anyone interested in the history of Germany, Russia, WWII or who simply wants to read a good story of survival will dig this book.
March 19, 2022
6 stars. Reminded me of Zorba the Greek.
May 15, 2024
An immersive account of the author's time in the Soviet armed forces during WWII.
Format: Audiobook via Hoopla
Rating: 4 stars
Book 76 of 2024
Format: Audiobook via Hoopla
Rating: 4 stars
Book 76 of 2024
September 14, 2020
Exceptional. A great way to see how and why the Russian advance was determined and merciless toward the German resistance and lines. An epic read in line with Enemy at the Gates in terms of vividness. Highly recommended as it is not part of the main stream media for this theater of combat.
April 14, 2023
The military experience of the Red Army in the Second World War tells us of an enormous number of losses, quantifiable in millions of men. However, there is no doubt that the contribution of blood and the Soviet war effort gave the decisive push, it was fundamental in the defeat of Nazism in Europe.
We often have the idea of the Soviet army as depersonalized, but it must be said that in recent years a large number of memories have restored a face to many of the Soviet soldier's war experiences. In this case we find ourselves in front of a beautiful book of memoirs, those of Mansur Abdulin, a soldier, who, as the name reveals, came from the places located south of the Urals, from what today are peripheral regions of the great Russian state.
Miner by profession, his qualification in battle was that of mortar gunner, and his past, accustomed to the efforts of the mine made him ideal for carrying the heavy loads that were required of those who operated a mortar. A book on a German mortarist recently came out, published by Greenhill Books (reviewed here the first part: https://oldbarbedwire.blogspot.com/........ ) and the combined reading can provide excellent insights into war tactics and the many points in common between soldiers of the same specialty although of enemy armies.
Mansur's war, narrated in this beautiful book published by Pen & Sword, is quite short when compared to the entire course of a world war that lasted 6 years, but coincides, on the Russian side, with one of the most intense periods and with the most ferocious fighting. , that is, those who began with Operation Uranus, the encirclement of the German forces of the Sixth Army of Von Paulus pushed towards the fateful city of Stalingrad.
Abdulin's account of those weeks and months spent on the field in the encirclement action are full of drama, but also of moments of humor and distraction. It is interesting to learn how the new recruits were received with the constant search for elements from the same region who could replace the fallen soldiers and preserve the strength of the unit and its cohesion. Another characteristic of Abdulin is his faith in the Communist Party which brought him various duties and tasks such as "Komsorg" a sort of commissioner who coordinated and assisted the members of the Communist Youth Union (Komsomol). This reference is cited several times and it was certainly a situation of responsibility rather than an advantage.
Following the victory in Stalingrad Abdulin will participate in other battles such as Kursk, Kharkov and the crossing of the Dnieper, always distinguishing himself for his tenacity, strength and above all, by his own admission "lucky star". Without doubt the period of battles that led to the turning point in the war in the east.
We are facing one of the best, most exciting memoirs from the Soviet side. Abdulin is an exceptional narrator, with an excellent sense of humor, and despite being ideologically very committed, he does not reveal the heaviness of political opinions, with reflections that are always fresh, very human and unusually, for those who were under the bombs and in the inferno of the eastern front, very bright.
I can only recommend this book for its beauty and for the very human and tragic stories, for the humor, for the sacrifice shown by a generation of soldiers who found themselves facing an invasion and revived an army that only a few years earlier had met terrible defeats.
We often have the idea of the Soviet army as depersonalized, but it must be said that in recent years a large number of memories have restored a face to many of the Soviet soldier's war experiences. In this case we find ourselves in front of a beautiful book of memoirs, those of Mansur Abdulin, a soldier, who, as the name reveals, came from the places located south of the Urals, from what today are peripheral regions of the great Russian state.
Miner by profession, his qualification in battle was that of mortar gunner, and his past, accustomed to the efforts of the mine made him ideal for carrying the heavy loads that were required of those who operated a mortar. A book on a German mortarist recently came out, published by Greenhill Books (reviewed here the first part: https://oldbarbedwire.blogspot.com/........ ) and the combined reading can provide excellent insights into war tactics and the many points in common between soldiers of the same specialty although of enemy armies.
Mansur's war, narrated in this beautiful book published by Pen & Sword, is quite short when compared to the entire course of a world war that lasted 6 years, but coincides, on the Russian side, with one of the most intense periods and with the most ferocious fighting. , that is, those who began with Operation Uranus, the encirclement of the German forces of the Sixth Army of Von Paulus pushed towards the fateful city of Stalingrad.
Abdulin's account of those weeks and months spent on the field in the encirclement action are full of drama, but also of moments of humor and distraction. It is interesting to learn how the new recruits were received with the constant search for elements from the same region who could replace the fallen soldiers and preserve the strength of the unit and its cohesion. Another characteristic of Abdulin is his faith in the Communist Party which brought him various duties and tasks such as "Komsorg" a sort of commissioner who coordinated and assisted the members of the Communist Youth Union (Komsomol). This reference is cited several times and it was certainly a situation of responsibility rather than an advantage.
Following the victory in Stalingrad Abdulin will participate in other battles such as Kursk, Kharkov and the crossing of the Dnieper, always distinguishing himself for his tenacity, strength and above all, by his own admission "lucky star". Without doubt the period of battles that led to the turning point in the war in the east.
We are facing one of the best, most exciting memoirs from the Soviet side. Abdulin is an exceptional narrator, with an excellent sense of humor, and despite being ideologically very committed, he does not reveal the heaviness of political opinions, with reflections that are always fresh, very human and unusually, for those who were under the bombs and in the inferno of the eastern front, very bright.
I can only recommend this book for its beauty and for the very human and tragic stories, for the humor, for the sacrifice shown by a generation of soldiers who found themselves facing an invasion and revived an army that only a few years earlier had met terrible defeats.
October 30, 2023
I wanted a shorter read while I waited for some holds from the library and I saw “Red Road From Stalingrad'' by Mansur Abdulin (1991) which not only seemed to fit that bill but was something that I’d been searching for for quite a while with no success: a first-hand account of a Red Army soldier from WWII. Finding such accounts seems to be a big problem, as even the editor/translator writes in the foreword that he had to read German accounts of the war to learn about the Eastern Front as a child in the USSR. He attributes this to a combination of the sheer horror of The Great Patriotic War (27 million men, women, and children of the USSR died in WWII, about 15% of the total population) and the extreme repression of the Soviet government, especially in the realm of free expression.
Abdulin was the son of a miner in Siberia who signed up to fight the Germans after their 1941 invasion and was made a mortarman, crewing an 82mm mortar, starting in the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942. He would go on to fight in Kursk and then the Dnieper River crossings, where he was finally wounded badly enough to be sent home.
Details of many things are kind of sparse at times and I found myself wishing for a little more. Maybe this was due to the translation losing detail or maybe the author was just used to not going into too much detail after growing up in the USSR? Some of the author’s exploits also seemed a little over-the-top and he always seemed to be the one who did something remarkable, never something that he merely witnessed, performed by anyone else. This made me a little suspicious about the story’s veracity but some quick searching online revealed nothing suggesting that Abdulin is suspected of being a fraud, for what that’s worth.
There’s an appendix that details the weaponry that I Soviet unit ought to have been issued along with the number of men and officers. This was interesting to me in itself but there was also a description of how the Red Army made do when the equipment that they were supposed to have wasn’t available. If Mosin-Nagant or Tokarev rifles weren’t available, then PPSh SMGs were often substituted, resulting in something that we’ll likely never see again: military units that are mostly armed with SMGs. It’s also funny to think that most of the small arms and light weapons mentioned in this book are still being employed in Ukraine today, often not geographically far from the locales detailed in the book.
Overall, the book was a good and quick read. There’s not a lot of other accounts from Soviet troops that I’ve seen so it was good to get a new perspective on that war.
Abdulin was the son of a miner in Siberia who signed up to fight the Germans after their 1941 invasion and was made a mortarman, crewing an 82mm mortar, starting in the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942. He would go on to fight in Kursk and then the Dnieper River crossings, where he was finally wounded badly enough to be sent home.
Details of many things are kind of sparse at times and I found myself wishing for a little more. Maybe this was due to the translation losing detail or maybe the author was just used to not going into too much detail after growing up in the USSR? Some of the author’s exploits also seemed a little over-the-top and he always seemed to be the one who did something remarkable, never something that he merely witnessed, performed by anyone else. This made me a little suspicious about the story’s veracity but some quick searching online revealed nothing suggesting that Abdulin is suspected of being a fraud, for what that’s worth.
There’s an appendix that details the weaponry that I Soviet unit ought to have been issued along with the number of men and officers. This was interesting to me in itself but there was also a description of how the Red Army made do when the equipment that they were supposed to have wasn’t available. If Mosin-Nagant or Tokarev rifles weren’t available, then PPSh SMGs were often substituted, resulting in something that we’ll likely never see again: military units that are mostly armed with SMGs. It’s also funny to think that most of the small arms and light weapons mentioned in this book are still being employed in Ukraine today, often not geographically far from the locales detailed in the book.
Overall, the book was a good and quick read. There’s not a lot of other accounts from Soviet troops that I’ve seen so it was good to get a new perspective on that war.
April 17, 2021
An interesting account of what Russia calls The Great Patriotic War from the perspective of Machine Gunner Mandir Abdulin, a multi-lingual Muslim Tatar who volunteered for front line service despite being exempt from call-up as a miner. Abdulin survived the experience of Stalingrad, Kursk and the crossing of the Dneiper, from late 1942-43 when injury took him out of active service.
His book was published in the USSR in the 80s, based on his diaries. It's necessarily narrow in focus, detailing the daily experience of a young Red Army soldier. He joined the Communist Party as a serving soldier, becoming a political officer junior to a Commissar, and his memoir is very much from the perspective of a loyal Soviet citizen defending the Motherland from the invading Nazis. He refrains from judgement, and has little to say about the enemy he faced, though clearly had respect for their strength and tenacity in the face of heavy fire and retreat.
I've read other wartime memoirs from different sides of the Second World War, and this one is one of the better sort, engaging, informative, blunt as to the horrors of war. Abdulin considered himself lucky, and certainly he was to survive the carnage of the Eastern Front at its most intense period of combat. The Appendices confirm his chronology and accounts of engagements with the Germans.
He comes across as thoughtful, reflective, dedicated and friendly. I think he'd be good company for an evening over dinner and drinks. Though a good Soviet citizen he comes from a minority background and is therefore something of an outsider. He had a good long life as soldier, worker and family man, and lived until 2007. I wonder what he made of the collapse of the USSR and rise of Putin's Russia?
His book was published in the USSR in the 80s, based on his diaries. It's necessarily narrow in focus, detailing the daily experience of a young Red Army soldier. He joined the Communist Party as a serving soldier, becoming a political officer junior to a Commissar, and his memoir is very much from the perspective of a loyal Soviet citizen defending the Motherland from the invading Nazis. He refrains from judgement, and has little to say about the enemy he faced, though clearly had respect for their strength and tenacity in the face of heavy fire and retreat.
I've read other wartime memoirs from different sides of the Second World War, and this one is one of the better sort, engaging, informative, blunt as to the horrors of war. Abdulin considered himself lucky, and certainly he was to survive the carnage of the Eastern Front at its most intense period of combat. The Appendices confirm his chronology and accounts of engagements with the Germans.
He comes across as thoughtful, reflective, dedicated and friendly. I think he'd be good company for an evening over dinner and drinks. Though a good Soviet citizen he comes from a minority background and is therefore something of an outsider. He had a good long life as soldier, worker and family man, and lived until 2007. I wonder what he made of the collapse of the USSR and rise of Putin's Russia?
September 13, 2021
A very interesting read. I have read several books related to WW II, yet never one from the Soviet perspective and only limited material from a front-line soldier. Mansur Abdulin provided a very informative view of what the typical “in the trenches” soldier on the Eastern front endured during the war.
I found it interesting that Abdulin had a very fatalistic attitude before each battle in respect to his own life. It seemed he felt each time he entered a conflict it would be the day he died. This type of attitude seemed prevalent in the Soviet soldiers’ outlook on life. The author, by surviving for two years in battle, considered himself to be lucky; born under a lucky star. Yet, Mansur also felt a deep devotion to the “motherland” and worried how Russia would win the war without him fighting. It was a very interesting and unique look into the Soviet soldier psychological approach to WW II.
Abdulin details the horrific fighting endured in the Eastern front, yet provides this information without all of the blood, guts and gore you would expect. Don’t misunderstand this, it’s about war and more specifically frontline conflicts, so there is some description concerning death and the horrors of WW II. It’s just not packed full the expected “bloody details”. The author throughout reminds the reader of the hatred between Russia and Germany and about the Soviet soldiers attitude toward that hatred.
Overall a very interesting and informative read. A different perspective on the fighting in WW II. It’s a relatively short and easier read. It’s a translation from the author’s original Russian-written book and I found the editor’s notes throughout to be unnecessary and a little distracting, yet not enough to discredit the book.
I found it interesting that Abdulin had a very fatalistic attitude before each battle in respect to his own life. It seemed he felt each time he entered a conflict it would be the day he died. This type of attitude seemed prevalent in the Soviet soldiers’ outlook on life. The author, by surviving for two years in battle, considered himself to be lucky; born under a lucky star. Yet, Mansur also felt a deep devotion to the “motherland” and worried how Russia would win the war without him fighting. It was a very interesting and unique look into the Soviet soldier psychological approach to WW II.
Abdulin details the horrific fighting endured in the Eastern front, yet provides this information without all of the blood, guts and gore you would expect. Don’t misunderstand this, it’s about war and more specifically frontline conflicts, so there is some description concerning death and the horrors of WW II. It’s just not packed full the expected “bloody details”. The author throughout reminds the reader of the hatred between Russia and Germany and about the Soviet soldiers attitude toward that hatred.
Overall a very interesting and informative read. A different perspective on the fighting in WW II. It’s a relatively short and easier read. It’s a translation from the author’s original Russian-written book and I found the editor’s notes throughout to be unnecessary and a little distracting, yet not enough to discredit the book.
September 14, 2019
An interesting insight
Not having read a first hand account of the Red Army's campaign from Stalingrad to the Dniepr River this ibook provides an interesting insight to lives of the typical infantryman.
The account is written well and provides a first person commentary so often missing from accounts of the Great Patriotic War. What is also interesting is the window that is opened on civilian life in post-war rural Russia, a nation still struggling to emerge from the time of the Tsars.
One frustration with the book are the frequent and unnecessary clarifications presented as "editor's notes". This may be a personal opinion but surely not necessary.
All told, this is a worthwhile addition to the library of anyone with an interest in the period and it's campaigns.
Not having read a first hand account of the Red Army's campaign from Stalingrad to the Dniepr River this ibook provides an interesting insight to lives of the typical infantryman.
The account is written well and provides a first person commentary so often missing from accounts of the Great Patriotic War. What is also interesting is the window that is opened on civilian life in post-war rural Russia, a nation still struggling to emerge from the time of the Tsars.
One frustration with the book are the frequent and unnecessary clarifications presented as "editor's notes". This may be a personal opinion but surely not necessary.
All told, this is a worthwhile addition to the library of anyone with an interest in the period and it's campaigns.
December 16, 2025
5 stars for the narrative, not necessarily the historical content. If you are looking for a book with in-depth military movements and strategies from the Red Army perspective, this isn't it. If you are interesting in reading an engrossing war recollection this is one for your shelf. It is an odd read because you know Mansur does not die (or he couldn't have written the memoir) but every conflict/chapter you are on edge because how could he possible survive?!?
Full disclosure, I listened to the audio production of this book and I'm not taking that into account of my rating. The narration was pretty awful and would drop my rating down to 3 stars.
Full disclosure, I listened to the audio production of this book and I'm not taking that into account of my rating. The narration was pretty awful and would drop my rating down to 3 stars.
June 1, 2017
I've read many first-hand accounts of WW2 experiences and they vary wildly. This one is somewhat unusual in that the author served on the Soviet side, and also in that it's more an emotional account than documentary. Looking at the casualty rates it's amazing anyone survived for any length of time at all, and indeed had the author not been injured it's unlikely he would have lived to write his account.
This fast read is not deep or detailed enough to satisfy historians but it's worthy anyway for another look at an already well examined situation.
This fast read is not deep or detailed enough to satisfy historians but it's worthy anyway for another look at an already well examined situation.
July 29, 2020
A Russian soldiers experience of Stalingrad
An obviously genuine autobiography. Factually setting out the horror and his thoughts. The peripheral throw away comments are almost the most interesting such as about 3 sentence about shooting 200 wounded Germans they came across. A lot of awful horror also told in an interesting and low key way. Description of the surrender of Stalingrad and the wounded dying in the cold shows the absolute horror of it all. Very readable and enlightening.
An obviously genuine autobiography. Factually setting out the horror and his thoughts. The peripheral throw away comments are almost the most interesting such as about 3 sentence about shooting 200 wounded Germans they came across. A lot of awful horror also told in an interesting and low key way. Description of the surrender of Stalingrad and the wounded dying in the cold shows the absolute horror of it all. Very readable and enlightening.
September 16, 2018
An interesting account of one Soviet infantryman's experience of the war. The account describes around a year of the war right at the turning point. The author entered the front lines as the Soviets counter-attacked at Stalingrad, and served there, at Kursk, and throughout the effort to retake the Ukraine until a wound rendered him unfit for duty.
Well worth reading to get a soldier's view of the war in the East.
Well worth reading to get a soldier's view of the war in the East.
February 2, 2021
This was a good read. I liked how this was originally written during the Soviet era, so the attitudes of the author are made with the Soviet mindset. While it can be a bit depressing at times, given how much blood and gore there is in this story, I would recommend it to any history buff, especially as a companion text to something like Enemy at the Gates by William Craig. I give it a three out of five.
December 7, 2021
A great well written story that really draws you in and wakes you up to the horrors that went on in WWII. I could have done with less editors notes, especially the ones converting any measurements mentioned but I guess that's just me.
April 27, 2023
Good account of frontline combat by a Red Army veteran who improbably survived 12 months of frontline combat.
The appendices provide good perspective of the wider picture, including dispelling the myth of human wave tactics by the Red Army.
The appendices provide good perspective of the wider picture, including dispelling the myth of human wave tactics by the Red Army.
June 13, 2026
Volunteering to join the military with his friends, he was the only one to survive. The author does not shy away from the sad and graphic reality of what he experienced during his time on the front lines.
September 13, 2017
Awesome, awesome book. I've been trying to find bios from soldiers in the Russia/Germany side of the war and have had a difficult time. This book was exceptional, both in content and writing.
January 17, 2021
Wonderful book, written with so much passion and translated superbly.
April 12, 2021
Excellent reading the best book I have read on Stalingrad.
April 27, 2021
Excellent tactical descriptions
Makes me wonder 8f people these days could do what they did. Immense courage in battle under immense privation. Very much recommend it.
Makes me wonder 8f people these days could do what they did. Immense courage in battle under immense privation. Very much recommend it.
August 22, 2021
An excellent first hand account of the experiences of a red army soldier in the eastern front.
August 31, 2021
A unique and fascinating account of the WW2 personal experiences of a Soviet soldier.
November 26, 2022
This book was intense and a powerful insight into the Russian experience. Wow, just wow
August 19, 2023
DNF at 52% read. By then it just seemed like a very dry and very long list of what happened. Plus a bit propaganda-esque.
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