What books do you fellows use to appreciate this battle?
thanks
DJ

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Good job DJ and Ranger.
Keep it up

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With all due respect, I'm not taking anything away from DJ & Ranger,
but let's not forget the other who contributed with reference & questions as well:
Cob - cdave - sgtsauer - stavka2000 - Folgore - Envar
WELL DONE BOY's !!!!!!!!!!!!!

- ralph

Ralph---kudos to all. What are you using for a reference to discuss this subject?
DJ

Ralph--that is impressive reading. As I said before, I nibble at the edges of the Russian Campaign. Following events and actions in the ETO is far more relevant to me. However, it is interesting to appreciate the positioning of Stalingrad along the Volga and see just how difficulty it was to battle over. We have a good group of contributors and I trust we can enlarge our audience.
thanks again,
DJ

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Ralph--that is impressive reading. As I said before, I nibble at the edges of the Russian Campaign. Following events and actions in the ETO is far more relevant to me. However, it is interesting to appreciate the positioning of Stalingrad along the Volga and see just how difficulty it was to battle over. We have a good group of contributors and I trust we can enlarge our audience.
thanks again,
DJ

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Hi DJ ............yes, I'm in total agreement. The Volga was quite an asset to the Russian's
.........as it was a liability to the German's.
Here's the rest of the book's.
Though I haven't read this 2nd list of book's from beginnining to end, I have
still sought good knowledge from what I have read.
- Stalingrad: The Infernal Cauldron ( by Stephen Walsh )
- Ostfront - Hitler's War on Russia 1941- 45 ( by Charles Winchester )
- Operation Barbarossa to Stalingrad and Berlin ( by John Erickson )
I would recommend any of these book's for anyone interested in the Eastern Front
and Stalingrad and other battles in Russia.
***************************************************************************************************
Just some advice for the member's of ArmoramA.
..............I buy all my books at Tollehaus Books. - Greg Tolle has the best prices I have yet to see on the internet. I wish I had known of his store about 4 years ago, because it
could of saved me a lot of money.
Just an example of his prices: ............for the book, Tiger's In Combat, Vol.1....it sell's everywhere else for $95.00...........I bought it from Tollehaus at their everyday low price
of $76.00. Greg, also take's the time to put the utmost care in packaging and shipping his customer's book's. I highly recommend Tollehaus Book's
:-[ HERE"S THE TOLLEHAUS BOOKS WEBSITE:
http://tollehausbooks.com/mcart/index.cgi?ID=RVUGE9

- ralph

Okay so let me get this straight you all say that the Volga River was the sticking point in this campaign. and if the River had been secured then the battle would of been won.

Okay so let me get this straight you all say that the Volga River was the sticking point in this campaign. and if the River had been secured then the battle would of been won.

The amphibious assualt was not as big an issue as it may appear. The Germans had already forced the Donets and Don Rivers, also very-wide rivers. The Russian Army was in some disaray. Stalin had figured on the Germans attacking towards Moscow and only the great, endless steppe and the German stop at the Volga and fixation on Stalingrad. allowed the Russians to redirect reserves and reinforcements, first to Stalingrad to hold a bridgehead and to occupy the German's best troops, but also allowed time to build the forces required for a counteroffensive. The Germans could have crossed the Volga north of Stalingrad on teh run, but they were fixed on capturing Stalingrad and, at the same time, teh oil fields of the Caucasus. If they had secured the entire west bank of the Volga (which they never did, the Russians maintained several bridgeheads on the west bank, from which they launched their attacks.), they could have then isolated the Caucasus for a future campaign.

The Germans made the mistake of targeting geographical politicla objectives for victory, intead of the destruction of the Russian army. In general war, you cannot achieve victory without destroying the enemies military, either by outright annilation and/or by breaking its political will. German political policies ensured that teh political will of the Russian Army would not break.

DJ,

I just read teh first line of the first post in this thread, and it just reminded me of a book I read about 20 years ago. Not was only Stalingrad in 1942 the "highwater mark" for the Germans, but 1942 was not a very good year for the AXIS!! Several examples:

Russia - Germans and numerous allies are surrounded at Stalingrad

North Africa - Germans and Italians defeated at El Alamein & Allies land on West coast of North Africa and Vichy French troops change sides (I won't touch that one )

North Atlantic - US enters convoy system, occupies Iceland and Greenland, U-boat losses start to rise

Pacific Ocean - Battle of Coral Sea stops Japanese Invasion of Port Moresby, Battle of Midway stops last major Japanese offensive and kills cream of Japanese naval pilots, and finally The Marines land on Guadalcanal, marking the beginning of allied offensive action in the Pacific.

From here on out if was just a matter of time.

What about the Africa Corp dioes anybody have the scoop on them at this time.

In May or June of 1942, Rommel inflicted what would be his most decisive victory against the British at Gazala and took Tobruk. This led to the drive to El Alamein, where he was finally halted in late August. Thus, when the Battle of Stalingrad began, victory in North Africa may have seemed immanent to the Germans. As DJ has listed, though, the Allies were able to counterattack and turn immanent victory into certain defeat.

Nic

I would have kep the Soviet Union neutral

MSW