pageclot's Full Review: William Craig - Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for...
The battle for Stalingrad marked a dramatic turning point for Germany's fortunes during World War II. Not only did Russia inflict the first major defeat on the German army during this battle, trapping or killing upwards of 200,000 soldiers, but the Russian army's morale and confidence soared after determining that the German army was not invincible. The time was late 1942. The North African landings had not occurred yet, and the Canadian army was still licking its wounds after the disastrous Dieppe "reconnaissance in force". The German army had rolled over almost 1,000 miles of trackless wastes after beginning their campaign against Russia the previous year.
And then they were stopped.
The first section of the book picks up the action when Germany is at the approaches to Stalingrad, and fighting their way closer. The supply lines for the Wehrmacht were almost 1,000 lines long at this point, and winter was approaching. The need for a speedy resolution to this campaign was apparent to almost everyone. The main goals of the campaign were the oil producing Caucasus region. By conquering these wells, the German army could ensure that they'd have enough fuel to wage war. Fuel was important for many reasons. Training time for the Luftwaffe had been cut throughout the war due to lack of fuel, while allied fliers, trained through the British Commonwealth Air Training Command throughout Canada, actually raised the number of hours of training. More training produced better pilots, and better pilots gave nations air-supremacy. Access to oil also gave engines a fighting chance of remaining active during the winter. Many times, as German tank oil froze in the crankcase, Russian tank crews remained warm in tanks idled for weeks at a time.
Stalingrad, originally, was a side issue. The fact that the town was named after the Russian leader made it a battle of egos, made it tempting for Hitler to move his Sixth army against it. Especially so since the intelligence from the front was that Russia was not actively moving troops into place to defend it, and it was considered an easy target.
Some easy target. In going after Stalingrad, Hitler exposed his armies and lengthened his supply line, making reinforcement more difficult.
How important was this German defeat? The Allied army, once fully on the continent, used 1 million gallons of gasoline a day. The German army had overrun a petroleum installation that produced 2.5 million tons of oil annually. They were close to Grozni, which produced another 2.5 million tons annually, and reasonably close to Baku, where another 24 million tons were produced annually. Given that there's about 227 gallons per ton, any one of these installations should have been enough to supply the whole German army for a year. Without it, the Germans were forced to rely on synthetic fuel plants, which were constant objectives for the heavy bombers of Bomber Command.
Enemy at the Gates, by William Craig (1929-1997) recounts the battle for Stalingrad and the immediate aftereffects on the German and Russian armies. Craig spent five years researching this book, and it shows. Countless vignettes pepper the text, putting in human terms the enormous cost of this battle for both sides. Casualties for both sides approached 1 million soldiers. Each.
The Battle
I'll vastly oversimplify the battle for Stalingrad. The German Army pinned the Russian army down in an ever decreasing section of Stalingrad. The Russian army held the Germans there, while readying themselves for a pincer movement to trap the German Sixth army, by overrunning the Italian and Romanian armies on the German's flanks. The pincer was successful, and the Sixth Army was surrounded by elements of the Russian army. 250,000 German troops, or about 12 divisions, by Allied army standards, were bottled up, as the Russians closed in on them. Rescue attempts were made by other German divisions, but were fruitless. The German army was in real danger of having all their men that had made it to the Caucausas cut off, as the Russian army was moving to the Sea of Azov to cut off their retreat.
The German Sixth army simply disappeared, either evacuated via air transport under heavy artillery fire, or killed, or captured and marched East to containment camps. 100,000 German troops were made prisoners of war. Only 5,000 made it back to Germany after the war.
One of the interesting features of the Battle for Stalingrad is that each of the combatants had to fulfill both offensive and defensive roles during the battle. While the Germans were attacking, the Russians had to defend and delay the attack until the counter-attack was ready. Once the Germans were surrounded, they had to switch to a defensive role to occupy the surrounding divisions until the rest of the Germany army was safely out of the Caucasus.
What Craig Contributes
In a complex battle like this, with many divisions involved and hundreds of thousands of combatants, it would be easy to get confused. Craig avoids this by concentrating on a set number of stories and people. Battles don't happen by themselves; they're a result of planning and reacting to events. To portray this requires access to both sides of the battle, and judgement in sifting through often contradictory memories of the same event. Craig acknowledges that in Russia, the history of the battle of Stalingrad was often distorted to suit current political events. There may have been a tendency to downplay Stalin's role in directing the battle, especially after Stalin died in 1953. And several people have taken credit for accepting German General Paulus' surrender. In my opinion, Craig has done a superb job of making the complex reasonably simple to follow. Even without adequate maps showing positions at various times, I found it not so difficult to follow the battle.
Style
Craig's style is reminiscent of Cornelius Ryan's more than John Keegan or Stephen Ambrose, but Ryan has a raconteur's heart, and Craig has the heart of a technician. He recognizes the importance of these personal interest stories, as ways to illustrate the objectives of parts of the battle, but a bit of flair in the writing is missed. Craig is fair to both sides, and while noting atrocities committed by Germans and Russians, it does not appear to have affected his objectivity. He bears witness, but does not become part of the jury.
The major personalities involved on both sides are sketched confidently, and because of Craig's writing, I'm able to remember the names of at least 10 or 15 of them with ease, as well as some distinguishing character traits about them. The prologue and Epilogue are very well written and engaging, and more personal than the actual text. They allow Craig some time to show the lingering scars of the battle on not just the soldiers who survived, but also the families of those who were killed or are missing amidst the rubble of the shattered city of Stalingrad.
Comparisons to the movie
According to the cover of the book I bought, Enemy at the Gates was the inspiration for the movie of the same name. I haven't seen the movie, so what I say here is based only on what I've read about it.
The book is much better.
Subsequent to writing this review, I came upon a fascinating discussion about not only the differences between the book and the movie, but also taking issue with some of Craig's facts. The web URL is http://www.whatamigoingtoread.com/books/book_review23013.htm
On the whole, they're pretty kind to Craig. Much is made of the fact that Craig completed his book in 1972, and that authors writing works now about Stalingrad have access to much more information.
Overall
Recommended, if you're into World War II history. If you're looking for high literature, look elsewhere.
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