An analysis and re-creation of the turning point of World War II. In October 1942, a Panzer officer wrote Stalingrad is no longer a town...animals flee this hell; the hardest stones cannot bear it for long; only men endure. The battle became the focus of Hitler and Stalin's determination to win the gruesome, vicious war on the eastern front. The citizens of Stalingrad endured unimaginable hardship; the battle, with fierce hand to hand fighting in each room of each building, was brutally destructive to to both armies. But the eventual victory of the Red Army, and the failure of Hitler's Operation Barbarossa was the first defeat of the German leader's territoral ambitions in Europe, and the start of his decline. An extraordinary story of tactical genius, civilian bravery, obsession, carnage and the nature of war itself, Stalingrad should act as a testament to the vital role of the Soviet war effort.An analysis and re-creation of the turning point of World War II. In October 1942, a Panzer officer wrote Stalingrad is no longer a town...animals flee this hell; the hardest stones cannot bear it for long; only men endure. The battle became the focus of Hitler and Stalin's determination to win the gruesome, vicious war on the eastern front. The citizens of Stalingrad endured unimaginable hardship; the battle, with fierce hand to hand fighting in each room of each building, was brutally destructive to to both armies. But the eventual victory of the Red Army, and the failure of Hitler's Operation Barbarossa was the first defeat of the German leader's territoral ambitions in Europe, and the start of his decline. An extraordinary story of tactical genius, civilian bravery, obsession, carnage and the nature of war itself, Stalingrad should act as a testament to the vital role of the Soviet war effort. Winner of Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 1999 and Hawthornden Prize 1999 and Wolfson Literary Award for History 1999. Short-listed for Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 1999 and WH Smith Literary Prize 1999 and WH Smith Annual Literary Award 1999.