For the most part this is a very crisp military account of a horrible battle. I found the commuist rhetoric offensive, but it was probably thrust upon the author-General. I was looking for less military info and more accounts of the human aspect, and information on what was happening in the War in broader terms and politics, economics, etc. I'm interested in the subject, because my brother fought in this battle, but was never able to talk about it.

You have Erickson for the Russian view of the operation, and Ziekme/Bauer for the German side. Craig gives you the personal accounts from both sides, but the story is incomplete until you read the memoirs of the commanding generals. Unfortunately, we will never have Paulus' view of the events, but we do have Chuikov's. In this book, you will find the type of information that is unavailable from any other source. Chuikov is perhaps the only Soviet memoir to fully stand the test of western scrutiny and to gain respect of western historians.

Chuikov was the general on the scene at Stalingrad. His writing is not the most elegant, but it works; it's an informative book, and is so heavily Communist in tone it made me chuckle at times. I read this when I was 16, and have been interested in Stalingrad ever since. The stories he tells of specific companies and units performing individual acts of heroism and bravery are some of the best and riveting I've read. Again, the writing may not be pretty, but it conveys the story and the battle of Stalingrad quite well.