Title: Red Road from Stalingrad
Authour: Mansur Abdulin
ISBN: 1 84415 145 X
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Stars: 4.5 (out of 5)
I had been looking at this book for a year or so and finally bought it. It is a memoir from the Soviet side of WWII on the Eastern Front. I had half expected it to be full of the political ramblings of how great the Soviet soldier was and that the Soviet Union won the war by themselves. Well, I was happily mistaken and definately not disappointed.
Book starts off with the authour in action around Stalingrad. Once you are into the book, only then does he go into his background.....briefly. 98% of the book is on his service in the Army.
This book tells of his very brief training and then deployment to Stalingrad. He talks of the encirclement, being cut off during a German counter-attack, and failed assaults.
The authour talks about losing his friends in battle, during rests, friendly fire (air attack), and mentions the fear about retreating even though an attack has failed. He held some small political positions within his unit and honestly talks about ordering the murder of German wounded or turning a blind eye when civilians were dishing out punishments to captured enemy soldiers. Also mentioned is the units elation when they were honoured with becoming a Guards Division.
After being severly wounded he talks about the recuperation process and how he went back to work in the mines.
The photos are mostly staged photos of the era though I have not seen them before. The maps at the beginning of the book make following the soldiers progress through his war easy.
It would of been a strong 5 if not for all the editor notes. IE: The soldiers walked almost 200km [over 124 miles-editor's note]. Some pages had a few of these.
Definately a memoir worth reading.
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