Save your money - this is a complete and utter waste of paper.
If this was a diary written at the time, I’d understand. But it’s not. It’s a ‘memoir’.
And how useful is a memoir?
Let’s put it this way - do you remember your last birthday?
What did you had for breakfast on that birthday?
Ok and apart from happy birthday, what did your friend say to you? And how about the year before that?
Do you remember what your mum said to you four Christmas’s
ago? Ok, what about two days before Christmas? Do you remember what you watched on TV on
the 27th of July 2008?
The reality is that human memory is bad at remembering - even on important dates. And
because of this, there is absolutely no way, that Colonel Adam - Sixth Army’s adjutant
- could possibly remember in-detail the events he’s describing. Because he’s not describing
events from a year ago. Or the year before that. He’s describing events from 20 years
prior. He wrote this in 1965 (the original German version). Stalingrad was in 1942. But
not only does he remember these events in great detail, he also remembers exactly what
was said!
“You know yourself that in most of our divisions the fighting strength of the regiments has
sunk. But that is not the only reason. The ability of the Red Army soldiers to hold on
has reached an extent in the last weeks that we had never expected. No soldier or officer
speaks today of Ivan in disparaging terms, which used to be quite normal. The Red Army
soldier is proving himself more from day to day as the master of close-quarter fighting,
in house-fighting and in camouflage. Our artillery and air force virtually plough the enemy out
of occupied ground before every attack, but as soon as our infantry leave cover they are
hit by destructive defensive fire. Should we be successful in taking a place, the Russians
immediately counterattack, throwing us back to the starting-point.”
That was art of Paulus’ monologue that goes on for over a page, starting at page 80.
And this isn’t the only monologue. The entire book is full of passages just like that. And I’m
sorry, there’s no way. There’s no way, that Paulus said these exact words. And I’ll
tell you why. The Germans were advancing. They only stopped advancing when the encirclement
began. This is someone making it up after the event. The Soviet soldiers weren’t just
suddenly learning how to fight, which is what’s implied. They stopped Sixth Army outside the
city at Kalach for over a week. Only the intervention of Fourth Panzer Army got the offensive going
again. That was before they entered the city of Stalingrad. That's barely mentioned in this book,
and it’s implied that it was a relatively-smooth ride. But that is not what happened.
This book is fiction. It is not reliable at all. And it’s the same with any memoir that
relies on memory - which is the definition of it. Manstein’s memoir, Guderian’s memoir…
From the point of view of academic history, thy're not reliable. Diaries are
better - still biased and what not - but at least you know that the memories are fresh. And
this isn’t based on a diary. Not Colonel Adam’s anyway because ...
Well apart from the fact that the monologues prove that it’s completely made up, on the
26th of November (just days after the encirclement) Paulus writes to Manstein on scraps of paper
because that’s all he’s got left. And he actually apologises for this.
“In the circumstances, I hope you will overlook the inadequacy of the paper and the fact that
this letter is in longhand.”
They’re running out of paper, but Colonel Adam was wasting hundreds of pages writing
monologues of what Paulus said? No. Somehow I don’t think so.
“That I had already ordered the withdrawal of the army behind the Don on the 21st November
you already know. [Then why are you saying it again?] Shortly after my flight into the
cauldron I summoned the commanding generals together in a meeting. In full agreement with
them, I repeated our conclusions on the 22nd November and several times in subsequent days
to the Army High Command. The orders for the breakout were to be issued early on the 24th
November. There was nothing else to do. But in a conference with Hitler, Göring said
that he was in a position to supply the 6th Army by air. Consequently the Führer decided
to turn down my request.”
No. Apart from the fact we’ve already proven that Göring didn’t persuade Hitler,
it’s quite clear that Colonel Adam is going along with what the other generals wrote after
the war. It’s wrong. And no... this book is rubbish.
Don't consider buying this book. I would not want anyone to get the wrong idea about
what happened at Stalingrad, and this book will lead you to the wrong conclusions. So,
unless you specifically want Colonel Adam’s post-war opinion on what he thinks happened,
and a load of fictional monologues, then well you have zero reason to buy this book. Save your
money, go buy something else.
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