Osprey Publishing continues to expand its “Combat” Series, this time with a book on what is possibly the largest urban battle in military history: Stalingrad.

The book is organized as follows:

• Introduction
• The Opposing Sides
• The Tractor Factory (October 1942)
• The Barrikady Gun Factory (November 1942)
• The Komissarhaus (November 1942)
• Analysis
• Aftermath

The Introduction section covers the overall strategic situation at the time of the Battle of Stalingrad. The Opposing Sides chapter describes the equipment and general tactics of both the German Pioneer (Assault Troops) and the Soviet Rifleman (Infantry). These two types of soldiers had different training, tactics, and weapons.

The next three chapters cover details on 3 main combat areas of Stalingrad. These chapters include maps, timelines, historical description, and analysis, plus selected first-hand accounts of combat, both by German and Soviet troops.

Of note is the artwork, including a “split-screen” drawing which shows the same combat, but from the Soviet and German sides.

This book clearly and concisely describes the combat, dilemmas, and situations faced by Soviet and German troops during the struggle for Stalingrad. The first-hand accounts are succinct and used to emphasize the hardship and brutality of combat in Stalingrad.

Perhaps the only detail to consider is that all the combat situations studied in this book correspond to the period previous to the surrounding of the 6^th Army. As such it describes the tactical situation when the Soviets were on the defensive and the Germans on the offensive (which was the opposite after the trap was sprung on the German Army).

Highly recommended to history aficionados.

I would like to thank Osprey Publishing and IPMS/USA for the review sample