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"'...62 men left out of 400' Realities from the German Stance"

Written By: Grady Harp

STALINGRAD , released in 1993, remains one of the most brutally honest depictions of war on film. A brief history of the facts behind this film have been well stated: 'The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in southwestern Russia. It took place between 17 July 1942 and 2 February 1943, and is often cited as the turning point of the war in Europe. The German offensive to take Stalingrad, the battle inside the city and the Soviet counter-offensive--which eventually trapped and destroyed the German 6th Army and other Axis forces around the city--was the first substantial German land defeat of the war. The battle involved more participants than any other on the Eastern Front, and was marked by its brutality and disregard for military and civilian casualties by both sides. It was amongst the bloodiest in the history of warfare, with the upper estimates of combined casualties coming to nearly two million.' The horror of this battle as written by J¼rgen B¼scher, Christoph Fromm, Johannes Heide, and director Joseph Vilsmaier manages to allow us to see the 'other side' of the German forces, those not committed to the Nazi hunger for world domination, but instead were simply men serving their required time in the army, hoping to return to their families.

The film opens with a prelude: German troops of the 6th Army are languishing in Italy after their successful mission in North Africa. They are soon assigned to attack a port in Russia - a place called Stalingrad - and off they go to what is perceived to be another quick victory. The unit is directed by Lt. Hans von Witzland (Thomas Kretschmann, in a role that should have won him every award possible, so fine is his performance): he is a man who appears more human than soldier and indeed when his troop arrives in Russian territory he is appalled by the treatment of Russian POWs by German officers, a response that places him in a negative light with the Nazis. But Witzland is assigned to take a Russian strong hold with the close help of his group of fellow soldiers (played with extraordinary humanity by Dominique Horwitz, Sebastian Rudolph, Oliver Broumis et al). For a moment in time they are successful heroes but their commitment to the war is rapidly and fully eroded by the slaughter around them and the orders from the heinous Nazi officers to treat the Russians with less than dignity. They are threatened with death by firing squad for their humanity in attempting to give aid to the Russians being constantly attacked and only released form their prisoner status when the war appears to be aimed toward loss. There are many very tender moments between the 6th army and the Russians trapped by the siege of Stalingrad and as the bitter winter sets in the battle-weary soldiers are dying, committing suicide or attempting to escape and find their way back home. The over two hour study of the cruelty of war ends with a solemn statement, both emotionally and visually and the Battle of Stalingrad, a victory of the Russians, shows the defeat of the minds (and lives) of the Germans.

The film is brave in its commitment to address the fact that the universal 'German image' of World War II is a negative one. This film focuses on individual ideals and the scarring that war, on both sides, leaves on the soldiers and people who survive it. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, June 10

"This was part of a two part order. Both arrived. A previous order for a longer Stalingrad DVD never arrived so I tried again."

Written By: Charles Webber

This was more economical of my viewing time than the one that never arrived and probably was better in that respect. The subject is impossible to review since the topic was the most painful fighting of WWII.

"modern attitudes but a good movie."

Written By: Michael P. Dobey

I liked this movie , although it like most modern war movies doesn't really reflect the attitudes of most people of the time. The soldiers fighting in stalingrad mostly believed in what they were doing , both sides fought to the death with neither army accepting any dissention. In fact even after they'd lost the axis soldiers mostly were sure they were right. It wasn't until many years later that they'd realized that they were fighting for a nightmarish regime and that they were often robotic in their worship of that regime. Hopefully people who watch this will watch real documentaries about the battle. The latest on secrets of the dead tv show proved that stalin told his men to hold and not to retreat in this area which cost the soviets many lives. The legend was that he retreated and lead Hitler into a trap which just isn't true. But this flick does show the brutality of war and hopelessness of the men trapped in stalingrad where only 5,000 men out of the whole 6th army would ever return home. So I would say it's a good war movie done without cgi. This movie follows a small group of men in the battle of course it can't do the real battles horrors justice. Not even the higher budget 'enemy at the gates' could do that! But fans of war movies should enjoy this one and they shouldn't mind the subtitles either. It's pretty fast moving and well made for it's budget. Although they don't really show you how fanatic most german soldiers were going into the battle and even how most of them fought to the last bullet.

"Excellent"

Written By: Stephen R. Stewart

Excellent service. The product was better than expected & delivery was fast. Will definately use again.

"Good But Not So Good"

Written By: A reader

This movie, portraying the battle for Stalingrad from the German point of view was fairly entertaining and, of course, cruelly graphic in many parts. As a student of history myself and fairly familiar with the fighting on the Eastern Front, I found many of the inaccuracies and downright distortions of what really happened somewhat disappointing.

Firstly, the movie seems to go out of its way to show the average German soldier to be generally insolent, defiant and cynical. In the opening scenes, at an awards presentation in Italy, several of the main characters arrive late(!) and then, as medals are being awarded, one of the soldiers, a sergeant named Rohleder, is blatantly disrespectful to his commanding officer forcing the senior officer presiding to revoke the sergeant's award. Surely, in reality, such behaviour, in front of an entire courtyard of soldiers and officers no less, would have been punished much more severely than that, possibly with a spell in the stockade or immediate demotion in rank.

Other examples of insolent and disrespectful behavior abound.

We see enlisted men laughing at their commanding officer while riding through Russia in a rail car. We see Sergeant Rohleder once again showing his insolence when he bets the Lieutenant in charge, a Lieutenant von Witzland, that he will survive the war while the Lieutenant will not - offering a mere case of water as 'payment' should he lose. Perhaps the most shockingly inaccurate scene is when Lieutenant von Witzland later sees a German security man beat a Russian prisoner to death. He tries to intervene but instead is punched in the face and knocked to the ground. As he lay in a puddle of muddy water, other German soldiers merely step around him while his own company continues to march off as though nothing has happened. In reality, this security man would have immediately been seized and arrested, more than likely by the Lieutenant's own men. Further, this security man would also have been severely punished, possibly even executed, not only for beating a Russian prisoner to death but for striking an officer in the process.

Later, during close combat in a ruined factory, von Witzland is shown, after a disturbing encounter with a wounded Russian soldier, heaving and crying hysterically in front of his men. With such behaviour guaranteed to shake the confidence of the troops under him, this Lieutenant would have been quickly relieved of duty for showing such a blatant lack of courage and fortitude in battle.

Other scenes that are worth mentioning for their downright bias if not inaccurate portrayal: a soldier shown shaking his head in disgust while fellow troops listen to Hitler giving a speech on the radio, von Witzland jumping up and abruptly shutting off the same broadcast, Russian troops scurrying about a courtyard attempting to 'pick up their wounded' during a lull in the fighting - something rare bordering on the preposterous for Soviet troops seldom showed such humanity to their wounded. In fact, if they were poking around amongst piles of dead and wounded it would only be to gather up weapons and ammunition - certainly not to administer first aid nor any sort of medical treatment nor comfort to the dying. And if that wasn't ridiculous enough, this same scene is followed by von Witzland arranging a truce so all could come out of hiding and assist their wounded together. Of course in actuality, the Russians may very well have agreed to a truce but only to lure the naive Lieutenant and his men out into the open so they could be quickly gunned down.

Such was the savagery of war on the Eastern Front which, it would seem, was too much even for the writers and producers to portray. But, then again, I suppose a movie about Soviet savagery and brutality in Stalingrad, or anywhere else on the Eastern Front for that matter, is just not a politically correct nor sexy enough subject for the big screen. As we are all conditioned to believe, the Germans make much better villains.

Notice especially the scene showing German soldiers in retreat, burning down Russian villages and driving the inhabitants out into the cold. It was, however, common knowledge that, in reality, doing so made little tactical sense, the smoke often alerting the Russians to the German intentions and very likely provoking an immediate counterattack. Since the burning of entire villages and execution of many of its inhabitants was often a mark of the Soviet secret police, the NKVD, which generally torched all dwellings to deprive Germans troops of warmth and shelter, it is rather strange but not entirely unexpected that the producers chose to deliberately ignore this. As well, civilians who dared to resist such attempts by the NKVD were almost always shot on the spot, while the rest were driven off into the surrounding woodlands with no food, water nor protection from the winter weather.

I could go on but I think what I have indicated is enough to illustrate that this movie is hardly an accurate portrayal of the actual battle of Stalingrad especially regarding the training and fortitude of the average German soldier. Rather, it is an attempt to show the German as brutal, pitiful, undisciplined, insolent and disloyal.

As any historian will no doubt admit, nothing could be further from the truth.