The Lighthouse of Stalingrad: The Hidden Truth at the Centre of WWII's Greatest Battle

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For weeks it had been fought over with artillery, duels, aerial bombing, and brutal hand-to-hand combat. It is a poignant coda to the whole story of Stalingrad that, despite surviving the horrors of the fighting and more than a decade in Russian prison camps, Roske found civilian life too much to bear. The cold snap had struck the steppe countryside surrounding the city the week before, blanketing it in snow, with the numbing cold still holding Volgograd in its grip. The Kremlin had signed his public obituary celebrating his military and political deeds, with First Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, though himself too ill to attend the funeral, sending his key men from the Central Committee to pay homage alongside local Volgograd Party dignitaries.

The Lighthouse of Stalingrad: The Hidden Truth at the Centre

Within this life-and-death struggle for the heart of the city and situated on the frontline was a key strategic building, codenamed: 'The Lighthouse'. Troop losses on both sides numbered in the hundreds of thousands; official statistics tally 64,224 civilian deaths in the fighting, with most buildings reduced to rubble.To Russians, it is a pivotal landmark of their nation’s losses, with more than two million civilians and combatants either killed, wounded, or captured during the bitter fighting from September 1942 to February 1943. By contrast, Stalingrad was a more impressive triumph, making it “the ultimate touchstone for any Russian leader,” Mr. Stalingrad is seen as the pivotal battle of the Second World War, with over two million civilians and combatants either killed, wounded or captured during the bitter winter of September 1942.

The Lighthouse of Stalingrad: The Hidden Truth at the Heart The Lighthouse of Stalingrad: The Hidden Truth at the Heart

Every ruined house or apartment block, or demolished school or railway station, became a bunker – think of the recent scenes in Mariupol or Severodonetsk. A thrilling, vivid, and “compelling” ( Wall Street Journal) account of the epic siege during one of World War II’s most important battles, told by the brilliant British editor-turned-historian and author of Checkpoint Charlie. If you thought you knew all about the Battle of Stalingrad, Iain Macgregor’ s gripping account will put you right. In fact, it highlighted many of his initial mistakes, starting with his refusal to believe that Hitler was about to break the Nazi-Soviet Pact by invading the U. At his eightieth birthday, a full courtyard of veterans gathered under the windows of his apartment on Granovsky Street in Moscow.The head of the KGB, Yuri Andropov, gazed past Chuikov’s family and the honor guard around his coffin, toward the double-fronted glass doors. The legend of the “Lighthouse” was a deliberate act of propaganda that lasted long after the end of the war.

THE LIGHTHOUSE OF STALINGRAD | Kirkus Reviews

Elevated to high office in March 1969, Chuikov was sent by First Secretary Leonid Brezhnev to head a four-man delegation to represent the Kremlin at the funeral of fellow warrior and ex-President of the United States Dwight D. The foundation of their eventual victory was laid during the battle for the city of Stalingrad, resting on the banks of the river Volga. Following a pathway winding its way up the side of the Pantheon took the mourners into the Square of Sorrow.The atmosphere was now charged as they brought their old general to his final resting place and the ceremonial music filled the air. The courageous Soviet sergeant, Jakov Pavlov, whose 'storm group' took and held the building, became a propaganda star for Stalin's regime at a time when the Soviet (and overall Allied) war effort desperately needed one. If you believe there is nothing fresh to be written about the most decisive battle of the Second World War, Iain MacGregor’s The Lighthouse of Stalingrad will be something of a revelation. The Lighthouse of Stalingrad’ Review: Truth and Lies After the Battle The battle for Stalingrad was a critical victory for Soviet forces—but its ugly realities were obscured by the mythmaking that followed.