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The Onslaught: The German Drive to Stalingrad : Documented in 150 Unpublished Colour Photographs from the German Archive for Art and History
192 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 1985
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 9, 2021
I only got this because of the photos. This large book had 150 colorized and full-size quality photos following the German push to Stalingrad. The author Heinrich, Graf von Einsiedel opened with a narrative about the prelude to WW2, Operation Barbarossa, pushing through Eastern Europe, and the destructive wake caused by the onslaught of Stalingrad.
The photos capture the moment of the average German Wehrmacht soldier. They photos gave me a "frozen in time" sentiment: soldiers eating, attending Lutheran & Catholic religious services in a deployed setting, burial services for comrades killed in action, horse-drawn supply carts stuck in the rasputitsa muds, soldiers interacting with the locals (even some smiling faces of the local Ukrainian women), cooks, and moving Soviet POWs to the rear.
The second section of photos have of the Summer Offensive, 1942 show burning villages, forward observers zeroing-in on Soviet troop locations, destroyed panzers, German soldiers resting and eating, and life on the front.
The last section Stalingrad showed the total destruction of the city: fire and shells leaving only chimneys standing, leveled city blocks, the remaining citizens (mostly old women and children) foraging for supplies, and the overall utter destruction of the entire city.
The last section of photos is from Soviet reporters of Soviet troops fighting and maneuvering throughout the rubbled city and even the surrendered POW Field-Marshal Paulus in Soviet custody.
This is a highly recommended photo book of Stalingrad and the Eastern Front. If you can get your hands on it, do it. Thanks!
July 31, 2011
The photos are breathtaking not necessarily for their quality - many are washed out and most of the subject matter is routine day to day military stuff - but for their rarity. While the Germans seem to have been at least as far advanced in the use of colour photography as the Americans, there is still a paucity of colour photography in the public record. That is being addressed by the various nations who took large amounts of colour film in an official capacity, including the US, UK, Germany and Canada.
The book's captions are adequate to the task, and there are good historical sections, as well as an introduction by Max Hastings as well as commentary by an actual German war correspondent.
The strength of the book is in its ability to bring the participants of the subject campaign - the German invasion of Russia up to and including Stalingrad - to life. The use of a large format allows one to note small details of the photos, and relate to the subject matter on a personal level. Despite the lack of "action" shots, there is much to see in facial expressions, uniform details, and especially geography as the Russian steppe is shown in summer and winter, as well as the famous Russian mud (Rasputitsa) about which so much has been written.
An attempt to even the balance is awkwardly done, with a few black and white official Soviet photographs tacked on at the end of the book. An admirable attempt at deflecting possible criticism of the book as some sort of "pro-Nazi" tome, but given the nature of Signal magazine, it would be hard to expect much of a balanced coverage of the "other side". Unfortunately, the Soviet photos come off as second best and as an afterthought.
If one can suspend one's imagination when looking at long lines of Soviet PoWs (most of whom died in captivity due to mistreatment by the Germans, or died after return to the Soviet Union by the hand of the Stalin regime) and overlook the tragedy of the entire costly, brutal war in the east, the photographs will help bring a visceral understanding of the experiences of German soldiers there, and cast some light on how Soviet civilians lived at the time as well.
The book's captions are adequate to the task, and there are good historical sections, as well as an introduction by Max Hastings as well as commentary by an actual German war correspondent.
The strength of the book is in its ability to bring the participants of the subject campaign - the German invasion of Russia up to and including Stalingrad - to life. The use of a large format allows one to note small details of the photos, and relate to the subject matter on a personal level. Despite the lack of "action" shots, there is much to see in facial expressions, uniform details, and especially geography as the Russian steppe is shown in summer and winter, as well as the famous Russian mud (Rasputitsa) about which so much has been written.
An attempt to even the balance is awkwardly done, with a few black and white official Soviet photographs tacked on at the end of the book. An admirable attempt at deflecting possible criticism of the book as some sort of "pro-Nazi" tome, but given the nature of Signal magazine, it would be hard to expect much of a balanced coverage of the "other side". Unfortunately, the Soviet photos come off as second best and as an afterthought.
If one can suspend one's imagination when looking at long lines of Soviet PoWs (most of whom died in captivity due to mistreatment by the Germans, or died after return to the Soviet Union by the hand of the Stalin regime) and overlook the tragedy of the entire costly, brutal war in the east, the photographs will help bring a visceral understanding of the experiences of German soldiers there, and cast some light on how Soviet civilians lived at the time as well.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews