Breakout at Stalingrad

The original version of the classic novel of the epic World War II battle, confiscated by the Russian secret services in 1949, and now rediscovered in the Russian archives.

The original version of the classic novel of the epic World War II battle, confiscated by the Russian secret services in 1949, and now rediscovered in the Russian archives.

'A remarkable find' Antony Beevor.
'A masterpiece' Mail on Sunday. Stalingrad, November 1942. Lieutenant Breuer dreams of returning home for Christmas. But he and his fellow German soldiers will spend winter in a frozen hell - as snow, ice and relentless Soviet assaults reduce the once-mighty Sixth Army to a diseased and starving rabble. Breakout at Stalingrad is a stark and terrifying portrait of the horrors of war, and a profoundly humane depiction of comradeship in adversity.

The book itself has an extraordinary story behind it. Its author fought at Stalingrad and was imprisoned by the Soviets. In captivity, he wrote a novel based on his experiences, which the Soviets confiscated before releasing him. Gerlach resorted to hypnosis to remember his narrative, and in 1957 it was published as The Forsaken Army. Fifty-five years later Carsten Gansel, an academic, came across the original manuscript of Gerlach's novel in a Moscow archive. This first translation into English of Breakout at Stalingrad includes the story of Gansel's sensational discovery.

Anyone who wants an idea of what Stalingrad was really like should read this book ... Gerlach records the lives and feelings of soldiers of all ranks' Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Autorentext
Heinrich Gerlach (19081991) served as a lieutenant in the 14th Panzer Division at Stalingrad. Wounded and then captured by the Soviets, he wrote Breakout at Stalingrad while being held in captivity in the USSR. He died in 1991.

Klappentext

Heinrich Gerlach was captured by the Soviets after the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943 and proceeded to write a novel about the experience, but the manuscript was quickly confiscated by the KGB. Gerlach was however able to recall large sections under hypnosis back in Germany in 1950, becoming 1957 hit "The Forsaken Army". This is the confiscated version, found in the Moscow archives in 2011, differing from the popular novel massively due to its criticism of German war crimes and hatred of the war as an enterprise.