Stalingrad has become a by-word for grim endurance and tenacity; for therefusal to give up, no matter the cost. In this book, Peter Antilltakes a dispassionate look at one of the most talked about battles inhistory. He asks why the Germans allowed themselves to be diverted fromtheir main objective, which was to capture the oil fields of theCaucasus, and concentrate such large resources on a secondary target. Hediscusses the merits of the commanders on both sides and also therelationship on the German side with Hitler as well as reviewing theways in which the command structures influenced the battle. Apart fromthe overall question of German objectives, this book also unpicks thedetail of unit directions, priorities and deployments, leading to avivid account of the day-by-day war of attrition that took place inStalingrad during World War II (1939-1945), between September 14, 1942and February 2, 1943. Stalingrad was more than a turning point, it wasthe anvil on which the back of German military ambitions in the eastwere broken and the echoes of its death knell were heard in Berlin andindeed the world over.