Document created: 18 March 02
Published Aerospace Power Journal - Spring 2002

Stopped at Stalingrad: The Luftwaffe and Hitler’s Defeat in the East, 1942–1943 by Joel S. A. Hayward. University Press of Kansas (http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu), 2501 West 15th Street, Lawrence, Kansas 66049, 1998, 398 pages, $19.95 (softcover), $39.95 (hardcover).

This campaign history is a well-written study of great victories and incredible defeats. It provides a detailed account of the Luftwaffe’s role in German battles against the Soviet Union from November 1941 to the surrender of the German Sixth Army near Stalingrad in January 1943.

To explain this campaign, Joel Hayward uses unit histories, the work of other historians, memoirs, and diaries of key German generals. The diary entries give the book a personal touch and show the generals’ emotional reactions to key events. The responses to impressive victories and heart-rending defeats show the personal effect of these events on the participants. The diary entries contrast the death, wounding, or surrender of hundreds of thousands of men.

During the battles, both sides lose many men, and countless Soviet civilians are affected by the war. Early in the book, the Germans capture 90,000, then 239,000, and then 170,000 prisoners in different battles. The Soviets fight with great bravery and fanaticism in Sevastopol and other places. Later, they surround and capture the entire German Sixth Army as the Germans grimly follow orders, holding out until smaller and smaller units are forced to surrender when they are no longer effective.

As Hayward relates these events, he shows his mastery of the subject, starting with incisive background information that explains Germany’s desire for Soviet oil. As the battles unfold, he aptly describes events at many different areas of the front without confusing the reader. Hayward writes of weapons, strategies, and leaders in a clear and understandable way.

One of the pivotal leaders, Generaloberst Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen of the Luftwaffe, becomes a key figure in the book. His leadership of Luftwaffe forces in the Soviet Union was especially effective when he could set up a Schwerpunkt (point of main effect) with coordinated army and air forces. By focusing on a single point with concentrated air and ground firepower, the Germans often broke through the Soviet lines on their way to victory.

Ultimately, many factors combine to defeat the previously victorious Germans, including bad weather, limited supplies, a long logistics train, poor decisions and tactics, and an overwhelmingly powerful Soviet counterattack. At Stalingrad, the German logistics train was stretched to the limit. German military units often found themselves short of fuel, munitions, and spare parts. Later, lacking food, they are ruined by an abysmal decision to try to supply the surrounded Sixth Army by air as the Soviets gain ground. The Germans have to fly increasingly further with fewer aircraft and landing fields to drop supplies.

Hayward’s history will appeal to many readers, especially those who want to learn more about the Soviet front. It is a fine introduction to the Eastern front because it focuses on some German successes and the key turning point, which occurred when the Soviets began to win battles. Hayward’s book made me want to learn more about the rest of the battles on that front.

The book includes many examples of good and bad leadership as well as different leadership styles. Richthofen is usually held up as an example of good leadership, while Hermann Göring is revealed as a poor decision maker and someone who refused to admit his terrible mistakes.

The struggles of these great military forces contain many lessons for modern warriors- especially airmen. The book’s examples of close coordination of air, ground, and sea forces illustrate the value of air doctrine and strategy and demonstrate the value of understanding and using the principles of war (objective, offensive, mass, maneuver, economy of force, unity of command, simplicity, security, and surprise).

History buffs, strategy lovers, and warriors learning about their profession will all enjoy Stopped at Stalingrad. It will also encourage Americans who are much more familiar with the combat history of their own forces to learn more about the Soviet experience in World War II.

Herman Reinhold
Yokota AB, Japan