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Book Cover for: The Lighthouse of Stalingrad: The Hidden Truth at the Heart of the Greatest Battle of World War II, Iain MacGregor

The Lighthouse of Stalingrad: The Hidden Truth at the Heart of the Greatest Battle of World War II

Iain MacGregor

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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.

To the Soviet Union, the sacrifices that enabled the country to defeat Nazi Germany in World War II were sacrosanct. The foundation of the Soviets' hard-won victory was laid during the battle for the city of Stalingrad, resting on the banks of the Volga River. 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. Both sides endured terrible conditions in brutal, relentless house-to-house fighting.

Within this life-and-death struggle, Soviet war correspondents lauded the fight for a key strategic building in the heart of the city, "Pavlov's House," which was situated on the frontline and codenamed "The Lighthouse." The legend grew of a small garrison of Russian soldiers from the 13th Guards Rifle Division holding out against the Germans of the Sixth Army, which had battled its way to the very center of Stalingrad. A report about the battle in a local Red Army newspaper would soon grow and be repeated on Moscow radio and in countless national newspapers. By the end of the war, the legend would gather further momentum and inspire Russians to rebuild their destroyed towns and cities.

This story has become a pillar of the Stalingrad legend and one that can now be told accurately. Written with "impressive skill and relish" (Sunday Times), The Lighthouse of Stalingrad sheds new light on this iconic battle through the prism of the two units who fought for the very heart of the city itself. Iain MacGregor traveled to both German and Russian archives to unearth previously unpublished testimonies by soldiers on both sides of the conflict. His "utterly riveting" (Alex Kershaw) narrative lays to rest the questions as to the identity of the real heroes of this epic battle for one of the city's most famous buildings and provides authoritative answers as to how the battle finally ended and influenced the conclusion of the siege of Stalingrad.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Scribner Book Company
  • Publish Date: Dec 5th, 2023
  • Pages: 384
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.40in - 5.40in - 1.30in - 0.74lb
  • EAN: 9781982163594
  • Categories: Wars & Conflicts - World War II - GeneralEurope - GermanyRussia - General

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About the Author

MacGregor, Iain: - Iain MacGregor is the author of the acclaimed history of Cold War Berlin: Checkpoint Charlie and the award-winning The Lighthouse of Stalingrad: The Hidden Truth Behind WWII's Greatest Battle. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, has spoken at many literary festivals and conferences in the UK and abroad, appeared on podcasts such as The Rest Is History and on television documentaries. His writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Spectator, BBC History Magazine, and The Guardian. He lives in London.

More books by Iain MacGregor

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Book Cover for: Checkpoint Charlie: The Cold War, the Berlin Wall, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth, Iain MacGregor
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Critics’ reviews

Praise for this book

"Carefully researched . . . This valuable addition to the body of work about Stalingrad goes a long way toward righting the balance between myth and reality. . . . compelling." --Wall Street Journal

"MacGregor retells [this story] with impressive skill and relish . . . closely researched and enormously engaging." --Sunday Times

"Splendid. . . . MacGregor writes with great fluency and narrative drive, and his account of the context to the battle and the complexity of its fraught swings of fortune and misfortune is compellingly terse." --New Statesman

"MacGregor's wonderful book shines important new light on the most horrific, and arguably the most important, battle of the 20th century. It is a story of 'backs to the wall' defence of the Motherland that modern Russians, with the boot now on the other foot, would do well to study." --Telegraph

"Brisk and dramatic . . . meticulous yet action-packed, this will thrill WWII buffs." --Publishers Weekly

"Compelling . . . MacGregor effectively uses primary sources, including the archived personal stories of Soviet veterans and the unpublished memoir of German officer Friedrich Roske, who comes fully alive in these pages." --Kirkus Reviews

"The finest of military history, utterly riveting, based on revelatory and superb research, and a heart-rending account of arguably the most impactful battle to defeat Nazism in WWII. A wonderful and important and timely book." --Alexander Kershaw, New York Times bestselling author of The Bedford Boys

"A superb evocation: MacGregor strips away the layers of myth--using a powerful array of sources--and takes us to the brutal heart of this pivotal battle." --Michael K. Jones, author of Stalingrad: How the Red Army Triumphed