The international million copy bestseller recounting the epic turning point of the WW2 In October 1942, an officer wrote `Stalingrad is no longer a town . . . Animals flee this hell, the hardest stones cannot bear it for long, only men endure`. The battle for Stalingrad became the focus of Hitler and Stalin`s determination and its citizens endured unimaginable hardship as a result. But the eventual victory of the Red Army, and the failure of Hitler`s Operation Barbarossa, was the first defeat of Hitler`s territorial ambitions in Europe, and the start of his decline. An extraordinary story of tactical genius, civilian bravery, obsession, carnage and the nature of war itself, Stalingrad will act as a testament to the vital role of the soviet war effort. `He reveals the full awfulness and human cost of the conflict with scholarly verve and deep sympathy` - Ben Macintyre `A superb re-telling. Beevor combines a soldier`s understanding of war`s realities with the narrative techniques of a novelist` - Orlando Figes, Sunday Telegraph `A brilliantly researched tour de force of military history` - Sarah Bradford, The Times