Red Road From Stalingrad [Paperback]

From the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk, to the banks of the Dnieper River, This Memoir presents the author's experiences and observations as a 19-year-old frontline infantryman in the Soviet Red Army. The hatred and violence that had erupted on the Eastern Front was generated largely by Hitler's declared intention of annihilating the Soviet Union. Aware of the odds against survival, Abdulin's main goal was to kill as many enemy soldiers as possible. This saga commences with his first shot on the Don Front in November, 1942.

As the Soviet infantry advanced toward Stalingrad, trained dogs carrying 18 lb explosive charges were sent out to destroy enemy tanks. In the heat of battle, a wounded comrade was seen to cut off his dangling leg. Another, with both arms blown off, yelled for a smoke. But Stalin's Order 227 - No Retreat - created a firm bond between the comrades who knew that the alternative was death. In the trenches, living conditions were deplorable. At minus 40 degrees, many soldiers suffocated from toxic fumes in the shell craters where they slept. Snow-covered manure pits were warmer and safer. Hunger, cold, constant lack of sleep, and continuous hard work took their toll. Worse by far were the infestations of lice, which were regarded as enemy No. 1; the Germans were enemy No. 2.

Having no food for 10 days turned the comrades into walking skeletons. They lived on boiled horse fodder that often gave them intense pain while defecating. For good luck, each comrade carried a mascot, and loss of the mascot was seen as an omen of death. Soldiers who stole watches from dead Germans seemed to get killed in battle. Cowards also seemed to perish. On the outskirts of Stalingrad, thousands of wounded Germans were frozen to death on an abandoned runway, and the corpses of Soviet prisoners were stacked in the fields. The German Army capitulation at Stalingrad brought only temporary relief to the comrades. Their louse-infested uniforms were replaced.

Cited by Stalin for exceptional bravery in combat, Abdulin's regiment was rewarded with promotion to the elite 'Guards' rank of the Soviet armed forces. They moved on to the Voronezh Front and the battle of Kursk. Starting at Pokhorovka in July, they were engaged constantly against elite Nazi Divisions. Soviet manpower losses were very heavy. The reinforcements were deeply shocked to see the countless burned out tanks and decomposing bodies on the battlefield. In numerous villages, the streets were like trenches turned into communal graves. When a distillery was captured in a village on the front, half a battalion got themselves dead drunk. As the drunken soldiers collapsed on the ground, they were incinerated by Nazi flame throwers. Abdulin expresses dismay and sorrow at this senseless loss of life.

The Germans completely scorched the earth as they retreated. Foodstuffs were destroyed; entire villages were razed to the ground. Everywhere, women, children, and old people lay massacred in the streets. The war devoured people mercilessly. Abdulin sobbed violently with anger and rage, and promised to avenge the massacred people at the first possible instant. The fighting became more desperate and more intense as the soldiers sacrificed themselves for the Motherland.

Reinforcements arrived every night, but the following day every unit was again undermanned. By November 1943, a bridgehead had been established across the Dnieper River in order to continue the Ukrainian offensive. It was there that Abdulin fired his last shot. He was seriously wounded, and evacuated to hospital. During his recovery, a close comrade regretted there wasn't a writer to describe what really happened. Abdulin's Memoir tells the story here. It is the priceless testimony of a simple soldier who faced death almost every day of his frontline existence, and who survived the pivotal battles of WWII on the Eastern Front. With 165 text pages, 5 sketch maps, 33 photographic illustrations, and 3 appendixes, this work is an excellent read - informative, compassionate, essentially personal, and highly recommended.

The author states his personal memories of fighting in World War 2 as a Soviet Infantryman, having first fired his weapon in combat on 6 November 1942, and last shot on 28 November 1943. Due to the need of raw materials, the author was exempt from conscription (draft) in being a skilled Siberian miner. He still volunteered and eventually was allowed to enter the Soviet Army at 18 years old and became a mortar man. After his critical wound, he eventually recovered and returned to the mines.

The book provides viewpoints from the first person perspective with some additional historical background added in to provide insight into the bigger picture of how he and his unit fit into the battle. His unit took part of the winter offensive that surrounded Stalingrad and later counterattacked north of Kursk in the summer offensive.

The book provides a unique insight into the Soviet military, how their battalion level supply system worked in providing food and ammunition to the front line companies. Also presented is how their awards were presented, "donations" to the state were collected and not sent in, replacements assigned to the platoons, and what life was as a front line soldier.

Other books such as Infantry Aces and Panzer Aces provide company level viewpoints from the German perspective. These books described the amazement on how the Soviets would attack in mass waves, wondering how the Soviets could repeatedly do so.

The author describes entering villages that were destroyed by the retreating Nazis, who executed the old and young indiscriminately. This evil senseless killing angered the Soviets into pushing harder and willing to sacrifice themselves to avenge the innocent civilians massacred.

Mansur also explains the Soviet view and the very high attrition rate and low life expectancy was for veterans selected to be leading the attack, like himself. A sobering point of his book was the loss of one of his comrades, injured in the leg and dropped off at a medical "loading point". After the battle ended, he returned to the loading point, only to find all 200 soldiers still there, left to die in the freezing cold, the limitations of the Soviet medical and transport system while closing the gap around Stalingrad.

The appendices provide excellent background information that explains his unit's evolution from a standard 293rd Rifle Division into the elite 66th Guards Rifle Division. Also provided are key dates in WW2 and background info on the areas the author fought in.

Yes, a historian will quibble about inaccuracies or slight exaggerations of numbers found in the book. But it is based on memory, not a research paper that references "official" documents. There will always be differences as exact numbers are often forgotten, but the brutal events are not. Official documents are often "sanitized" with true losses downplayed for propaganda reasons, in all countries. Example would be the US Army reporting only combat losses and not including injuries or illnesses as described in the US 29th Infantry Division's experiences in Beyond the Beachhead by Balkowski or the Soviet Army in Afghanistan in the 1980's.

Overall, the book is an excellent, quick, and easy read, less than 200 pages, including the index. There are some good photos from the Soviet perspective too. Always enjoyable to learn what the "other side's" experience was like.

This is a first hand account by a private in the Red Army fighting near Stalingrad, through Kursk and the Ukraine. Mansur is born in 1923, the son of a Communist Party Member who is a technician at a mine; later on Mansur works at the mine also. When the Nazis attack in June 1941, he and three friends who are all exempt from military service as miners, eventually manage to enlist. At school he is selected to stay on as a Lieutenant and instructor but he does not want that. Given an opportunity, he is sent to the front as a private where he is assigned to an 82MM Mortar section. Being a member of the Young Communist League, he is given the duty of keeping records of other party members in his company. His unit is sent to help circle the Germans at Stalingrad and he ends up fighting in the city. After that battle his unit ends up at Kursk. He becomes a Komsorg, basically the senior NCO of the Battalion, whose duty is to be the first man to lead the attack, a position that has a life expectancy of less than 2 weeks. Seriously wounded in November, 1943 he spends the rest of the war in hospital and recovery then ends up back at a mine.
This book reminded me of Guy Sajer's The Forgotten Soldier, or With the Old Breed. Mansur has written what he remembers and historians can quibble with some of it, but it is a pleasure to read because it is such a rarity for a Russian Private to have written about his experiences. I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars because of the lack of detailed maps showing where he fought. As a combat vet I was able to identify with his thoughts and experiences in battle. A worthy read in my opinion.