2/16/2023 0 Comments Reddit empire at warThe legend of plucky RAF airmen knocking down Jerry flyers before heading to the pub is at odds with the reality of the Battle Of Britain. The Wehrmacht’s post-Stalingrad retreat and slow disintegration, meanwhile, is best captured (and often in slow-mo) by Sam Peckinpah’s Cross Of Iron (1977). As a bonus, there’s no romantic subplot involving Jude Law. Needless to say, it’s not exactly jolly viewing – one T-34 assault is teeth-grindingly fierce – but it offers a realistic vision of the battle’s hand-to-hand, factory-by-factory clashes, and its traumatic impact on the combatants. There’s been a Hollywood version of the battle ( Enemy At The Gates) and a recent Russian one (in 3D!) but only the German take, Stalingrad (1993) ( above), is worth searching out. The German army went into the key battle – Stalingrad – with 300,000 men and 500 tanks, emerging six months later with about five men and a small van. Aside from a few summery days in 1941, it was Russia that was doing most of the winning – although amid the slaughter it was often pretty hard to tell. Military historians will tell you that the “Ostfront” was where World War II was won and lost, and no-one who wears tweed for a living makes this kind of stuff up.
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