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Stopped at Stalingrad

The Luftwaffe and Hitler's Defeat in the East, 1942–1943

Joel S. A. Hayward

xiv, 398 pages, 35 photographs, 7 maps, 6 x 9
Modern War Studies
Paper ISBN 978-0-7006-1146-1, $19.95 (t)

Book Cover ImageBy the time Hitler declared war on the Soviet Union in 1941, he knew that his military machine was running out of fuel. In response, he launched Operation Blau, a campaign designed to protect Nazi oilfields in Rumania while securing new ones in the Caucasus. All that stood in the way was Stalingrad.

Most accounts of the Battle of Stalingrad have focused on the dismal fate of the German Army. Joel Hayward now chronicles Luftwaffe operations during that campaign, focusing on Hitler's use of the air force as a tactical rather than strategic weapon in close support of ground forces. He vividly details the Luftwaffe's key role as "flying artillery," showing that the army relied on Luftwaffe support to a far greater degree than has been previously revealed and that its successes in the East occurred largely because of the effectiveness of that support.

Hayward analyzes this major German offensive from the standpoint of cooperation between ground and air forces to attain mutually agreed upon objectives. He draws on diaries of both key commanders and regular airmen to recreate crucial battles and convey the drama of Hitler's frustrations and reckless leadership. Ultimately, Hayward shows, the poorly conceived strategies of Hitler, Goering, and others in Berlin doomed the efforts of air commander Wolfram von Richthofen, a courageous and resolute leader attempting to come to grips with an increasingly impossible situation.

Stopped at Stalingrad is a dynamic case study in combined arms warfare that fills in many of the gaps left by other studies of the eastern war. By reconsidering the campaign in the light of a wider body of documentary sources and analyzing many previously ignored events, Hayward provides military historians and general readers a much deeper and more complete understanding of the Battle of Stalingrad and its impact on World War II.

"Hayward makes a convincing case for the centrality of air power for German military operations in 1942."--Omer Bartov, Times Literary Supplement

"A major contribution to the history of the Russo-German War."--Dennis Showalter, author of Tannenberg: Clash of Empires

"This is a model of its kind, which ought to set an agenda for the reconstruction of the air narrative in this and other theatres in the greatest of air wars."--Richard Overy, War in History

"In Stopped at Stalingrad, an original and formidably researched study, Joel Hayward argues that the key, not only to a correct understanding of the disastrous outcome for Sixth Army at Stalingrad, but also to a more accurate appreciation of Operation Blau, the German summer campaign in 1942, requires close scrutiny of Luftwaffe operations, something hitherto lacking. . . . Stopped at Stalingrad is an absolutely indispensable work not only for its revelations about Stalingrad, but equally for a more complete understanding of the nature of Soviet-German operations in a critical year."--John Erickson, RUSI Journal

"A comprehensive view of one of the most important air campaigns of World War II and an insightful study of the Luftwaffe's leaders and its way of war. A 'must read' for anyone interested in the airpower history of World War II."--James S. Corum, author of The Luftwaffe: Creating the Operational Air War, 1918–1940

"An outstanding and long-overdue campaign history that puts a human face on the military decision-making process."--Richard Muller, author of The German Air War in Russia

"A major contribution to the history of the Russo-German War."--Dennis Showalter, author of Tannenberg: Clash of Empires

JOEL S. A. HAYWARD lectures in defense and strategic studies at Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand. He is a research associate of the U.S. Air Force Historical Research Agency.