Destination Stalingrad

About the Book

Destination Stalingrad is a war novel that is entirely concerned with non-English speaking people. Due primarily to this fact, detailed literary coverage in English is rather limited and for certain significant events, nonexistent. From the middle of the last century these events still loom menacingly and will not be ignored. The largest armies ever assembled on earth were involved in an unparalleled level of ferocity. As we now are well aware, it was total war!

This story deals with the most dramatic five months of that epic four-year struggle. This was the period from mid-July through mid-December in the fateful year of 1942, which was known by the Nazi invaders as "Case Blau" (Code Blue). The result of this directive was a climatic battle at the river Volga in the industrial city named by and for Joseph Stalin.

I probe some of the decisions made by Adolf Hitler while at his headquarters in Vinnitsa, Ukraine. Specifically, the plot analyzes the actions of a young German battalion commander who halted his successful assault while directly above the underground command post of the defending Russian General, Vassili Ivanovich Chuikov.

No military historian has been able to identify the German officer that led the assault team at the Russian general's headquarters located behind the huge Red October Factory on the western slopes of the Volga River. General Chuikov has written that just such an event did take place in his The Battle for Stalingrad. With literary license I now identify the German officer as Major Walter Brennan, commander of the 2nd Infantry Battalion, 191st Infantry Regiment, 71st Infantry Division. His story is told to us primarily through his surviving battalion sergeant major, Detrich Krieger, along with the liberal use of third person omniscient narrative.

Shortly after his arrival in Poltava, Ukraine, in July 1942, Walter met and became enchanted by a beautiful Eurasian woman named Sonya Morozov who was living with her grandfather in Poltava. Raised in the Siberian city of Irkutsk near magnificent Lake Baikal, Sonya had come to the Ukraine to further her education at the University of Poltava. She stayed with her grandfather too long ad became trapped under the German occupation. Although she was only 21 the Russian beauty was mature, intelligent and quite sophisticated. She surprisingly accepted the advances of the young German officer and their romance, intensified by the demands of war, became a consuming preoccupation that led to dramatic developments.

Sonya followed her officer across the Lugansk Steppe to the city of Millerovo where they parted in a poignant and passionate farewell. Walter then moved east across the arid Don Steppe with his infantry company. Sonya was led to the southeast through the deserted agricultural plains between the two giant German army groups. The plan for her escape had been carefully worked out between Walter and one of his battalion clerks. Sonya was later reportedly assaulted and murdered by four black uniformed SS soldiers of Einsatzgruppe D who were investigating a report of desertion concerning her traveling companion. She actually has escaped through the Nazi occupied area with considerable help from her companion Wehrmacht Sergeant Heinrich Stemple. Although Stemple was twice her age, a powerful love interest inevitably developed during their harrowing survival trek across Southwestern Russia. Stemple accompanied the beautiful woman all the way to Irkutsk. He had previously planned to desert the morally disgraced German Army.

Sergeant Stemple had a wife and two daughters back in Germany and the amorous relationship between the two fugitives became predictably complicated.

Walter, who was by the time promoted to major and given command of Second Battalion, heard the false account of the atrocity concerning her Sonya and Heinrich Stemple. By then he had endured weeks of heavy fighting on the eastern steppe and in the rubble-strewn streets of Stalingrad. He understandably had developed a deep cynicism concerning his mission. Believing that the SS had murdered Sonya, he reacted with a vitriolic fury aimed at all things Nazi. Ironically, just prior to this he had been awarded the coveted Knights Cross for heroism at the Pensenskaya Street Barricade located in the heart of Stalingrad. In a depressed state of mind he was ordered to lead an assault team against the suspected location of the Russian commander of Stalingrad, General Vassili Ivanovich Chuikov's Headquarters. At that climatic moment, with success imminent, he withdrew his troops from directly above Chuikov's bunker complex.

The affect of this decision proved catastrophic for the Germans and a salvation for the Soviet Union. This scenario or something very close to it DID happen and it may have been one of the more propitious moments in modern history. This spark, a humanistic response by one lone officer in the hell of Stalingrad, may have indirectly affected us all. Had Chuikov been killed or captured at that moment, a different and more sinister outcome to Russia's Great Patriotic War would have been quite probable. The Nazi's "final solution" may have continued even further towards their grisly, moronic goal. The reasons for this are examined in this story.

At the end of this story the protagonist, the totally disillusioned Walter Brenner, was dramatically killed near the summit of "Mamiyev Kurgan," the central hill and focal point of the battle of Stalingrad. Sonya and Sergeant Stemple's situations are eventually resolved.

Being a work of fiction, I am able to take the reader away from the grim and depressing scenes in the city of Stalingrad. Sonya Morozov and Heinrich Stemple travel throughout Southwestern Russia, across the open steppe, then up the Don River on an old tugboat. Following these adventures, they cross into central Siberia abroad the Trans Siberian Railroad. They view the splendor of Lake Baikal near the city of Irkutsk. This allows me to build imagery with a wider scenic choice than would be possible if it was strictly a historic account of war. The love triangle between Walter Brenner, Sonya Morozov and Heinrich Stemple is a structural and necessary part of the novel. I explore the Russian family of Yuri and Natasha Zachidov and their son Nickolai, which allows a powerful Russian perspective.

Naturally, this story is highly critical of the Nazi's and is illustrative of some of their reprehensible tactics and atrocities. On the other hand, many German soldiers, especially senior officers, were also extremely critical of the Nazi Party. Why did they put up with the insanity? Some didn't and were purged; it's all here.

All accounts of political leaders and general officers in this story are factually represented as are the disposition of al military units from regimental level up. Below that level, I assume some literary freedom for the needs of the story line and maneuver. Other than proper names and some recognizable phrases, German and Russian words are used sparingly and then only for emphasis where they will be understood through context. This IS what really happened out there...

About the Author

Born in 1930, then raised and educated in Connecticut, the author developed a great interest in the Second World War. History's largest war opened when he was nine, and closed following his fifteenth birthday. These were impressionable years for the young student of military history. The sheer drama of that event was captivating, and he eventually completed a career in the military.

P.F. Round received a high school diploma from St. Luke's School in New Canaan, Connecticut in 1948. This was a small but prestigious prep school, and any skill that he now exhibits in his writing, he feels that he owes to that period of his education. He finally received a BA Degree after retiring from the Air Force. His degree in Business Management and in his later years he taught business courses in an adult education program at the local community college.

The author's Air Force career (1950-1971) was spent as an enlisted man, eventually retiring as a Master Sergeant in 1971. These were sobering years for a native young preppy, and yet he considered them to have been critical in his character development. During the period, Sergeant Round flew 84 combat missions in Vietnam as the Aerial Photographic Advisor to the VNAF (South Vietnamese Air Force).

Following this, he became a real estate broker in California, where he presently lives with his wife of fifty years. In 1981, During a period of extremely high interest rates, he joined the Secret Service as a Special Officer and worked at President Reagan's Ranch in nearby Santa Ynez. In 1987 he returned to real estate sales. He taught business courses in the evenings, and in 1995 he retired quietly and contentedly to his computer.