Vassily Grossman's "Life And Fate"

Last weekend I spent on the Dutch coast with my lovely wife. Besides long walks on the beach and visiting a fantastic musical, we did some shopping around. During our stay in Amsterdam she surprised me with the great novel "Life And Fate" by Vassily Grossman.

This book is the penultimate classic epic novel of WWII Russia. It centers on the Shaposhnikova family and their life in totalitarian Stalinist Soviet Russia, and in particular on the Battle of Stalingrad. The tale is unrelentingly grim. Nearly every character dies, is betrayed to the Soviet authorities, or simply suffers - and no ordinary suffering, but genuine Slavic deprivation. With a few temporary exceptions, universal hunger and material deprivation prevail. Hunger ranges from ever-present to starvation.

Political betrayal runs rampant across every class of Stalinist Soviet society with mind-boggling inefficiency. Grossman also describes the very beginnings of the Nazi Holocaust at Treblinka and other extermination camps, including a blood-chilling scene with Eichmann having dinner at the camp to celebrate its opening.

Grossman's characters engage in extensive internal dialogue about their suffering and especially about their political punishments. He recreates the frustration of not knowing why one has been accused of infidelity to the Revolution. Often the victim doesn't know by whom or of what they have been accused.

Grossman was a decorated Soviet military journalist who moved gradually toward the dissidence that flowers in his epic novel. What is remarkable, and a matter of some debate today, is how Grossman ever imagined that his book would be published in the Soviet Union - as he proposed during the thaw under Nikita Khrushchev. Instead, while Grossman was not molested, his book was taken "under arrest" by the KGB in 1961. Fortunately, Grossman kept two undeclared copies that were smuggled out to the West in 1980 and published in 1985.

As the excellent introduction to the New York Review of Books edition puts it, Life and Fate is "almost an encyclopedia of the complexities of life under totalitarianism" and the pressures brought to bear on the individual. Absolutely a must read!

SP:WaW Airstrike or...

Why you shouldn't stack your unit in one hex!




Lesson learned the hard way...

SP:WaW Enhanced 2009 Available!

Alby has just posted the links to the Enhanced 2009 MOD's download link! Go get them HERE!

Comments, Complaints Or Even...

If you have any comments, complaints or even .... compliments, please let me know of them! Just click on the "reacties" button under the blogposts and let me know what you think about Dutchie's SP:WaW-Fort!

NEW SP:WaW Scenario-, Campaign- and Maplist

Here you can find the latest SP:WaW Scenario-, Campaign and Maplist with new scenarios by GregSP who takes us to wartorn Normandy in 1944. Wert takes us to the East Indies with two great scenarios playing in Borneo with Aussie - Japanese clashes. And last, Dutchiexx takes us to the Netherlands in the last months of the war with two French SAS versus German troops scenarios. In one of them you'll even recognize a lot of well known names from SPWAW.Com's Forums .

Have FUN!

Halbe Cauldron, teaser...

Here's a little reading about the first scenario on the Halbe Cauldron or Kessel I am working on.

On the evening of April 25, General Busse ordered the two battlegroups or Kampfgruppen Von Luck and Pipkorn, containing 35th SS and Police Grenadier Division 35th SS and Police Grenadier Division, both named after their commanders, to attempt a break-out in the direction of the road centre of Baruth to obtain the use of roads to Luckenwalde and Jüterbog.

Kampfgruppe von Luck consisted mainly of 125th Panzer Grenadier Regiment and tanks from 22nd Panzer Regiment and started from Halbe, while Pipkorn consisted of the remains of the 35th SS Division with tanks from 10th SS Panzer Division, and started from Schleepitz. The orders to Colonel von Luck were to open a corridor and keep it open for the sole use of military units of Ninth Army. No civilians were to be allowed to use it. Von Luck made good progress across the Berlin–Dresden autobahn until it hit the Soviet defenses of 50th Guards Rifle Division at Baruth, which had been reinforced by dug-in Stalin tanks. Pipkorn hit defenses of 329th Rifle Division early on and the battle group was scattered, with some armoured elements including Panther tanks reaching Baruth. A pitched battle developed at Baruth, which was impossible for the German battlegroups to win. Busse ordered von Luck to stay near Baruth but discontinue the attack. When informed of this, however von Luck disobeyed the order and disbanded his battle group, allowing soldiers to try and attempt a breakout individually.

On the following day battle continued around Baruth, and tank-hunting teams blew up some of the dug-in Soviet tanks. Some supply canisters were delivered by air, but the strength of the battle group was insufficient to hold off a Soviet counter-attack. Heavy air attacks, a strike by 4th Bomber Air Corps around noon with 55 aircraft, and repeated strikes by 1st and 2nd Air Assault Corps with 8-10 aircraft each, a total of ca. 500 missions, caused heavy casualties and chaos. The forces of the two battle groups were destroyed, with Soviet reports claiming 5,000 prisoners (POW) taken, 40 tanks and self-propelled guns destroyed, and almost 200 guns and mortars captured. These forces and weapons would be severely missed during later break-out attempts. Pipkorn, the commander of the other battle group, was killed during the battle, and von Luck taken prisoner by the Soviets on April 27. Few of the survivors of the battle reached the Elbe.

Halbe... Again

Right now I'm working on the first scenario in a series about the Battle in the Halbe Pocket at the end of WWII. The first scenario will be about the breakout attempt by a battlegroup commanded by Colonel von Luck. Sources for this series will be:

Slaughter at Halbe: The Destruction of Hitler's 9th Army

Last Battle: The Classic History of the Battle for Berlin

The Fall of Berlin 1945

Berlin Dance of Death

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year and all the best wishes to you and your loved ones!