Table Of ContentDedication
For my friend Thomas Bilbao, without whose enthusiasm, good will, and
original thinking this book could never have been written, and to whose incisive
insights on the Second World War I am deeply indebted.
Disaster at Stalingrad
An Alternate History
Peter Tsouras
Disaster at Stalingrad
This edition published in 2013 by Frontline Books,
an imprint of Pen et Sword Books Ltd,
47 Church Street, Barnsley, S. Yorkshire, S70 2AS
www.frontline-books.com
Copyright © Peter Tsouras, 2013
The right of Peter Tsouras to be identified as the author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
9781783469468
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Table of Contents
Dedication
Title Page
Copyright Page
Foreword - A Matter of Mastery
Introduction - ‘The Dancing Floor of War’
Chapter 1 - Führer Directive 41
Chapter 2 - A Timely Death
Chapter 3 - The Second Wannsee Conference
Chapter 4 - Race to the Don
Chapter 5 - The Battle of Bear Island
Chapter 6 - The Battle of 20° East
Chapter 7 - Counting the Victories
Chapter 8 - ‘Those Crazy Mountain Climbers’
Chapter 9 - The Terror Raid
Chapter 10 - New Commanders All Round
Chapter 11 - Der Rattenkrieg
Chapter 12 - ‘Danke Sehr, Herr Roosevelt!’
Chapter 13 - Der Totenritt bei Leninsk
Chapter 14 - ‘Manstein is Coming!’
Chapter 15 - Coda
Appendix A - Forces in the Battle of 20° East
Appendix B - Soviet Forces in Operation Uranus
Notes
Bibliography
Foreword
A Matter of Mastery
I have all but given up reading alternative history. Too many works in the genre
are implausible, historically superficial, emotionally naive, uninformed as to
technical expertise and, not least, written in so slovenly a manner that any
remaining faith one has in our education systems, whether in the United States or
the United Kingdom, collapses like a pup tent in a hurricane. The waste of paper
(or electrons, for that matter) in the production of plainly bad books is
sufficiently dismaying to turn an oil-company executive into a tree-hugging
environmentalist.
But there is one brilliant exception to the sorry state of alternative history: the
works of Peter G. Tsouras. His reimaginings of history always delight,
consistently inform, boldly challenge and wonderfully reward discriminating
readers (a dying breed, alas . . .). Why are this old soldier’s narratives so much
richer - and so much more fun to read - than the efforts of his would-be peers?
To formulate a useful answer, turn to the ‘Five Pillars of Alternative History’,
the fundamental requirements for such a book to be worth the cost in money,
time and intellectual engagement.
Let’s take these one by one: A compelling, convincing vision. If an alternative-
history narrative does not grip us with logic - the recognition that this could have
happened - the entire structure falls flat. It’s not enough to tell a story the author
thinks is ‘really cool’, while ignoring or remaining ignorant of the complex web
of facts that render his or her version impossible. (I have never had any patience
with what I call the ‘spaceships-at-Pearl-Harbor’ school of alternative history.)
We have to be captured by the recognition that, yes, but for a few matters of
happenstance, the author’s vision might have come to pass, changing history.
This is one regard in which Peter G. Tsouras excels. Whether writing about
the American Civil War or the Second World War, his plots are built on taut
logic and a vision so convincingly grounded that the reader’s response is, ‘Yes,
yes! Absolutely!’
The point of quality alternative history isn’t to push the envelope into the
realm of the absurd, but to delve into the precision machinery of history and
make small adjustments to the gears that produce major, inevitably different
outputs. Indeed, the worst judgement a reader can pass on a work of alternative
history is to reach a point in the book at which he or she slams it shut and
declares, ‘Naw, that never could have happened.’
So ... a crucial quality in this author’s works (and I have read every one of
them, avidly) is baseline believability. The logic of the plots is always finely
tooled; nor does Tsouras leave loose ends. His vision is always as
comprehensive as it is precise in detail. The book you are about to read is a
perfect example of the richness of this accomplished author’s grounded-in-fact
imagination. Taking his alternative road to Stalingrad, I was, as an old Russia
hand, utterly convinced.
Historical and technical knowledge. Two aspects of this author’s background
give him an enormous advantage over other practitioners in the genre. He is a
sophisticated historian with a wide range of period interests (I can’t help but
hope that this proud Greek-American will, one day, write an alternative version
of the Trojan War and its after-effects); and he has had a long, successful career
as a US Army officer, as well as concurrent responsibilities from the tactical to
the strategic level of our intelligence system. He knows what happened, down to
the ‘sub-atomic’ details, but his insider experience also lets him grasp why
things happened and how slight alterations in events or personal relations might
have led to very different outcomes. He knows what soldiers can do and won’t
do; and he knows not only what political leaders are supposed to do, but what
they actually end up doing. He’s the kind of in-depth historian and experienced
soldier who fully understands that, after all of the order-of-battle tables are
tallied, the weather and terrain have been analyzed, and the various options
studied, a decisive battle may be lost because a key commander had indigestion.
This particular book could not have been written by someone who did not
understand historical realities as diverse as the Allied supply route through Iran;
ship tonnages on the Murmansk run; Wehrmacht equipment refurbishment
policies; the personalities of Soviet and German generals; or opposing sniper
techniques. One pleasant surprise for me, by the way, was how thoroughly this
soldier understands the environment of mid-twentieth-century naval warfare -
his depictions of fleet actions are simply terrific.
Grasp of character. The film may have been fun, but, no, Abraham Lincoln
didn’t have the temperament or martial-arts skills to be a Hollywood vampire
hunter. Alternative history doesn’t work if the author doesn’t understand the
actual personalities of the figures he enlivens on the page - or human complexity
in general. One routine problem with alternative-history novels is that they are
populated by stick figures, not flesh-and-blood men and women with credible
desires, fears, faults and idiosyncrasies. Hitler and Stalin are classic examples.
These two men, grotesque and cruel as they may have been, were also human
beings with biological imperatives and emotional needs (however twisted). In
too many novels or films, Hitler simply rants and Stalin icily orders executions,
popping up in plots as cartoons of themselves. In contrast, Tsouras understands
that the decisions such men make and the actions they take must be grounded in
their actual psychology and mundane circumstances. Of course, the same law
applies to less exalted characters, as well.
In developing an alternative-history scenario, an author is free to imagine the
behaviour and inner life of a character, as long as his or her projections are based
upon the known facts about that individual (this applies to ‘straight’ historical
fiction, as well). When Tsouras reimagines history, the great names come to life
- and make credible decisions based on the different developments confronting
them. In his plots there are not only no factual loose ends, but no emotional ones,
either. That reflects a detailed study of the historical figures, but also a life of
careful observation of his fellow human beings.
Writing ability. Different forms of writing demand different prose techniques.
In alternative histories, the focus should be on events and characters presented in
transparent prose that never calls attention to itself. The writing should be so
clean and clear that it disappears, leaving only the author’s vision. But clean,
clear writing is very hard. There is always the temptation to turn a clever phrase,
or to add another adjective or adverb, or (a common sin) to laundry-list facts
that, while showing off the author’s research, bore the reader to blood-tears and
push him or her out of the plot. Tsouras has been writing professionally for
decades, and the practice shows. Even when he addresses infernally complex
situations or arcane technical details, the writing is a spotless window that lures
the reader to look deeper inside. Tsouras’s prose isn’t glamorous or extravagant
or, for that matter, snappy. It’s disciplined and appropriate.
Storytelling ability. Writing ability and storytelling ability are often confused
