The Lighthouse of Stalingrad: The Hidden Truth at the Heart of the Greatest Battle of World War II

Historian MacGregor (Checkpoint Charlie) delivers a brisk and dramatic account of a much mythologized episode in the Battle for Stalingrad during WWII. Drawing on firsthand accounts from German and Soviet archives, MacGregor details how German and Soviet forces waged “savage, almost medieval combat” in Stalingrad from September 1942 to February 1943, resulting in the deaths of 64,000 civilians. In Soviet accounts, the fight for “the Lighthouse,” a four-story building at the city’s center with a view of the Volga River, was one of the battle’s key turning points. MacGregor, however, claims that the event was “ relatively insignificant,” and questions the glory heaped on the leader of the Soviet assault team, junior sergeant Yakov Pavlov, a 24-year-old peasant “renowned both for his dandyish fur cap and his tenacity in defense against overwhelming odds.” Armed with machine guns, bayonet-knives, and grenades, the team probably found the house empty, MacGregor contends, disputing the legend that it was filled with German officers playing cards. Pavlov also may not have destroyed a dozen Panzers from the rooftop as the Germans tried to retake the building. (“Who knows for certain,” MacGregor asks, noting that he can’t find any mention of such details in combat diaries or records.) Meticulous yet action-packed, this will thrill WWII buffs. (Nov.)