Secrets of the Dead: Deadliest Battle

Deadliest Battle - Strange Premise
I mostly enjoyed this review of World War II's Battle of Stalingrad, with one major exception: The premise behind the episode is that 'new evidence' has emerged that shows Josef Stalin was not the military genius everyone previously believed, that he did not orchestrate the victory at Stalingrad. And to that I thought..."Huh? Who ever thought that, outside of perhaps some former Soviets and/or Russians?"

It has long been known that Stalin's purge of many military officers and his own bungling interference led to numerous disastrous defeats in the early years of the war. The Soviets lost literally millions of soldiers during Germany's push deep into the USSR in 1941 and 1942. Yes, the Germans eventually lost at Stalingrad, and yes, it can be argued that loss turned the tide of the war, but in any/all of the reading I've done on World War II, I've never encountered the opinion that Stalin was a military genius who was the brains behind this victory. Rather, the Germans...

Nothing "NEW"
Watched the whole thing hoping to learn something new. NEVER HAPPENED!I don't know where this so-called "new information" came from, because non of it was new to me, or any Stalingrad Vet I've spoken to.Both my grandfathers, who fought there, (and my great-uncles who served there as snipers, company commanders, regular army, communication corps, etc,) told me, back when I was a kid, about the mass retreat and NKVD oper-units. Just because the so-called Western Scholars didn't research deep enough to know, doesn't mean it was a secret. As such, the whole premise of this program, that is of having new data, is negated.Footage used is common war-time footage. Nothing special there either. 2 stars is about all I can give this one.For a real GREAT WWII documentary, watch Battlefield, also shown on PBS.



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