War of the Rats

Zusatztext "A great novel of one of the epic battles of all time--Stalingrad."—W.E.B. Griffin "Robbins has done his homework....A historical thriller with the punch of a full metal jacket." —The Denver Post "A frighteningly realistic patchwork depicting the long siege that changed the course of the war. Based on a true story! the novel deftly captures an extraordinary time and place in history...[in a] vivid! authentic representation of men of unusual skill and focus in the midst of a barbarous war." —Richmond-Times Dispatch "Immensely exciting and terribly authentic. White-knuckle tension as the two most dangerous snipers in Europe hunt each other through the hell of Stalingrad."—Frederick Forsyth! author of The Day of the Jackal and The Fist of God "I devoured it. The reporting and writing are amazing! and the snipers' duel with its layers of subtle technique and imagined motivation is suspenseful and powerful. It's a very good portrait of one of this century's most important and terrible battles! and probably the most intense urban conflict in history."—Mark Bowden! author of Black Hawk Down "a good candidate for the thriller of the summer award... gives a compelling and graphic sense of the heroism-filled nightmare called Stalingrad...A readable! gritty adventure story." —The New York Times "Breakneck-fast and laced with real-life vignettes." —USA Today Informationen zum Autor David L. Robbins is also the author of Souls to Keep . A former attorney and freelance writer, he now writes full-time in Richmond, Virginia. Klappentext For six months in 1942, Stalingrad is the center of a titanic struggle between the Russian and German armies—the bloodiest campaign in mankind's long history of warfare. The outcome is pivotal. If Hitler's forces are not stopped, Russia will fall. And with it, the world.... German soldiers call the battle Rattenkrieg, War of the Rats. The combat is horrific, as soldiers die in the smoking cellars and trenches of a ruined city. Through this twisted carnage stalk two men—one Russian, one German—each the top sniper in his respective army. These two marksmen are equally matched in both skill and tenacity. Each man has his own mission: to find his counterpart—and kill him. But an American woman trapped in Russia complicates this extraordinary duel. Joining the Russian sniper's cadre, she soon becomes one of his most talented assassins—and perhaps his greatest weakness. Based on a true story, this is the harrowing tale of two adversaries enmeshed in their own private war—and whose fortunes will help decide the fate of the world. Leseprobe Introduction Not even Napoleon has stabbed as deeply into Russia as the German army had by August of 1942. Adolf Hitler's forces plunged one thousand miles across the vast and hostile plains of Russia to the banks of the Volga River. It was by far the deepest penetration into this Asian land of any foreign legion in history. The German plan was simple: place Moscow under siege to tie up precious Russian defenses, then race south into the Caucasus region and conquer the strategic oil fields there. Once in control of the Caucasus, Hitler could fashion a peace on his terms and divide Russia in half, enslaving the western portion of the huge nation for his dream of Aryan world expansion and "one thousand years of Nazi rule." Late in July of 1942, Hitler called for a temporary shift in the Schwerpunkt , or main weight, of his Russian invasion, away from the southern oil fields to drive eastward, to neutralize a potential canker on his left flank. The city of Stalingrad, an industrial center responsible for almost half of Russia's steel and tractor production, a metropolis of over 500,000 residents, lay on the banks of a crescent in the Volga. Hitler sensed an important, a...

Product details

• Authors: David Robbins
• Publisher: Bantam Books USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 06.06.2000
• EAN: 9780553581355
• ISBN: 978-0-553-58135-5
• No. of pages: 512
• Dimensions: 106 mm x 172 mm x 27 mm
• Subject: Fiction > Suspense > Crime fiction, thrillers, espionage