Joy Division (2006)

Joy Division - not the band, or a film about the band, is an excellent film about a young German boy in the last days of Nazi Germany. It is very watchable, graphic in places and follows the trials and tribulations of a young Thomas from fighting the Red Army, his flight from the advancing troops to his capture and love of a neighbour called Melanie. Then it aspires that Thomas is living in the Soviet Union and becomes a spy for the KGB.  What is original is that it does not run chronologically but more in a Pulp Fiction style which I enjoyed. It is very dark in places, showing the brutality of Soviet troops, but one can't help but feel admiration for the main character as he never gives up on whatever tasks lie ahead, he keeps going  no matter what.

Stalingrad

German prisoner with Red Army captor, Stalingrad 1943? Image found at: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TG865m5bV-A/TuJHg7g7XfI/AAAAAAAAmLE/CzBH9gWr9dY/s1600/Stalingrad+1942+%252822%2529.jpg, accessed 2/12/13.

One can only imagine the fear, isolation, cold and hunger experienced by Axis forces in December on the Eastern Front. At Stalingrad it went from bad to worse, surrounded and cut off, led by incompetent yes men like Von Paulus they had no hope of getting out of the noose.

Red Army camels,Stalingrad. Image found at ibid.