Enemy at the Gates

'         Rats' sticks to facts
                     A Book Review by JIM WEBSTER
                                   Copyright 2000 The Medina Gazette

In the introduction to his novel "The War of the Rats" David L. Robbins explains the source of his title.

"The city, subjected to intense fire bombings in late August, became a charnel house. Soldiers fought and died in cellars, hallways, alleys and the massive labyrinths of the wrecked factories smoldering besides the river.

For months, the fighting was house to house and hand to hand, and the front lines swayed with each new clash, the rewards of which were measured in meters at a time. German foot soldiers called the fighting Rattenkrieg. War of the Rats. "

The city is Stalingrad, site of the deadliest battle in World War II, and perhaps in the history of war.

1,109,000 soldiers died on both sides. Germany lost 400,000 men. Out of a prewar civilian population of a half a million, only 1,500 remained at the end of the battle.

Against this huge backdrop, an intense personal battle unfolds.

Vasily Zaitsev is a Russian sniper plying his trade in streets of Stalingrad. He is very good, has killed hundreds of Germans and has become a hero in Russia.

Hitler is irate and sends the head of the Nazi sniper school to Stalingrad to kill the Russian. The two snipers wage a personal war through the streets of the tattered city, until one is dead.

This is an intriguing plot made even more amazing by the fact that it is true. Add in a love story, Zaitsev is training Russian snipers and falls in love with Tania Chernova, one of his students, and you have a story that seems perfect for the big screen.

In fact, my question would be "What took so long?" The story first appeared in "Enemy at the Gates" a nonfiction account of the battle of Stalingrad which was published in 1973.

The movie which bears the same title will be released in late fall. Jude Law will play the Russian sniper, Ed Harris his German counterpart. Rachel Weisz is Tania.

Now pay attention because this gets complicated. The book that the movie takes its title from, "Enemy at the Gates" by William Craig, is a rather complete history of the five month battle of Stalingrad. The sniper story is spread out and appears in bits and pieces throughout the book. This is good history, but might only appeal to a real World War II buff.

Still, it is a good place to get the background for the sniper story.

To cut to the chase, "The War of the Rats, " the more recent book, focuses on the sniper shootout. This book has its ups and downs. The description of the fighting in Stalingrad and the training of the snipers is good. However, the characters are not very well developed. While the German sniper recognizes he is a coward, and is somewhat embarrassed by killing people from such a long distance, that is about as much insight as either main character has.

What carries the novel is the great story it tells, and the author has the good sense to stick mostly to the historical facts.

The movie, "Enemy at the Gates, " promises to be a blockbuster. It is the most expensive movie ever made in Europe. But you don't have to wait until the movie's release to learn about this epic struggle, both books capture this amazing story.

Copyright 2000 The Medina Gazette

from which the following narrative was taken.

The ruins of Stalingrad were the natrual habitat of snipers, and each army had its recognized
champions. For the Russians, Vasily Zaitsev was the onetime shepherd who had perfected his marksmanship hunting deer in the Ural foothills. In one ten day period, he had killed no fewer than 40 Germans and his fame had spread into enemy lines. The Germans retaliated by flying to the scene SS Colonel Heinz Thorwald, head of their snipers' school near Berlin. Zaitsev soon heard talk of the deadly Thorwald, and he set down a tense account of their dual to the death.

"The arrival of the Nazi sniper set us a new task," wrote Zaitsev. "We had to find him, study habits and methods, and patiently await the moment for one, and only one, well-aimed shot."

For two days, Zaitsev stalked his rival, trying to locate his precise whereabouts. On the third
day, Zaitsev was accompanied in his search by a political instructor named Danilov. As the
two lay hidden, peering intently through their telescopic sights, Danilov suddenly said: "There he is! I'll point him out to you!" Recalled Zaitsev: "He barely, literally for one second,
but carelessly, raised himself above the parapet, but that was enough for the German to hit and wound him.

"For a long time I examined the enemy positions, but could not detect his hiding place. To the left was a tank, out of action, and on the right was a pillbox. Where was he? In the tank? No, an experienced sniper would not take up position there. In the pillbox, perhaps? Not there, either - the embrasure was closed. Between the tank and the pillbox, on a stretch of level ground, lay a sheet of iron and a small pile of broken bricks. It had been lying there a long time and we had grown accustomed to its being there. I put myself in the enemy's position and thought - where better for a sniper? One had only to make a firing slit under the sheet of metal, and then creep up to it during the night."

To test his theory, Zaitsev rasied a small plank with a mitten attached to its end. A shot
rang out and a bullet smashed into the plank. "Now," wrote Zaitsev, "came the question of
luring even a part of his head into my sights." Before that could be done, however, Zaitsev
would have to change his own position, which had clearly been marked by the German.
Zaitsev and a fellow sniper, Nikolai Kulikov, spent much fo the night working their way
to a new vantage point. By dawn they were ready.

"The sun rose," Zaitsev recalled. "We had decided to spend the morning waiting, as we
might have been given away by the sun on our telescopic sights. After lunch our rifles
were in the shade and the sun was shining directly on the German's position. At the
edge of the sheet of metal something was glittering: an odd bit of glass - or telescopic
sights? Kulikov carefully, as only the most experienced can do, began to raise his helmet. The German fired. For a fraction of a second Kulikov rose and screamed. The German believed he had finally got the Soviet sniper he had been hunting for four days,and half raised his head from beneath the sheet of metal. That was what I had been banking on.

"I took careful aim. The German's head fell back, and the telescopic sights of his rifle
lay motionless, glistening in the sun until night fell." Russian sources credited Vasily
Zaitsev with killing 144 (232 ?) Germans before the end of the battle of Stalingrad. Then he
was blinded by a detonating land mine.