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"Notes of a Sniper" by Vassili Zaitzev
is just that - a compilation of notes compiled and loosely
ordered by the sequence of events as they occurred. Vassili
wrote his book in a raw, unvarnished fashion. It is not a
polished novel by any stretch. This is not meant to be a
criticism, just a statement of fact.
The book's forward states that the movie
"Enemy of the Gates" is far from the truth. Granted I did not
live in the Soviet Union during WWII but from what I have read
of the time period it does not
seem like it would be a very smart idea to malign Communism during
the reign of Stalin. The author of the forward is correct in stating that Vassili's accounts of the events drastically differ from
the movie and are very pro Soviet and Communism in general. I don't know about you but the
fear of the gulag or the friendly firing squad would also make me have a passionate
allegiance to the Soviet state, at least publicly.
It is always a treat to get inside a historical figure's
mind and really understand what they were thinking while
historical events were happening. Because the "Notes of a
Sniper" is written by the person that actually "did the deeds"
- I found the book
to be a very interesting read.
Stalingrad
was not actually Vasilli's first tour of duty in the Soviet Military.
Prior to being a sniper he was a bookkeeper in the Soviet Navy and
then volunteered to go to fight in Stalingrad. Before all of
the sniper
notoriety, because of his small
size he always had to struggle to be taken seriously as an
effective front line soldier.
As a mil-surp collector of many
Mosin-Nagant rifles and carbines the book helped me understand
the people that carried these weapons into battle and what
they experienced against the German onslaught.
Publisher:
2826 Press, Inc
This book can be purchased for around $9.95 + S&H at -
http://www.notesofasniper.com/index2.htm
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