2001-05-02 - 5:12 p.m.

The End of the World

Another day, another database.

I worked by butt off yesterday putting together a report for my boss, and as a result I have nothing interesting to show for the last two days but work, gaming, and finishing a book about Stalingrad.

The book about Stalingrad made difficult reading. Those of you who have seen "Enemy at the Gates" or studied the war already know what an apocalyptic affair it was. I wrote an entry on the subject on my blog a while back, and I think I'll paraphrase it here so as to save myself the trouble of any creative thought.

On one side in Stalingrad you had the Soviets. Nobody got enough to eat, modern weapons were in critically short supply, and Stalin knew he needed to buy time. As a result, the USSR deliberately threw men into Stalingrad like wheat into a thresher. It wasn't just a slaughter, it was a deliberate, calculated choice to kill tens of thousands of Soviets rather than give ground.

On the other side you had the Germans, exhausted by the constant fighting, expecting to rest once they reached the Volga. Instead of a rest, they got encircled, cut off, and besieged. Hitler ordered the entire 200,000+ strong army to die in place rather than retreat. Fewer than half survived to become Russian prisoners, and of those, many died under the brutal conditions typical of POW camps on the Eastern front.

In the middle you have a few Russian civilians, trying to survive in what was once a fair city. At the beginning of the battle the Germans carpet-bombed it, and in rooting them out the Red Army systematically blew up most of the buildings from the ground.

I can only imagine that for those poor people involved, it was like the end of the world. After thinking about that, and the conditions of trench warfare in WWI, I've concluded that the world has actually ended several times, but only in limited areas. I hope never to be caught in one of them.

Previous entry: Houses and Photos

Next entry: Marillion and Anarchy