Red Road from Stalingrad Red Road from Stalingrad Red Road from Stalingrad is a war memoir written by Mansur Abdulin, published in Russian in 1991 and in English in 2004. In it, Abdulin recounts his service in the 293rd Rifle Division, which became the 66th Guards Rifle Division, in 1942-43. Abdulin joined the division while it was rebuilding in Buzuluk in the late summer of 1942, and he served for about a year, until he was severely wounded in action in November, 1943, during the Battle of the Dnieper. Abdulin's book is one of the first of many memoirs of ordinary Red Army soldiers
Battle of Stalingrad The Soviets flew 11,317 night sorties over Stalingrad and the Don-bend sector between 17 July and 19 November. These raids caused little damage and were of nuisance value only. On 8 November, substantial units from "Luftflotte" 4 were withdrawn to combat the Allied landings in North Africa. The German air arm found itself spread thinly across Europe, struggling to maintain its strength in the other southern sectors of the Soviet-German front. As historian Chris Bellamy notes, the Germans paid a high strategic price for the aircraft sent into Stalingrad: the "Luftwaffe" was forced to divert much of its air strength