David Robbin's novel, "War of the Rats."

4

4V50 Gary

Staff
It's about once in four years that I'll read a fiction and a relative passed the book onto me. I skimmed through the first chapter and was hooked.

Robbin's "War of the Rats" (Rattenkrieg) is based on the famous sniper duel between Vasily Zaitsev and Konig (or Thorvald as he is known) in Battle of Stalingrad. Robbins did quite a bit of historical research prior to writing and his knowledge of sniping and of the battle itself is evident. While we all know who won that duel, Robbins carefully weaves his story around the two opponents and builds a credible account of the battle.

There were some inaccuracies (like shooting a sniper through his scope ala Hathcock when the other fellow wasn't even looking at him), for the most part, one can learn from it. I won't give away any more of the story, but highly recommend it for light reading when you're especially tired of reading about ballistics and bullet casting.

My paperback copy was published by Bantam books.
 
Read it a few weeks ago and loved it!

I thought the narrative on troop movements and the misery of day-to-day life in "Fortress Stalingrad" was engaging because of the history behind it and the attention to detail that Robbins provided. A good example of why you should never pursue an army in a city.

The training methods of Zaitsev, i.e. the basement, were interesting given the conditions under which he had to train snipers. Thorvald was the epitome of German arrogrance, Aryan superiority.

Quick read, too.
 
Finished the book a couple of days ago.

I am irritated when an author can't do simple research on something as simple as the effect of down/up angles on aiming and and point of impact. He had the snipers "adding an eigth" to the distance to compensate for shooting at downward angles.

Why can't authors study basic riflemanship before writing a book so centered around rifles?

Also, I thought more could have been made about the extreme hunger and cold faced by the Stalingrad defenders. The defense of Stalingrad was indeed "the hinge of fate" for WW2 in ETO.

William
 
Good read bump!

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BOYCOTT SLICK & WESSON

"To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it."
Confucius
 
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