In the harsh Russian winter of 1942, the German army was besieged at Stalingrad, their swift advance across the steppes halted by the bitter cold and fanatical Russian resistance. The entire German Sixth Army was surrounded by a ring of steel. The Germans’ supply lines were cut and the army was starving to death.

Christmas was coming and the soldiers were at the end of their strength. Without any hope of relief, that Christmas of 1942 became particularly poignant, writes Antony Beevor in Stalingrad, his mammoth account of the battle. “From quite early in the month, men started to put aside tiny amounts of food, not in preparation for a break-out across the snow, but for a Christmas feast or for gifts. A unit in the 297th Infantry Division slaughtered a pack-horse early so as to make horse sausage as Christmas presents. Advent crowns were fashioned from tawnysteppe grass instead of evergreen, and little Christmas trees were carved out of wood in desperate attempts to make it ‘just like at home’.

“One officer gave away the last of his cigarettes writing paper and bread as gifts to his men, as did other soldiers,” Beevor continues. “On Christmas Eve, the soldiers sang Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht with husky voices in bunkers by the light of hoarded candle stubs. There were many stifled sobs as men thought of their families at home.”

By February 2, 1943 it was all over. The Sixth Army was utterly destroyed and combined casualties were estimated at 2 million men. Nearly 91 000 German soldiers were captured. They were sent to labour camps all over the Soviet Union. Fewer than 5 000 ever returned home. For the survivors, that Christmas at Stalingrad in 1942 would be the last one they celebrated for a decade or longer.

IMAGE: Cover of Christmas in Hell by Antony Beevor, a Penguin 70 extract.

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