The major problem in the book was the city of Stalingrad. Conrad and the 3rd Reich are trying to capture the city while Vasily  and the Red Army are trying desperately to defend the city. Then there are the civilians like Sergei  who are only trying to survive in the hell of a city. The city was of extreme strategic importance to both sides. The Russians needed to hold on to the city so that they could use the Volga river to send supplies and troops. The Germans needed to capture the city so that they could stop the flow of Russian supplies and also to humiliate Joseph Stalin by capturing the city named after him. The book ends on Christmas day. Conrad has just been reunited with his brother. His brother and him are moving through the ruins of Stalingrad to inspect the troops when Conrad's brother is shot in the head. Conrad is livid and cautiously peeks around the corner that his brother was shot from. In the corner of his eye he spies two shadows moving into a cellar across the courtyard they are the snipers that killed his brother. Conrad sprints across the courtyard after them when he is shot in the stomach. Conrad falls to the ground and can barely breath. With the last of his strength he pull out a grenade and throws it into the cellar opening. Conrad feels the explosion and then dies. Vasily and Yelena are slowly picking their way through the ruble towards a spot where Yelena swears a German outpost is located. Just then two Germans appear out of a opening and start walking across their field of vision. Yelena tracks them and waits till one of them peeks around a corner. Her rifle barks and the German slumps to the ground. quickly they get up and start down a cellar when they are throw to the ground by a large blast. Sergei is rummaging around looking for food in the ruins carrying a rifle he got off a dead soldier. He hears a gun shot and then sees two snipers go into a cellar. Suddenly a German staggers out of the shadows toward the cellar Sergei aims the cumbersome rifle aims and shoots at the German hitting him in the stomach. He sees the German roll something into the cellar entrance which is followed by a muffled explosion. Vasily comes to in the bottom of the cellar. The entrance has collapsed and a pile of rubble has pined his legs. Vasily then notices That Yelena is bleeding badly from her head and is not responding to him. Vasily then realizes that he is going to die here and starts to write a letter to his father.

Would you agree that video games portray a false image of war?  

    

There are three main characters in this novel. Their names are Sergei Andropov, Conrad Zeitsler and Vasily Sarayev. Sergei is a seven year old boy who lives with his mother in an apartment complex in the heart of Stalingrad. Sergei spends most of his days playing Communists vs Fascists with the other kids in the complex. When he is old enough he wants to become a sniper and kill Fascist invaders. Conrad is a eight teen year old German tank commander. His tank crew and him believe that what they are doing is right and just. They believe that they are just like the medieval crusaders vanquishing the Russian barbarians and bring forth a new world order. This war is like a game to Conrad. Vasily is a seven teen year old scout in the red army. Vasily is a Russian patriot and is fighting to defend the motherland and it's political beliefs from the Fascist invaders. Vasily believes that Communism is the way of the future and that it will overcome any obstacle  in it's path.
Who do you think is doing the right thing?



           

Seventy year old constable Sergei Andropov is called to investigate 2 bodies found in a construction site while excavating. upon examing the bodies Sergei comes to the conclusion that the bodies are from the Great Patriotic war. Upon this realization Sergie once more lives his childhood in the ruins of Stalingrad and of the soldier he killed. June 1942. Conrad Zeitsler is a 18 year old tank commander driving through the Russian steppe to capture Stalingrad. Once the city is captured him and his brother Josef can go home in time to spend Christmas with their mother. Vasily Sarayev is a 17 year old submachine gunner whose goal is to become a hero of the Soviet Union by casting the Nazi invaders out of Mother Russia. His platoon and him are shoved onto a cattle train and sent off to the front with little to no training ready to die to protect the motherland. Sergei is seven once more and is playing commuists and fascists with the other boys in the apartment complex he lives in when he trips and falls face first into Tolstoy's turnip patch. Across the plot the old man is waving a gnarld cane at Sergei. Sergei jumps up and brushes the dirt from his pant when he hears Tolstoy shout. Quick as a flash Sergei run out of the turnip patch and back to the apartment behind him he can hear Tolstoy "I've seen you, Sergei Illyich Andropov. Don't think I haven't" Do you think you would survive if you were in Stalingrad during the war?