Thanks for your comments!

The History Channel programme on Stalingrad was part of their Lost Evidence: Great Conflicts of World War Two six-part series (which also included the Battle of Britain, Alamein, Breakout from Normandy, Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge). I am sure it will be shown in the USA, as it has a lot of powerful testimony by American veterans.

I have mixed feelings about the Stalingrad programme. I know all the Red Army veterans they interviewed personally and it was good to see them all here. One of them - Colonel-General Mereshko, the staff officer reporting directly to Stalingrad's commander Vasily Chuikov - was my most important source, and he gave weeks of his time to my book, even travelling around Stalingrad's battle sites with me.

It does give a reasonable introduction to the topic, but the structure of the programme follows the traditional interpretation: Germans get stuck in a battle of attrition and quickly lose their way. In fact, the reality of Stalingrad was far more complex - and the Red Army's position far more desperate - than was ever openly admitted. I have tried in my book - using new veteran testimony and archive material - to offer a complete re-evaluation of this famous clash of arms.

With best wishes, Mike.