Vasily Grossman

Many people say that Vasily Grossman is the Leo Tolstoy of the 20th century

Grossman was a journailst reporting on the Great Patriotic War for Soviet newspapers.

His book ‘Stalingrad’ was published in English this year.

At th beginning of August 1942 Colonel General Yeromenko arrived in Stalingrad.

He said: “Stalingrad is no ordinary line of defence. What we are defending here is Russia itself!”

The mood of the people was as if to say: “Here we are - the Volga! Can we really retreat any further?”

Grossman writes:

“The boundless river of the Soviet people’s anger and grief had not been left to drain into sand. The will of the people, the will of the Party and state had transformed it into a river of iron and steel and it was now flowing back, from east to west. Its immense weight would soon tilt the scales.”