War of the Rats: A NovelFor six months in 1942, Stalingrad is the center of a titanic struggle between the Russian and German armies—the bloodiest campaign in mankind's long history of warfare. The outcome is pivotal. If Hitler's forces are not stopped, Russia will fall. And with it, the world.... German soldiers call the battle Rattenkrieg, War of the Rats. The combat is horrific, as soldiers die in the smoking cellars and trenches of a ruined city. Through this twisted carnage stalk two men—one Russian, one German—each the top sniper in his respective army. These two marksmen are equally matched in both skill and tenacity. Each man has his own mission: to find his counterpart—and kill him. But an American woman trapped in Russia complicates this extraordinary duel. Joining the Russian sniper's cadre, she soon becomes one of his most talented assassins—and perhaps his greatest weakness. Based on a true story, this is the harrowing tale of two adversaries enmeshed in their own private war—and whose fortunes will help decide the fate of the world. |
Contents
Section 18 | 285 |
Section 19 | 300 |
Section 20 | 310 |
Section 21 | 331 |
Section 22 | 346 |
Section 23 | 355 |
Section 24 | 376 |
Section 25 | 386 |
Section 9 | 112 |
Section 10 | 123 |
Section 11 | 153 |
Section 12 | 177 |
Section 13 | 193 |
Section 14 | 221 |
Section 15 | 238 |
Section 16 | 245 |
Section 17 | 260 |
Section 26 | 395 |
Section 27 | 402 |
Section 28 | 409 |
Section 29 | 418 |
Section 30 | 432 |
Section 31 | 449 |
Section 32 | 467 |
Section 33 | 473 |
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Common terms and phrases
arms battle Batyuk Baugderis beneath beside blanket blood boots bottle breath bricks bullet bunker Chebibulin Chekov Chernova chest Chief Master Sergeant Chuikov colonel commissar Comrade crawled crosshairs Danilov dark dead dirt eyes face factory Fedya fighting fingers fire floor front German hands Hare head Headmaster Heinz Heinz Thorvald helmet Hitler hole hundred meters hunt kill knew Kulikov Lazur legs lips machine gun Mamayev Kurgan Medvedev Mercker morning Morozov moved Nazi night Nikki thought Nikolay nodded nurse Ostarhild Pavlov's House periscope pulled Red Army rifle Russian scope Sergeant Shaikin shook shoot shot shoulder slid smiled sniper soldiers Stalin Stalingrad stared stay stepped stood stopped supersniper Tania looked tank target telescopic sight tell Thorvald told took trench trigger turned Vasha Vasily Vasily Zaitsev Viktor vodka voice Volga waiting walked wall watched whispered wounded Yuri Zaitsev looked Zaitsev thought
Popular passages
Page vii - JUSTICE MOVED MY HEAVENLY CONSTRUCTOR; DIVINE OMNIPOTENCE CREATED ME, AND HIGHEST WISDOM JOINED WITH PRIMAL LOVE. BEFORE ME NOTHING BUT ETERNAL THINGS WERE MADE, AND I SHALL LAST ETERNALLY. ABANDON HOPE, FOREVER, YOU WHO ENTER. I saw these words spelled out in somber colors inscribed along the ledge above a gate; "Master," I said, "these words I see are cruel.
Page vii - I AM THE WAY INTO THE DOLEFUL CITY, I AM THE WAY INTO ETERNAL GRIEF, I AM THE WAY TO A FORSAKEN RACE.
Page vii - I am wretched even at the moment of victory, and I always say that next to a battle lost, the greatest misery is a battle gained.