She stands where the largest battle of World War II took place.
It is one of the largest monuments on Earth, and yet... most Americans have no idea that it even exists!
The city of Volgograd is about 600 miles south of Moscow. It borders the large
Volga River for more than a mile. There are about a million people living here.
It is a very vibrant community; there are many parks, sidewalk cafes, malls, multi-plex theaters and more than ten McDonalds.
It is quite common to see construction cranes and new buildings under construction.
Several times during the year, such as the Victory Day holiday, the city's name officially returns to Stalingrad.
The memorial complex...
These are some Volgograd friends of mine on vacation on the Black Sea.
This is the original poster art for my book. I always kind of liked it.
During Ukraine, a story of the Russians, in love and war...
My Amazon book
Here are photos of some of the places mentioned in my book.
The Planetarium at Volgograd.
It was a gift to the city by Germany.
This is the monument at Kalach.
This is the
first reported location that the Russian army linked up, surrounding the German Sixth Army.
Victory...
"The Russians at Stalingrad tore the guts out of
the German war machine."
Winston Churchill
The Battle of Stalingrad lasted for almost 200 days.
When it was over, Hitler and Germany knew the truth...
they were losing the war. It was the largest battle in history... Stalingrad!
This is the last remaining building from the
Battle of Stalingrad.
This famous sculture of children dancing around a playful alligator (a Russian fairy tale)
survived the Battle of Stalingrad. However, there was so much reconstruction of the bombed and burned out city that
it got in the way, so it was dismantled.
But, a Russian motorcycle club, the 'Night Wolves', proposed that the sculpture and fountain be rebuilt.
On August 23rd, 2013, President Vladimir Putin officially opened the new sculpture.
An unfortunate note, in December of that year, a terrorist bomb exploded here, killing 18 people and
injuring many more.
Photo of part of the Amber Room.
The mosaic florentine panels can be seen on the walls.
President Vladimir Putin. Behind him is the mosaic panel that was featured in my book.
This panel is one of the very few items that have been recovered from the original Amber room.
