Il sergente nella neve, or The Sergent in the Snow. It is one of the most famous Italian novels about the second world war, but surprisingly I never read it before.
Redirected from their way to the Caucasus find themselves thinly spread in the vast open steppe in the freezing temperatures of the winter 42-43, holding the western bank of the Don with few mobile units in depth. Apart from local infiltrations to capture 'tongues' and sporadic sniper activity it is quite Then down the chain of command come reports that Soviet tanks have broken through and the part one 'The strongpoint' gives way among confusion to 'The pocket'...
A brilliant little book of a desperate chapter in a miserable war, I will read more of Stern. In military terms it meshes in some areas remarkably with 'The Human Face of War' and some German 'lessons learned'. For example in a terrbile situation the morale gathered from strong human ties dating often back to areas, schools and villages back home helps to fight towards it.
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