Ray and myself went a while back, Wish I'd done a lot more research on the battlefield itself. Its a great place and you get a real sence of prewar Stalingrad. The buildings have been rebuilt on old foundations so the lower edges are battle damaged. There's the mill by the museum left standing as it was, and I'd wished we'd gone to the factory district as I found out later the gates of the tractor factory still exist. The views are impressive over the Volga and the monument is kitsh and impressive. If I could get the chance to go back I would, but it;s a pain to get to as you have to take an internal flight.
Lesson learnt Do not try to take a rusty 6'' nail through airport security, if you can't speak Russian, you just get a strange look and it thrown into the bin.
Looked like a real tramp as well, as I bought the kettle the unit use from the department store(on the same site as the original) and had it hanging off my bag.
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Guards Serjant Yevgeni Trubetskoi 2nd Gds rifle div
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