Stalingrad is a 1993 German anti-war film directed by Joseph Vilsmaier. It follows a platoon of German Army soldiers transferred to the Eastern Front of World War II, where they find themselves fighting in the Battle of Stalingrad.
The film is the second German movie to portray the Battle of Stalingrad. It was predated by the 1959 Hunde, wollt ihr ewig leben (Stalingrad: Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever?).
Plot
In August 1942, German soldiers enjoy leave in Cervo, Liguria, Italy, after fighting at the First Battle of El Alamein, where Unteroffizier Manfred "Rollo" Rohleder and Obergefreiter Fritz Reiser are introduced to Leutnant Hans von Witzland, their new platoon commander. Their unit is promptly sent to the Eastern Front to fight in the Battle of Stalingrad.
Witzland's platoon joins a company commanded by Hauptmann Hermann Musk. Musk leads an assault on a factory, which results in heavy casualties. Later, Witzland requests a ceasefire with the Soviets so both sides can collect their wounded, which they agree to. Midway through, Müller (called "HGM" to distinguish him from other Müllers) breaks the ceasefire, and in the ensuing chaos a Russian child that the Soviets sent gets caught into the ranks of Witzland and Reiser as they run back towards their company. Witzland angrily assaults Müller as he returns and they get into an argument. There's a few moments of bonding as the Russian child tries to speak with the soldiers with what little German he knows, he introduces himself as Kolya.
Witzland's platoon is surrounded in a decrepit building. During a Soviet attack, Witzland, Reiser, Rollo, Emigholtz, and "G.G." Müller go down to secure the sewers, during which time Kolya runs away. Witzland gets separated from the others and captures a female Soviet soldier named Irina; she offers to lead him to safety, but instead pushes him into the water and escapes. His men rescue him, and Emigholtz is found severely wounded by an explosive trap, his right leg hastily having to be amputated by the men; they take him to a crowded aid station, where they grab a doctor's assistant at gunpoint to treat Emigholtz as he is screaming in pain, despite the medic's insistence that he's not a doctor. The assistant quickly performs an injection on Emigholtz, who dies very shortly afterwards, leaving it open ended as to whether it was his wounds or a faulty injection. The men are then arrested by Hauptmann Haller, who has previously clashed with Witzland regarding the treatment of Soviet prisoners. They are assigned to a penal battalion, disarming land mines.
Four weeks later, a brutal winter has set in and the Soviets have surrounded the German Sixth Army. Hauptmann Musk thus reassigns the penal battalion—which includes disgraced fellow officer Otto—to combat duty, after the men threaten to mutiny unless their crimes are pardoned. Witzland's platoon defends a position from a Soviet tank column, and emerge victorious after a bloody battle. Hauptmann Haller later orders von Witzland and his men to execute a group of unarmed civilians accused of sabotage, among them being Kolya, the child Witzland and his men previously bonded with. Fritz and Witzland protest heavily, but ultimately bend down to the orders of the strict and pedantic Haller, Fritz having to be the soldier to personally shoot Kolya.
The killing of Kolya has a heavy effect on the already harrowed soldiers, resulting in the decision of Witzland, G.G., and Reiser to desert and head towards Pitomnik Airfield in hopes of catching a plane back to Germany, stealing medical tags from some dead bodies along the way to feign being wounded. The last transport plane is about to leave right as they arrive, but the area is heavily overcrowded and they only allow officers onto the plane as a cluster of wounded soldiers desperately try to chase the plane down the runway. Fritz asks why Hans, as an officer, didn't try to board the plane, to no response.
They rejoin the others in the shelter, where they find Musk suffering from severe trench foot. While the men recover a German supply drop, Haller appears and holds them at gunpoint, but is quickly subdued; he accidentally shoots G.G. as he falls, killing him. Haller then pleads for his life by any way he can think of, first trying to use his position of authority, and as that fails, he tells them about the supplies he is hoarding in a nearby house, before being executed by Otto.