" . . . The desperation of the increasingly hard pressed defenders took many forms. As well as suicide, desertion and drunkenness, increasingly wild stories also began to circulate. Most were no more than the usual soldiers' tales, but such was the stress of the situation that some of these rumours do seem to have been triggered by genuine instances of mass hallucination.

One of the most famous of these was of a young lady who the troopers initially referred to as the Tsarina, but later as Mother Russia. This change in nomenclature seems to have been at the insistence of the Konsomol, who were more worried by the counter revolutionary sentiment the nickname implied than the fact that the troops were seeing phantasms.

Whatever her name, the lady in question invariably appeared in the midst of the most ferocious night attacks. As well as being immune to bullets, she also seemed immune to the subzero temperatures of the Russian winters, for she always appeared barefoot and wearing only a negligee. There the initial descriptions usually trail off, although they were later embellished with the usual barrack room eroticism.

There were various stories of what she did during these night attacks, although details of these actions were also hazy. Even Red Army soldiers, hardly the most squeamish of individuals, would only talk vaguely of the 'terrible things' that she did to the 'Fritzs'. Given the popularity of Ilyha Erenberg's bloodthirsty broadcasts at the time, and also the treatment of German civilians by the same soldiers later in the war, these descriptions show a surprising lack of imagination.

But even as the remaining resistance fell prey to hunger and stress induced hallucinations, Stalin was preparing his counter strike. Operation Uranus was to be one of the most ambitious and decisive . . . (etc)"

Stalingrad
Anthony Beaver