Research, is the basis for all my works. Now, when I wrote my second story, Teufelslied: The Siege of Stalingrad, I had finished reading Antony Beevor's book, Stalingrad. In fact, spoiler alert, that very book provided the basis for Teufelslied as a whole.
While reading Beevor's book, I came to the section on Operation: Uranus. And it mentioned a curious engagement in the freezing winter of November 1942. The 13th Motorized Division, somehow held their own against the immediate Soviet forces attempting to destroy and cut off the Sixth Army by wiping out their flanks, which consisted of Croatian, Italian, and Romanian soldiers, the last of which had to resort to using 8.8 MM Antiaircraft Guns to destroy the Soviet T-34's, to some avail.
Needless to say, the 13th Motorized had a bit more success holding the Soviets, and inflicted heavy losses before being commanded to retreat to guard the flanks of (if I remember correctly) the Austrian 100th Jäger Division.
So, in the story, Werner's division, the so-called "Cloverleaf" division, the 71st Infantry, retakes the Mamayev Kurgan and captures Alexander Rodmitsev. This entire division is destroyed, and, eventually, Operation: Uranus is started too early, and Stalingrad is lost as a result.
However, the plot of your story, or possible series will not be the only thing that requires research in order to...work so to speak. If you have a bright blond-haired girl in a story set in feudal Japan, and nobody points it out, or calls her a "stupid gaijin!"...that's wrong. Unless you're the type of idiot that thinks an alternate history novel where the samurai had blonde hair is worth writing about..
Which, speaking of foreigners, that just so happens to be the topic of chapter 2.
YOU ARE READING
Writing Historical Fiction
Non-FictionMy pointers on writing historical fiction, alternate history, or historically-inspired stories.
