Zaytsev on way to Battle of Stalingrad (Enemy at the Gates)

Zaytsev was immortalised in the 2001 war film Enemy at the Gates, which told the story of this battle through Zaytsev’s eyes. The film culminates in a climatic sniper battle between Zaytsev and Major Erwin König, a German sniper, and the director of a Wehrmacht sniper school.

The Armed Forces Museum of Moscow claims to be in possession of König’s telescopic sight, and Zaytsev indicates in his memoirs that a three-day sniper duel did occur, and that the sniper he killed was the head of a sniper school near Berlin.

The tremendous human cost of the battle is difficult to comprehend. The Axis forces (comprised of German, Italian, Romanian and Hungarian troops) suffered 800,000 casualties, the Soviets more than one million. The battle marked the furthest extent of the German advance into the Soviet Union, and is seen by many historians as a key turning point in the war.

This scene with Tania(Rachel Weisz) meeting eyes with Zaytsev(Jude Law) on the train to Stalingrad reminds me of the poem:
"Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing, Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness; So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another, Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence."

Видео Zaytsev on way to Battle of Stalingrad (Enemy at the Gates) канала Darkness at Noon