Heinz Greiner was a general of the Wehrmacht during World War II. His division along with much of Army Group Center was destroyed during Operation Bagration in the summer of 1944 and he was transferred to Italy where he commanded 362nd Infantry Division. Wounded in combat he was released from hospital in April 1945, when he began preparations for the orderly surrender of German troops in Italy and south Germany, deposing Nazi officials who attempted a final defence of Munich. He spent two years as an Allied prisoner of war and was released and retired in 1947.
LINDEN LYONS holds a master’s degree in history from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. He studied German at the University of Freiburg and librarianship at the University of Canberra. He is the translator of several titles in the Die Wehrmacht im Kampf series, most recently Counter-Strike Operations, Normandy, and Rome to the Po River.
MATTHIAS STROHN, MSt (Oxon), DPhil (Oxon), FRHistS, is head of historical analysis at the Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research and the British Army’s strategic think tank, visiting professor of military studies at the University of Buckingham, and a member of the academic faculty at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Matthias was educated at the universities of Münster (Germany) and Oxford. He holds a commission in the German Army and is a member of the military attaché reserve. He deployed to Iraq (with the British Army) and Afghanistan (with both the British Army and the German Bundeswehr). Matthias was awarded the highest German military decoration, the ‘Ehrenkreuz der Bundeswehr in Gold,’ and has published widely on 20th-century German and European military history; he has authored and edited over 20 books and numerous articles.