David Stahel is a leading authority on German military history in the Second World War. He is a senior lecturer in history at the University of New South Wales in Australia. His previous publications include Operation Barbarossa and Germany's Defeat in the East (2009), Kiev 1941 (2012), The Battle for Moscow (2015) and Retreat from Moscow (2019).

• Introduction; 1. The letters of the Panzer generals: validity, veracity and verification; 2. The private generals: embracing family and war; body, mind and soul; Burdens of the heart; Burdens of command; 3. The public generals: military celebrity; Charm offensives; Status symbols; The power of privilege; 4. The criminal generals: enemy in the East; Criminal orders; The war behind the front; War of annihilation; 5. The military generals: Delusion and disclosure; Discord and dysfunction; Operational silences; Narcissistic command; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

'Already renowned for his brilliant studies of the war on the Eastern Front, David Stahel has once again used his forensic skills to great effect. Drawing on original research - notably a treasure trove of intimate correspondence, much of it never before published - Stahel has produced a revelatory portrait of the four Panzer commanders who spearheaded Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. These military giants of historical myth re-emerge as complex, vulnerable and often deeply troubled human beings, who loved their families and their country but were also unswervingly loyal to the Nazi cause. This is revisionist history of the highest order. It is also a superb read.' Jonathan Dimbleby, author of Barbarossa: How Hitler Lost the War