Hans Schäufler was a second lieutenant and signals officer in Panzer Regiment 35, part of the 4th Panzer Division, on the Eastern Front in 1945\. He took part in the German retreat from Latvia to East Prussia and was trapped in Danzig when the city fell to the Red Army. After the war he wrote this dramatic account of his experiences which has been translated into English for the first time. Among his other books is the best-selling Panzer Warfare on the Eastern Front.

During many years working in several senior official positions in Berlin – including spells as provost marshal and British governor of Spandau prison – Tony Le Tissier accumulated a vast knowledge of the Second World War on the Eastern Front. He has published a series of outstanding books on the subject including The Battle of Berlin 1945, Zhukov at the Oder, Race for the Reichstag, Berlin Battlefield Guide and The Siege of Küstrin 1945. He has also translated Prussian Apocalypse: The Fall of Danzig 1945, Soviet Conquest: Berlin 1945, With Paulus at Stalingrad and Panzers on the Vistula.