On 21 June 1941, as the Wehrmacht stormed forward across the frontiers of the Soviet Union, Hitler instituted a new higher grade of the Knight''s Cross decoration for gallantry and leadership: the silver clasp of the Oak-Leaves with Swords.

It would be awarded to only 159 men of the approximately 15 million who served in the German armed forces during World War II. This third in a sequence of four titles describes and illustrates a selection of the recipients: from much-wounded front line infantry officers, to Hitler''s ''brother-in-law''; from a sergeant pilot fighter ace, to the commanding general of the greatest tank force ever gathered on the Russian Front.