This book is a study of Adolf Hitler in his role as military commander and strategist from the beginning of the Second World War until the end of 1942, examining in detail the campaign in southern Russia that year.

Alan Donohue is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Hradec Králové, Czech Republic. where he is currently writing a history of the Reichsgau Sudetenland from 1938 to 1945. His main research interests are the German-Soviet War and the history of Central Europe. He has written peer-reviewed articles and a book chapter on military intelligence, German occupation policy in the Soviet Union and deception measures on the Eastern Front.