Hitler’s Field Marshals and their battles. Samuel W. Mitcham. 1988.

This is the first collected biography of Hitler’s Field Marshals, the men whose task it was to conquer the world for the Fuehrer and establish the thousand year Reich. Between them they controlled the fate of millions, yet it’s unlikely that many people, except for professional historians, could now name more than 3 or 4 of them. Rommel, Keitel, Runstedt, Manstein will probably ring a bell; Busch, Schoenberg, List, Weichs are less likely to conjure much of a picture. But the power wielded by these men was stupendous and their stories are indeed remarkable. One thing which is likely to strike the reader is the amazing variety of their backgrounds and upbringings.