- John Erickson
John Erickson (1929- 2002) was a British historian who wrote extensively on the Second World War, with books on Operation Barbarossa and the Battle of Stalingrad. He was Professor Emeritus and Honorary Fellow in Defence Studies at the University of Edinburgh. His wife, Ljubica Erickson, spent many years with her husband researching Russian military affairs, in particular the Soviet Army and the Soviet-German war.
- Otto Skorzeny
Otto Skorzeny (June 12 1908 – July 6 1975) was an Standartenführer in the German Waffen-SS during World War II. After fighting on the Eastern Front, he is known as the commando leader who rescued Benito Mussolini from imprisonment after his overthrow. He also was the initiator of Operation Greif, for which he was judged after the war: this special operation involved false flag tactics, that is wearing the uniform of the enemy to confuse him and advance into his lines.
- Reinhard Gehlen
Reinhard Gehlen (April 3 1902 - June 8 1979) was a Major General in the German Wehrmacht during World War II, with the position of chief of intelligence-gathering on the Eastern Front. He was subsequently recruited by the U.S. military to set up a spy ring directed against the Soviet Union. He ran the West German intelligence apparatus until 1968, and is considered one of the most legendary Cold War spymasters.
- Guy Sajer
Guy Sajer is the pseudonym of the author of the autobiography "The Forgotten Soldier". Other names used by the writer include Guy Mouminoux, Dimitri, and Dimitri Lahache. Sajer states he was an inhabitant of Alsace drafted into the German Wehrmacht at age 16 and subsequently fought in the elite Großdeutschland Division during World War II.
- Erhard Raus
Erhard Raus (January 8, 1889 - 1956) was a German Colonel General ("Generaloberst") during World War II. Raus was born in Wolframitz (Bohemia). He fought on the Eastern Front during World War II before being dismissed by Hitler in March of 1945. He later became a prisoner of war. During the war in the east he was one of the most competent and creative General to serve in the east.
- Hermann Hoth
Hermann "Papa" Hoth (12 April 1885 - 26 January 1971) was a general of the Third Reich during World War II. He fought in France, and is most noted for his later exploits as a panzer commander on the Eastern Front. After the war he served six years in prison for war crimes, and became a writer on military history.
- Walter Model
Otto Moritz Walter Model (24 January 1891 – 21 April 1945) was a German General and later Field Marshal during World War II. He is noted for his defensive battles in the latter half of the war, mostly on the Eastern Front but also in the west, and for his close association with Adolf Hitler and Nazism. He has been called the Wehrmacht's best defensive tactician. Although he was a hard-driving, aggressive panzer commander early in the war, …
- Gerhard Barkhorn
Gerhard "Gerd" Barkhorn was the second most successful fighter ace of all time after fellow Luftwaffe pilot Erich Hartmann. He flew over 1100 combat sorties and was credited with 301 victories on the Eastern Front flying with the famed Jagdgeschwader 52 alongside Hartmann and Günther Rall.
- Hermann Graf
Hermann Graf (24 October, 1912 - 11 April, 1988) was a German Luftwaffe World War II fighter ace. During the war he became one of only 27 people to be awarded the Knights Cross with leaves, swords, and diamonds. He served on both the Eastern and Western Fronts. He is credited with 212 victories, 202 of which were on the Eastern Front. He flew more than 830 sorties.
- Chris Crawford
Chris Crawford is a noted computer game designer and writer, responsible for a number of important games in the 1980s, for founding "The Journal of Computer Game Design" and for organizing the Computer Game Developers' Conference. After receiving a B.S. in physics from UC Davis in 1972 and an M.S. in the same from University of Missouri - Columbia in 1975, Crawford taught at a community college and the University of California, …
- Günther Rall
Günther Rall is the third most successful fighter ace in history, and the most successful still alive. He achieved a total of 275 victories: 272 on the Eastern Front, of which 241 were against Soviet fighters. He flew a total of 621 combat missions, was shot down 8 times and was wounded 3 times. He scored his victories in the Messerschmitt Bf 109 'Black 13'.
- Erich Rudorffer
Erich Rudorffer (born 1 November 1917 in Zwochau, Sachsen) is a German former Luftwaffe fighter ace, one of a handful who served with the Luftwaffe through the whole of World War II. He had a total of 222 victories, fighting in all the major German theaters of war, including ETO, MTO and the Eastern Front. During the war he flew more than 1000 combat missions, was engaged in aerial combat over 300 times, …
- Walter Oesau
Walter "Gulle" Oesau (28 June 1913 - 11 May 1944) was a German World War II fighter ace who served in the Luftwaffe from 1934 until his death in 1944. He shot down 127 enemy planes in over 300 combat missions, 9 during the Spanish Civil War, 74 over the Western Front and 44 on the Eastern Front. He also rose to command the JG 1 fighter wing, which was named in his honour.
- Ivan Konev
Ivan Stepanovich Konev, was a Soviet military commander, who led Red Army forces on the Eastern Front during World War II, liberated much of Eastern Europe from occupation by the Axis Powers, and helped in the capture of Germany's capital, Berlin. Later, as the Commander of Warsaw Pact forces, Konev led the suppression of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 by Soviet armed divisions.
- Adolf Dickfeld
Oberst Adolf Dickfeld is a German World War II Luftwaffe 136 victories Flying ace. Adolf Dickfeld was officially credited with 136 victories claimed in 1072 combat missions. He also claimed a further 15 enemy aircraft unconfirmed. He claimed about 128 victories over the Eastern front. Included in his total are 2 confirmed four-engine bombers and possibly several unconfirmed. Reputedly he claimed one victory flying the Heinkel He 162 jet fighter, …
- Hans Philipp
Hans Philipp (born 13 March 1917 in Meißen, Saxony, killed in action 8 October 1943 near Neuenhaus in the Nederlands) was a German World War II fighter ace who served in the Luftwaffe from 1936 until he was killed in action 8 October 1943 by a P-47 Thunderbolt-pilot. It is believed that he was shot down by Robert S. Johnson. Philipp managed to bail out but his parachute never opened. Hans Philipp claimed 206 enemy aircraft shot down, the majority on the Eastern front.
- Wilhelm Batz
Wilhelm "Willi" Batz was a German Luftwaffe fighter ace. "Willi" Batz flew 445 combat missions and claimed 237 enemy aircraft shot down. 234 victories were achieved over the Eastern front, including at least 46 Il-2 Sturmoviks, but he did claim three victories, including one four-engine bomber over the Western front. He was wounded three times and was shot down four times.
- Helmut Lipfert
Helmut Lipfert (6 August 1916 - 10 August 1990) was a German Luftwaffe fighter ace and recipient of Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves. Lipfert was credited with 203 victories achieved in over 700 combat missions. All his victories were claimed over the Eastern front and included two four-engine bombers and 39 Ilyushin Il-2 ground-attack aircraft.
- Lothar Rendulic
Lothar Rendulic (November 23, 1887 - January 18, 1971) was an Austrian Colonel General in the German Wehrmacht during WWII.
- Max-Hellmuth Ostermann
Max-Hellmuth Ostermann (born 11 December 1917 in Hamburg, killed in action 9 August 1942 near Amossovo on the Eastern front) was a German former Luftwaffe fighter ace and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords during World War II.
- Hans von Seeckt
Hans von Seeckt (22 April 1866 - 27 December 1936) was a German military officer. Born in Schleswig, he entered the army in 1885 and was seconded to the General Staff in 1899. During World War I von Seeckt served in various high-level staff positions on the Eastern Front, including Chief of Staff to August von Mackensen while the latter commanded the Eleventh Army.
- Hans Krebs
Hans Krebs was a German general of infantry who served during during World War II.
- Musa Mohamed Ahmed
Musa Mohamed Ahmed is the leader of Eastern Front, a rebel group based in eastern Sudan. The Beja Congress (Ahmed's group) and the Free Lions Movement (Salim al-Mabrouk's group) merged to create the movement. The Eastern Front began negotiations in May 2006 with the Sudanese Government and concluded them on 14th October 2006 with the signing of a peace agreement. This took place in Asmara, Eritrea.
- Oskar Dirlewanger
Oskar Dirlewanger was a World War II officer with the Schutzstaffel (SS). He commanded the infamous SS-Sturmbrigade "Dirlewanger" unit made out of amnestied Germans convicted of major crimes.
- Wolf-Dietrich Wilcke
Wolf-Dietrich "Fürst" Wilcke (born 11 March 1913 in Schrimm, Posen, killed in action 23 March 1944 near Schöppenstedt) was a German World War II fighter ace who served in the Luftwaffe from 1935 until his death on 23 March 1944. On 23 March 1944, Wilcke led JG 3 in an attack on an USAAF bomber formation near Braunschweig. During the ensuing combat, Wilcke shot down his last victory, an escorting P-51 Mustang fighter, but was shot down near Schöppenstedt.
- Alexander Schmorell
Alexander Schmorell and then into the Wehrmacht (German Army during the Nazi era). In 1938, he took part in the annexation of Austria and eventually in the Wehrmacht invasion of Czechoslovakia. After his military service, the artistically gifted Alexander Schmorell began studies in medicine in 1939 in Hamburg. In the autumn of 1940, he went back with his student corps to Munich where he got to know Hans Scholl, and later Willi Graf.
- Mátyás Rákosi
Mátyás Rákosi was a Hungarian dictator and the leader of Hungary from 1945 to 1956 through his post as General Secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party. Rákosi was born in Ada, in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Serbia). The sixth son of a Jewish grocer, he later repudiated religion. He served in the Austro-Hungarian Army during the First World War and was captured on the Eastern Front.
- Theodor Busse
Theodor Busse (15 December 1897 - 21 October 1986) was a German officer during World War I and World War II.
- Günther Lützow
Günther Lützow was a German Luftwaffe fighter ace and a leader in the "Fighter Pilots Revolt". Lützow was credited with 110 victories achieved in over 300 combat missions. He scored 5 victories during the Spanish Civil War. He recorded 20 victories over the Western Front, including at least one four-engine bomber, and 85 victories over the Eastern Front.
- Josef Wurmheller
Josef "Sepp" Wurmheller was a German World War II fighter ace who served in the Luftwaffe from 1937 until his death on 22 June 1944. Wurmheller was killed in Fw 190 A-8 (W.Nr. 171 053) on 22 June 1944 during aerial combat with Allied fighters near Alençon when he collided with his wingman Feldwebel Franzke. He was posthumously awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords and promoted to the rank of Major on 24 October 1944.
- Walther Nehring
Walter Nehring (August 15, 1892 - April 20, 1983), was a German General of World War II, known for his involvement with the Afrika Korps. During the Invasion of Poland, Nehring served under Heinz Guderian. He later took command of the Afrika Korps in May 1942 and took part in the Battle of Alam Halfa (August 31 - September 7, 1942), during which he was wounded in an air raid. Between November and December 1942, he commanded the German contingent in Tunisia.
- Elem Klimov
Elem Germanovich Klimov was a Soviet Russian film director. He studied at VGIK, and was married to film director Larisa Shepitko. He is best known in the West for his final film, 1985's "Come and See" ("Иди и смотри"), a powerful tale of a teenage boy in German occupied Belarus during the Great Patriotic War, but he also directed dark comedies, children's movies, and historical pictures.
- Erich Brandenberger
Erich Brandenberger (July 15, 1892, Augsburg - Jun 21, 1955, Bonn) was a German general der panzertruppe. Awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. In World War I he served as an officer in the 6th Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment. When World War II began Brandenberger was Chief of the General Staff of the XXIII Army Corps (September 16, 1939 - February 15, 1941) on the West Wall. He commanded 8th Panzer Division (February 20, 1941 - January 16 1943), …
- Heinrich Bär
Heinz "Pritzl" Bär was a German Luftwaffe fighter ace who served through the whole of World War II. He had a total of 221 victories, fighting in all the major German theaters of war, including ETO, MTO and the Eastern Front. He was shot down 18 times during the course of flying about 1000 combat missions.
- Dietrich Hrabak
Dietrich "Dieter" Hrabak was a German World War II fighter ace who served in the Luftwaffe from 1935 until the end of World War II on 8 May 1945 and again in the Bundeswehr from 1955 until his retirement on 30 September 1970. During World War II he shot down 125 enemy aircraft achieved in over 1000 combat missions. The majority of his victories were claimed over the Eastern front. His commands included Geschwaderkommodore of the JG 52 and JG 54 fighter wing.
- Heinrich Prinz Zu Sayn-Wittgenstein
Prince Heinrich Alexander Ludwig Peter zu Sayn-Wittgenstein (Copenhagen, August 14, 1916 - KIA January 21, 1944) was the third highest scoring ace of night-fighters in the Luftwaffe during World War Two. Sayn-Wittgenstein was originally denied entrance in the Luftwaffe because of being partly of Danish descent. Because he wanted to fly, his father bought him an airplane. With the battle of Britain having caused a shortage of pilots, …
- Leopold Steinbatz
Leopold "Bazi" Steinbatz (born 25 October 1918 in Vienna, Austria, killed in action 23 June 1942 near "Volchansk", Kharkov region, on the Eastern front) was a German former Luftwaffe fighter ace and sole non Officer recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords during World War II. After service in the Austrian Army Steinbatz joined the Luftwaffe as a trainee pilot in 1939.
- Erich Leie
Erich Leie (born 10 September 1916 in Kiel, killed in action 7 March 1945 in Czechoslovakia) was a German World War II fighter ace who served in the Luftwaffe until his death on 7 March 1945. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of Oberstleutnant and nominated for the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Leie was killed over Czechoslovakia on 7 March 1945, …
- Anton Hafner
Anton "Toni" Hafner (born 2 June 1918 in Erbach an der Donau, killed in action 17 October 1944 on the Eastern front) was a German former Luftwaffe fighter ace and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves during World War II.
- Mario Rigoni Stern
Mario Rigoni Stern (b. 1 November 1921 in Asiago) is an Italian author and World War II veteran, as well as a Nazi concentration camp survivor. His first novel "Il sergente nella neve", published in 1953 (and the following year in English as "The Sergeant in the Snow"), draws on his own experience as a sergeant in the Alpini corp during the disastrous retreat from Russia in the World War II. It is his only work to be translated into English.