About the Author

Sigismund Diczbalis was born in Saratov, central Russia in January 1922 and later moved to Leningrad before joining the Red Army in June 1941. Having then spied for the anti-Bolshevists after being captured, he was recaptured by Soviet forces; escaping the clutches of SMERSH - the Russian 'death to spies' organization - he made his way to American-occupied Germany where he married and embarked on a new life in Australia.Nick Holdsworth is a British-born Moscow-based journalist and writer. A specialist in Russian and Eastern European affairs, Nick met Sigismund while researching the story of General Andrei Vlasov and the Russian Army of Liberation.