The personnel loss of the Red Army is one of the most controversial aspects of Soviet military history, subject to exaggerations, statistical disagreements, and contemporary Russian politics. This massive biographical dictionary, the result of nearly twenty years of research, attempts to set the record straight with entries for nearly 1,000 senior soviet officers who were captured by the enemy, died of illness, were "repressed" by the Soviet leadership, or were killed in combat between 1939 and 1953. It is considerably enhanced by the use of the Soviet archives that have become available since 1990. Most essays contain extensive bibliographies and a preface contributes important contextual information on personnel organization and losses of the Soviet Army. John Erickson, the foremost Western historian of the Soviet armed forces, contributed a foreword.

Based on the latest declassified sources, this unique research tool greatly increases our understanding of the Soviet Union's mighty World War II effort and related Stalinist politics during its greatest hour. Parrish brings into one volume crucial information which was either not easily accessible in the west before or was widely scattered among many places.