Few would argue with the assertion Erich von Manstein ranked among the best operational level military commanders of the Second World War, if not the best. Nevertheless, because of Manstein's decisions during and after the War, he also ranks among the War's most controversial figures. In spite of Manstein's central role in the War however, there has been no official biography written about him. In Field Marshal von Manstein: The Janus Head / A Portrait noted military historian Marcel Stein tackles this void in the scholarship on the War.
