Soviet Bloc Elite Forces (Elite S.)

Steven J. Zaloga was born in 1952. He received his BA in history from Union College and his MA from Columbia University. He has published numerous books and articles dealing with modern military technology, especially armoured vehicle development. His main area of interest is military affairs in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the Second World War, and he has also written extensively on American armoured forces. James Loop has co-authored a number of books of modern military equipment. A former United States Army officer, he was seriously wounded in Vietnam. He retired with the rank of lieutenant-colonel and now works as a defence analyst.

RONALD VOLSTAD was born in 1949 in Alberta, Canada, where he still lives and works. Like several of Osprey's leading military illustrators he had no formal art training, though he did work in a TV company's art department - before spending 15 years operating heavy machinery in the oil industry. His first illustrations were published in 1970; since then he has become widely known for his work in Squadron and Osprey publications and for Dragon Models, and has also worked as a courtroom artist for TV news.