This is a book about two men. The first is Henry Tandey, an ordinary man, born and brought up in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, who displayed extraordinary courage to emerge from the First World War as the most decorated British soldier to survive the war. The second is Adolf Hitler who served in the Great War and went on to become one of the most infamous dictators in history, who brought the world to the brink of destruction during the Second World War. It seems unlikely that their fates should collide. Yet, in 1938, Hitler named Tandey as the soldier who spared his life in the aftermath of the Battle of Marcoing.