Richard Freiherr von Rosen served as a gunlayer on a Panzer tank during Operation Barbarossa; led a company of Tigers at Kursk; a company of King Tiger panzers at Normandy and in late 1944 commanded a battle group against the Russians in Hungary. He was awarded the Iron Cross Class I and II; the German Cross in Gold being the highest Wehrmacht award for bravery, awarded on 28 February 1945; the Panzer Combat Badge II Grade and the Wound Badge in Gold.
Rosen died in 2015 aged 93, two years after his memoir was published in Germany. He was married to the daughter of Caesar von Hofacker, a German Air Force officer who was executed for his role in July Plot to assassinate Hitler.