Otto von Pivka (the nom de plume of Digby Smith) wrote his first title for Osprey Publishing in 1972 (The Black Brunswickers, in the Men-at-Arms series). He is a prolific author, who has contributed many titles to the Men-at-Arms series on the armies and forces of the Napoleonic Wars. A former major in the British Army, he is now retired, but continues to write books on this key period.