Many East German leaders caught by hero (6)
I believe the answer is:
legion
'many' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'east german leaders caught by hero' is the wordplay.
'leaders' suggests taking the first letters.
'caught by' is an insertion indicator.
'hero' becomes 'lion' (**).
The initial letters of 'east german' is 'eg'.
'eg' put into 'lion' is 'LEGION'.
(Other definitions for legion that I've seen before include "Military force - in Lego (anag)" , "The French have a Foreign one" , "Large body of soldiers" , "Large military force" , "A great number in the Roman military unit" .)