Download or read book The Cabanatuan Prison Raid written by Gordon L. Rottman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-10-20 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 27 January 1945 the 6th Ranger Battalion and the 6th Army Special Reconnaissance Unit (the Alamo Scouts) began the most dangerous and important mission of their careers to rescue 500 American, British and Dutch prisoners-of-war held at a camp near Cabanatuan. This daring plan was fraught with difficulties – the rangers had to struggle with harsh jungle terrain, 30 miles behind enemy lines against a far larger force, knowing that if their secret mission was leaked, the POWs would be massacred by their captors. Yet, with the help of a Filipino guerilla force, they managed to liberate 513 prisoners and kill 225 Japanese in 15 minutes, while only suffering two losses themselves. Relive the dramatic rescue in this action-packed account, complete with bird's eye view and battlescene artwork. Gordon Rottman details the build-up to and execution of the operation, analyzing the difficulties faced and the contribution made by the guerrillas. This is a story not only of extraordinary military success but a compelling tale of courage in the face of overwhelming odds.

Download or read book The Great Raid on Cabanatuan written by William B. Breuer and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2008-04-21 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the critically acclaimed author whom The Wall Street Journal called "a first-class historian," here is a riveting account of one of the most spectacular rescue operations in history. On January 30, 1945, American troops staged a successful raid on Cabanatuan, a notorious Japanese POW camp where thousands of prisoners had been tortured and died. Based on interviews with the heroes who survived the raid, this book brings to life in electrifying detail the dramatic events that took place on that historic day. Praise for William B. Breuer and his books "A first-class historian." --The Wall Street Journal "Fast-paced, detailed, and satisfyingly dramatic." --World War II Magazine on Devil Boats "Another smasher by Breuer, who specializes in thrilling reports of WWII spycraft and warfare." --Kirkus Reviews on Race to the Moon "Vivid . . . skillfully written." --Los Angeles Times on Retaking the Philippines "Brings to life how airborne soldiers survived, how the human will prevails . . . against overwhelming enemies, tactical failures, and even death."--The New York Times on Geronimo: American Paratroopers in World War II Early on the morning of January 28, 1945, a small detachment of volunteers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Henry A. Mucci, leader of the 6th Ranger Battalion, embarked from their base in the Philippines on the most audacious rescue operation ever undertaken. Their objective: Penetrate thirty miles behind enemy lines and liberate 511 POWs from Cabanatuan, the notorious Japanese POW camp where thousands of American prisoners had been brutally tortured and killed. Little did Mucci's Rangers know when they got under way that morning that over the next few days and nights they would be making history. Written by acclaimed military historian William B. Breuer, The Great Raid on Cabanatuan is a riveting account of that rescue mission and the gallant soldiers who carried it out against overwhelming odds. Based largely on interviews with the heroes who survived the operation, and featuring twenty-eight previously unpublished photographs--many of them taken while the raid was in progress--it brings to life in electrifying detail the dramatic events that took place on the night of the raid, January 30, and during the harrowing days that followed. In sketching out the many roads that led to Cabanatuan, Breuer brilliantly combines oral history with dramatic narrative to bring to life some of the most spectacular events of the war in the Pacific. We relive the hellish battles for Bataan and Corregidor, where in 1942 American and Filipino soldiers fought bravely to hold back the Japanese invasion force. We experience firsthand the horrors of the Bataan Death March on which tens of thousands of prisoners lost their lives en route to Cabanatuan. And we learn of the American underground and guerilla operations in the Philippines during the Japanese occupation from the men and women behind them, including Margaret Utinsky, leader of "Miss U's underground," and Claire Phillips, the glamorous lounge singer turned spy- master. A gripping chronicle of one of the most harrowing rescue missions ever undertaken as told in all its gritty detail by the heroes who made it happen, The Great Raid on Cabanatuan is both a first-class piece of military scholarship and a thrilling adventure story.

Download or read book Rescue at Los Ba os written by Bruce Henderson and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2015-03-31 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the New York Times bestselling author of Sons and Soldiers comes the incredible true story of one of the greatest military rescues of all time, the 1945 World War II prison camp raid at Los Baños in the Philippines—a tale of daring, courage, and heroism that joins the ranks of Ghost Soldiers, Unbroken, and The Boys of Pointe du Hoc. In February 1945, as the U.S. victory in the Pacific drew nearer, the Japanese army grew desperate, and its soldiers guarding U.S. and Allied POWs more sadistic. Starved, shot and beaten, many of the 2,146 prisoners of the Los Baños prison camp in the Philippines—most of them American men, women and children—would not survive much longer unless rescued soon. Deeply concerned about the half-starved and ill-treated prisoners, General Douglas MacArthur assigned to the 11th Airborne Division a dangerous rescue mission deep behind enemy lines that became a deadly race against the clock. The Los Baños raid would become one of the greatest triumphs of that war or any war; hailed years later by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Colin Powell: “I doubt that any airborne unit in the world will ever be able to rival the Los Baños prison raid. It is the textbook operation for all ages and all armies.” Combining personal interviews, diaries, correspondence, memoirs, and archival research, Rescue at Los Baños tells the story of a remarkable group of prisoners—whose courage and fortitude helped them overcome hardship, deprivation, and cruelty—and of the young American soldiers and Filipino guerrillas who risked their lives to save them.

Download or read book Rangers written by Michael Julius King and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Leavenworth Paper is a critical reconstruction of World War II Ranger operations conducted at or near Djebel el Ank, Tunisia; Porto Empedocle, Sicily; Cisterna, Italy; Zerf, Germany; and Cabanatuan in the Philippines. It is not intended to be a comprehensive account of World War II Ranger operations, for such a study would have to include numerous minor actions that are too poorly documented to be studied to advantage. It is, however, representative for it examines several types of operations conducted against the troops of three enemy nations in a variety of physical and tactical environments. As such, it draws a wide range of lessons useful to combat leaders who may have to conduct such operations or be on guard against them in the future. Many factors determined the outcomes of the operations featured in this Leavenworth Paper, and of these there are four that are important enough to merit special emphasis. These are surprise, the quality of opposing forces, the success of friendly forces with which the Rangers were cooperating, and popular support.

Download or read book Escape From Davao written by John D. Lukacs and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2023-04-04 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The “riveting” (John Wukovits, author of Admiral “Bull” Halsey) and all-but-unknown account of ten American prisoners of war who escaped from a Japanese prison during World War II. On April 4, 1943, ten American prisoners of war and two Filipino convicts executed a daring escape from one of Japan’s most notorious prison camps. The prisoners were survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March and the Fall of Corregidor, and the prison from which they escaped was surrounded by an impenetrable swamp and reputedly escape-proof. Theirs was the only successful group escape from a Japanese POW camp during the Pacific war. Escape from Davao is the “remarkable” (Bill Sloan, author of Brotherhood of Heroes) story of one of the most extraordinary incidents in the Second World War and of what happened when the Americans returned home to tell the world what they had witnessed. Davao Penal Colony, on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, was a prison plantation where thousands of American POWs toiled alongside Filipino criminals and suffered from tropical diseases and malnutrition, as well as the cruelty of their captors. The American servicemen were rotting in a hellhole from which escape was considered impossible, but ten of them, realizing that inaction meant certain death, planned to escape. Their bold plan succeeded with the help of Filipino allies, both patriots and the guerrillas who fought the Japanese sent to recapture them. Their trek to freedom repeatedly put the Americans in jeopardy, yet they eventually succeeded in returning home to the United States to fulfill their self-appointed mission: to tell Americans about Japanese atrocities and to rally the country to the plight of their comrades still in captivity. But the government and the military had a different timetable for the liberation of the Philippines and ordered the men to remain silent. Their testimony, when it finally emerged, galvanized the nation behind the Pacific war effort and made the men celebrities. Over the decades this remarkable story, called the “greatest story of the war in the Pacific” by the War Department in 1944, has faded away. Because of wartime censorship, the full story has never been told until now. John D. Lukacs spent years researching this heroic event, interviewing survivors, reading their letters, searching archival documents, and traveling to the decaying prison camp and its surroundings. His dramatic, gripping account of the escape brings this remarkable tale back to life, where a new generation can admire the resourcefulness and patriotism of the men who fought the Pacific war.

Download or read book Shadows in the Jungle written by Larry Alexander and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2009 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on personal interviews with and recollections by veterans, the author of Biggest Brother chronicles the exploits of the Alamo Scouts, members of an elite Army reconnaissance unit during World War II, a group that spent weeks behind enemy lines to gather much needed intelligence for Allied forces in the Pacific.

Download or read book The Cabanatuan Prison Raid written by Gordon L. Rottman and published by Osprey Publishing. This book was released on 2009-10-20 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On January 27, 1945, the 6th Ranger Battalion and the 6th Army Special Reconnaissance Unit (the Alamo Scouts) began the most dangerous and important mission of their careers to rescue 500 American, British and Dutch prisoners-of-war held at a camp near Cabanatuan. This daring plan was fraught with difficulties - the rangers had to struggle with harsh jungle terrain, 30 miles behind enemy lines against a far larger force, knowing that if their secret mission was leaked, the POWs would be massacred by their captors. Yet, with the help of a Filipino guerilla force, they managed to liberate 513 prisoners and kill 225 Japanese in 15 minutes, while only suffering two losses themselves. Relive the dramatic rescue in this action-packed account, complete with bird's eye view and battlescene artwork. Gordon Rottman details the build-up to and execution of the operation, analyzing the difficulties faced and the contribution made by the guerrillas. This is not only a story of extraordinary military success but a compelling tale of courage in the face of overwhelming odds.

Download or read book Spec Ops written by William H. McRaven and published by Presidio Press. This book was released on 1996-06-01 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vice Adm. William H. McRaven helped to devise the strategy for how to bring down Osama bin Laden, and commanded the courageous U.S. military unit that carried it out on May 1, 2011, ending one of the greatest manhunts in history. In Spec Ops, a well-organized and deeply researched study, McRaven analyzes eight classic special operations. Six are from WWII: the German commando raid on the Belgian fort Eben Emael (1940); the Italian torpedo attack on the Alexandria harbor (1941); the British commando raid on Nazaire, France (1942); the German glider rescue of Benito Mussolini (1943); the British midget-submarine attack on the Tirpitz (1943); and the U.S. Ranger rescue mission at the Cabanatuan POW camp in the Philippines (1945). The two post-WWII examples are the U.S. Army raid on the Son Tay POW camp in North Vietnam (1970) and the Israeli rescue of the skyjacked hostages in Entebbe, Uganda (1976). McRaven—who commands a U.S. Navy SEAL team—pinpoints six essential principles of “spec ops” success: simplicity, security, repetition, surprise, speed and purpose. For each of the case studies, he provides political and military context, a meticulous reconstruction of the mission itself and an analysis of the operation in relation to his six principles. McRaven deems the Son Tay raid “the best modern example of a successful spec op [which] should be considered textbook material for future missions.” His own book is an instructive textbook that will be closely studied by students of the military arts. Maps, photos.

Download or read book Chosen Soldier written by Dick Couch and published by Crown. This book was released on 2008-03-25 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An unprecedented view of Green Beret training, drawn from the year Dick Couch spent at Special Forces training facilities with the Army’s most elite soldiers. In combating terror, America can no longer depend on its conventional military superiority and the use of sophisticated technology. More than ever, we need men like those of the Army Special Forces–the legendary Green Berets. Following the experiences of one class of soldiers as they endure this physically and mentally exhausting ordeal, Couch spells out in fascinating detail the demanding selection process and grueling field exercises, the high-level technical training and intensive language courses, and the simulated battle problems that test everything from how well SF candidates gather operational intelligence to their skills at negotiating with volatile, often hostile, local leaders. Chosen Soldier paints a vivid portrait of an elite group, and a process that forges America’s smartest, most versatile, and most valuable fighting force.

Download or read book The Great Raid written by William B. Breuer and published by Miramax Books. This book was released on 2002-05-22 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Before General Douglas MacArthur could fulfill his stirring promise of "I shall return" and re-take the Philippines from Japanese control, a remarkable rescue mission would have to take place. Captured American soldiers had been held at the notorious Cabanatuan prison camp for more than 33 months. Emaciated and ill from brutal mistreatment, a mere 511 POWs remained from the 25,000-strong force that MacArthur had been ordered to abandon on February 23, 1942. On the morning of January 28, 1945, a small band of Army Rangers set out on an audacious and daring rescue effort: to penetrate 30 miles into Japanese controlled territory, storm the camp, and escape with the POWs, carrying them if necessary. William B. Breuer recounts in searing, meticulous detailbased largely on interviews with survivorsthe hellish battles of Bataan and Corregidor; the horrors of the Bataan death march; and the harrowing efforts of guerilla fighters. A classic of its kind, The Great Raid tells the full story of this episode with a breadth and depth of detail that goes far beyond other accountsincluding Hampton Sides's best-selling Ghost Soldiers. The Great Raid is a thrilling true-life adventure story and an inspiring testament o American heroism and grit. And as retired four-star General Barry McCaffrey asserts in his introduction, The Great Raid is an "important book for our current military and political leaders to read."

Download or read book Ghost Soldiers written by Hampton Sides and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2002-05-07 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “The greatest World War II story never told” (Esquire)—an enthralling account of the heroic mission to rescue the last survivors of the Bataan Death March—from the author of Blood and Thunder. On January 28, 1945, 121 hand-selected U.S. troops slipped behind enemy lines in the Philippines. Their mission: March thirty rugged miles to rescue 513 POWs languishing in a hellish camp, among them the last survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March. A recent prison massacre by Japanese soldiers elsewhere in the Philippines made the stakes impossibly high and left little time to plan the complex operation. In Ghost Soldiers Hampton Sides vividly re-creates this daring raid, offering a minute-by-minute narration that unfolds alongside intimate portraits of the prisoners and their lives in the camp. Sides shows how the POWs banded together to survive, defying the Japanese authorities even as they endured starvation, tropical diseases, and torture. Harrowing, poignant, and inspiring, Ghost Soldiers is the mesmerizing story of a remarkable mission. It is also a testament to the human spirit, an account of enormous bravery and self-sacrifice amid the most trying conditions.

Download or read book Miss U written by Margaret Utinsky and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2017-07-19 with total page 163 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of the heroism of Margaret Utinsky, who, against unbelievable and fantastic odds, for three years led an underground organization in the Philippines in a relentless and telling effort to aid American prisoners of war held by the Japanese. Dauntless and determined, she pushed into the background her own personal loss, faced the twin demons of physical and mental anguish, and “stood up” to circumstances and conditions which most of us find inconceivable. In her own words, she became “accustomed to doing the impossible.” And gaunt prisoners behind walls and wires, guerrillas in the hills, the faithful in Manila—all felt the force of the courageous leadership of this small dynamo, for whom “something always happened.”

Download or read book One Shot One Kill written by Charles W. Sasser and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 1990-04-01 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: They are the lone wolves of the battlefield. Tracking the enemy, lying in wait for the target to appear -- then they shoot to kill. Armed with an unerring eye, infinite patience and a mastery of camouflage, combat snipers stalk the enemy with only one goal... In World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and Beirut, American snipers honed the art of delivering a single deadly shot from nowhere -- and devastating enemy morale. They met the enemy on his own turf, picking off officers, unwary soldiers, and even other snipers from extraordinary distances of up to 1 ½ miles. Now, these uncommon men tell their stories: of the emotions felt when a man's face came into their crosshairs and they pulled the trigger, of the nerve-wracking hours and days of waiting, motionless, for the enemy, of the primal savagery of a sniper duel. Often trained haphazardly in wartime, and forgotten in times of peace, combat snipers were officially recognized after the Vietnam War, when the Marine Corps became the first military branch to start a full-time sniper school. One Shot-One Kill is their powerful record of desperate trials and proud victories. A MAIN SELECTION OF THE MILITARY BOOK CLUB

Download or read book Undefeated written by Bill Sloan and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-06-18 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This epic story recounts the exceptional valor and endurance of American troops that battled Japanese forces in the Philippines during World War II. Bill Sloan, “a master of the combat narrative” (Dallas Morning News), tells the story of the outnumbered American soldiers and airmen who stood against invading Japanese forces in the Philippines at the beginning of World War II, and continued to resist through three harrowing years as POWs. For four months they fought toe to toe against overwhelming enemy numbers—and forced the Japanese to pay a heavy cost in blood. After the surrender came the infamous Bataan Death March, where up to eighteen thousand American and Filipino prisoners died as they marched sixty-five miles under the most hellish conditions imaginable. Interwoven throughout this gripping narrative are the harrowing personal experiences of dozens of American soldiers, airmen, and Marines, based on exclusive interviews with more than thirty survivors. Undefeated chronicles one of the great sagas of World War II—and celebrates a resounding triumph of the human spirit.

Download or read book The Los Banos Prison Camp Raid written by Gordon L. Rottman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2011-10-20 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the southwest shore of Laguna de Bay in the Philippines stood the Los Banos Internment Camp. Held within were 2,147 starving POWs, surrounded by thousands of Japanese troops. As the desperate battle for Manila raged, only 130 Paratroopers could be spared for the rescue operation. Supported by Alamo Scouts, local guerrillas, and amphibious tractors, they seized the element of surprise, and rescued the POWs. It was a stunning triumph of courage and perfect timing in the face of overwhelming odds.

Download or read book Bataan Survivor written by David L. Hardee and published by University of Missouri Press. This book was released on 2017-12-01 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A forgotten account, written in the immediate aftermath of World War II, which vividly portrays the valor, sacrifice, suffering, and liberation of the defenders of Bataan and Corregidor through the eyes of one survivor. The personal memoir of Colonel David L. Hardee, first drafted at sea from April-May 1945 following his liberation from Japanese captivity, is a thorough treatment of his time in the Philippines. A career infantry officer, Hardee fought during the Battle of Bataan as executive officer of the Provisional Air Corps Regiment. Captured in April 1942 after the American surrender on Bataan, Hardee survived the Bataan Death March and proceeded to endure a series of squalid prison camps. A debilitating hernia left Hardee too ill to travel to Japan in 1944, making him one of the few lieutenant colonels to remain in the Philippines and subsequently survive the war. As a primary account written almost immediately after his liberation, Hardee’s memoir is fresh, vivid, and devoid of decades of faded memories or contemporary influences associated with memoirs written years after an experience. This once-forgotten memoir has been carefully edited, illustrated and annotated to unlock the true depths of Hardee’s experience as a soldier, prisoner, and liberated survivor of the Pacific War.

Download or read book Valley Forge to Monmouth written by Jim Stempel and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2021-01-11 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From December 1777 through June 1778, the American Revolution achieved a remarkable turnaround. I these months the Continental Army recovered from abject demoralization at Valley Forge to achieve a stunning victory against the British at Monmouth Courthouse. This compelling history chronicles how the war began to turn--from the consequential leadership of General Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette to the experiences of the men who marched and fought in the ranks--and reexamines one of the most controversial periods of early American history.