The astonishing, never before told story of the greatest rescue mission of World War II—when the OSS set out to recover more than 500 airmen trapped behind enemy lines in Yugoslavia…During a bombing campaign over Romanian oil fields, hundreds of American airmen were shot down in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia. Local Serbian farmers and peasants risked their own lives to give refuge to the soldiers … to give refuge to the soldiers while they waited for rescue, and in 1944, Operation Halyard was born. The risks were incredible. The starving Americans in Yugoslavia had to construct a landing strip large enough for C-47 cargo planes—without tools, without alerting the Germans, and without endangering the villagers. And the cargo planes had to make it through enemy airspace and back—without getting shot down themselves.
Classified for over half a century for political reasons, the full account of this unforgettable story of loyalty, self-sacrifice, and bravery is now being told for the first time ever. The Forgotten 500 is the gripping, behind-the-scenes look at the greatest escape of World War II.
“Amazing [and] riveting.”—James Bradley, New York Times bestselling author of Flags of Our Fathers
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A daring rescue of soldiers behind enemy lines in WWII Yugoslavia. I found this book highly readable and entertaining and I learned so much of that part of the world during the war and how the events and people affected that part of Europe and its history following the war.
Gripping story of the rescue of downed US airmen in Yugoslavia in WWII. The description of the rescue effort itself was riveting, intensified by the conflicting priorities of the British and American intelligence agencies. The book is enriched by background studies on a few of the downed airmen and the OSS officers who orchestrated the rescue. I found the description of the Communist moles in the British government and their successful attempt to twist Allied policy toward Yugoslavia to the geopolitical advantage of the Soviet Union to be particularly enlightening.
The story is fascinating, and after reading it, I was surprised it wasn’t part of my high school history studies. There were many brave people who risked their lives to save our soldiers. It was a book my husband and I shared with several friends, and then they shared it as well.
I highly recommend this book. It was a story I was unfamiliar with and, as a patriotic citizen, I was very proud of these men. Sadly, it didn’t turn out happily every after for these very deserving soldiers!
A retelling of a heroic rescue of an unbelievable number of Allied air crews despite a lack of cooperation and significant interference by the communists and communist b sympathizers of the US and British State departments.
Not only did it show the determination of the people involved, it also showed how God was involved as well as events seemed to sometimes miraculously work out. I really enjoyed reading it. Definitely a page-turner.
An amazing piece of history.
A piece of history I had never heard of. A good story of heroic efforts by people of very different backgrounds and the failure of several governments to save the man who did so much to save the 500.
I loved this book although it is not for everyone.. my father fly these missions o had a personal tie!!!
The accomplishment is amazing. The fact this has been hidden is sickening!
The book is well written and documents an important section of the U. S. Airmen’s efforts to escape the Germans. It also chronicles the birth of what is now the CIA.
A little work to get through but very informative
I was very sorry for the way our government handled this. I highly recommend this book.
Another story that needs to be told and treasured. Informative and inspirational book that we must preserve and share. Definitely read this book.
Our brave warriors standing up to almost impossible odds. A must read.
I was born in Budapest, Hungary. My family owned a summer cottage at Lake Balaton (Plattenzee in German) and we regularly spent the summer holidays (couple of months) at this place. Lake Balaton is about half way between the
HU Capital, Budapest and Yugoslavia (Serbia).
My parents (correctly) assumed that our family would have a better chance to survive the Russian occupation (conquest) of HU at our summer cottage than
going back to our home in Budapest at the end of the summer of 1944. All
schools stayed closed everywhere in HU during the last year of the II. World War.
So we stayed at the Lake B. The Russian occupation (soldiers, tanks, bombings, etc.) arrived to us on Dec. 3, 1944. I was 11 ½ yrs old then, that is I was old enough
to remember vividly many of the things described in this book: The Forgotten 500.
This book replayed for me events, that happened ¾ of a century ago, many of
which perhaps unconsciously guided my life during the following 75 years.
This is one of the reason why I am offering a 5 star rating here.
great read
At times somewhat tedious with minor details. But the story begs to be made into a major motion picture. Many colorful, well described characters and engrossing history for military history buffs. I was unfamiliar with this amazing story of downed fliers hiding and ultimately escaping from the Nazis in WWII eastern Europe. The courage of the downed fliers and their equally courageous anti-Nazi benefactors is evident throughout the narrative. A definite place in my collection. I’ll revisit it again soon to pick up even more facts and mental images of this true life adventure.
This is all the things they don’t teach you in school. Real history.
One of the great rescue missions of WW2, Operation Halyard. The bombing of the oil refineries in Romania started in 1942 and by 1944 there were over 500 stranded Allied airmen, mostly Americans, who had to bail out over Serbia after being shot down. These pilots were hidden by resistance people but more often than not they were rescued by Yugoslavian farmers and countrymen who risked their lives and their families to save these men. This is the account of the mission to rescue these men and the building of an airstrip right in the midst of German occupied territories.