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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This book has two intertwined parts: the story of the rescue of mostly US airmen shot down over wartime Yugoslavia against the background of the support by the British of the Tito’s partisans stimulated by a communist spy.
To slow
A true WWII story that I had never known before
An outstanding story that few are aware of. Many unsung heroes and well worth the read.
The book is a slow reading historical account that gives many character and place names that are places not generally known — not enough details about the good people that saved the American pilots.
It would make a great movie !
I didn’t Finnish it.
A great read of forgotten events during WWII
Just think that the Serbs and Coalition went to war what a what a waste they protected our piolts and then they went to war over Catholic and Muslims+
after all, they did in the mountains of Turkey. The hiding and the food. How could you eat a straw sandwich and then get diarrhea for weeks and living on goats milk for a year. READ THE BOOK!
In spite of the turf wars between U.S. and British intelligence these airmen were rescued. As to how it began with a brief letter between a wife and her husband was amazing. I was unaware that a civil war was taking place in Yugoslavia at the time of Nazi occupation. It’s a reminder of the need to be aware of what takes place around us and to determine the actual truth of a matter rather than emotional allegiances.
This is a must read for everyone, period. An event that needs to be told giving credit to those who supported the downed fliers behind enemy lines to those who planned and executed a daring escape. Highly recommended.
EXCELLENT non-fiction. Very revealing historical account of WW II events. Makes a person question the integrity of the leadership of both the British AND the US. Makes us realize too many heroes remain unknown and too many SEEN as heroes perhaps shouldn’t be.
This has stayed with me long after I finished it. Having been alive when this happen even as a child, no one knew this. So much has been kept from us it isScary.
This is the story of rescuing of over 500 service men from the Germans by General Mihailovich and his chetnik forces. This rescue happen in spite of interference form British intelligence, Joseph Stalin and Josip Tito. All they had to do was build an airstrip {within 35 miles of an German airfield} and fly them out. The story was then suppressed by the United States government until 1967 and wasn’t acknowledged until the late 1990’s
This is a very interesting book, it covers the Yugoslavian WW II era and what took place there and what were the long term effects it had on the world. I remember some of the thing that are brought up in the book, but at that time I was young and wasn’t to concerned.
Excellent story
A great untold story about American pilots lost behind enemy lines in WWII!
Little known history.
Great book. Shows just what tragic things happen in war and how goverments are deceptive. Tragic that Churchill and the US would not recognize their mistake.
A well told story of a forgotten, part of our history.