The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II

by Gregory A. Freeman

Paperback, 2008

Status

Available

Call number

940.54

Genres

Publication

NAL (2008), Edition: Reprint, 336 pages

Description

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...During a bombing campaign, hundreds of American airmen were shot down in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia. Local Serbian villagers risked their own lives to give refuge to the soldiers, and for months the airmen lived in hiding, waiting for rescue. In 1944, Operation Halyard was born. The risks were incredible. The starving Americans in Yugoslavia had to construct a landing strip-without tools, without alerting the Germans, and without endangering the villagers. And the rescue 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. The Forgotten 500 is the breathtaking, behind-the-scenes look at the greatest escape of World War II.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member marshapetry

Enjoyable book. However, I found it repetitious, and critical areas were glossed over. Examples:

Repetition: How many times did I have to be reminded that the US military told soldiers (wrongly) to look for Tito's soldiers and that Mihilavich's soldiers were awful? OK, I got it - they blew it, but

this is a major theme and it's repeated over and over. Tito bad, Mihilavich good. It made me wonder whether the book was written by a supporter of Mihilavich that wanted to rant about how unjust things were.

Glossed over: the whole bit about building an airstrip by hand took just a couple of minutes... I'd been waiting through the book to finally hear about the challenges they faced doing this, and how it was done, and it ended up like "it was hard. Really hard.". WTH?

But overall I liked the book - interesting story.

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LibraryThing member lamour

Allied air forces started bombing the oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania in 1942. They really stepped up the campaign after they took Italy which made the flights to Romania shorter. However, the Germans defended the oil fields with 100's of fighters and 1000's of antiaircraft guns. The losses for

the Allies were high and many planes were able to flee the oil fields badly damaged but they could not climb over the mountains to Italy. Many airmen bailed out over Yugoslavia and were rescued and hidden from the Germans by the Chetniks. The Allies would not recognize that possibly a 100 men were being hidden. When they finally became convinced, they set up a air rescue which eventualy brought out over 500 men.
The other theme in the book is how the British and Americans backed the Tito Partisans rather than the Mihailovich Chetnicks and lost Yugoslavia to the Communist Block after the War. The way the Allies treated Milailovich still rankles the men who were rescued by his men. The Serbian people shared their meager rations with these soldiers and to this day have happy memories of the the American airmen they protected.
Reading this is like reading a fictional adventure story. I could not put it down.

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LibraryThing member david__clifford

This book was recommended by a friend at work. This is an amazing story of survival and escape. I have read a lot of books on WWII and have not heard of this particular campaign over Romania. This story contains a number of first hand accounts. A good read.

LibraryThing member ComposingComposer

It was an interesting book. It got a bit slow from time to time, but mostly it was a very good, nonfiction depiction of a part of WWII history that is usually overlooked.

LibraryThing member Pondlife

This book covers two different topics: operation Halyard to rescue hundreds of stranded allied airmen who had bailed out over occupied Yugoslavia; and the Serb general Draža Mihailović, and his relationships with the various parties.

The coverage of operation Halyard is interesting, as there's not

much else in print on this topic. But the writing style is a bit simplistic and sometimes repetitive.

The coverage of Draža Mihailović seemed very one-sided. It seems he can do no wrong, and is misunderstood and attacked by all sides. There may be a need for a revision of the allies' treatment of Mihailović; but this isn't the way to do it.

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LibraryThing member martinhughharvey

I was fascinated to read the description that this is the unknown story of over 500 airmen who were rescued from capture in WWII. You bet I'd never heard of any such initiative so got a great deal on Kindle for the book.

The USAAF airmen were lost on the many raids on Ploesti in Rumania. These

oilfields were Hitler's main abundant source of fuel so it was a prize for the Nazis to keep and the allies to destroy. Once Italy was invaded the trip was easier for the Americans, but certainly not easy or close, and many raids were made on the facility at considerable loss to the US - as most heavy bombings were. Many aircrew bailed out and landed in Yugoslavia - which at the time while fighting the Nazis were also involved in a civil war between Tito's communist partisans and Milhailovich's royalist democrats. The latter and dirt poor peasants in the mountains tended to the American airman moving them around the mountains ending up in one mountain top hideout, giving them their last clothes and meagre rations.

While this was happening traitors in the Britsh forces loyal to communism (think Philby etc.) kept the news quiet and discredited and eventually convinced the Brits, and then the Americans, that Milhailovich were Nazi collaborators. Eventually brave and dogged OSS operators in Italy dug the story out and landed in Yugoslavia to mount a rescue operation. This involved peasants clearing a mountain top runway where in the summer of 1944 C47s landed one night and took out 48 of then over 200 Americans. The next morning US fighters came over the attacked a nearby Luftwaffe air base while more C47s took out the remaining airmen. By the time Italy was pacified 542 airmen were rescued with no loss of allied life. Remarkable.

But what was equally remarkable but depressing was how it was kept a secret - to save British and overall allied embarrassment on how they'd supported delivering Yugoslavia into communist and Stalin's hands. Pres. Truman awarded Milhailovich the highest non-American medal he could in 1948 after lobbying by numerous OSS vets of Yugoslavia but it was kept quiet. Meanwhile, Milhailovich was already dead after being executed by Tito in 1946.

in 1995 on the 50th anniversary of V-E Day US vets returned to the mountain top they'd left from and were honoured by 50 000 Serbians. Who honoured the Serbs though? It makes one weep.

A great and important book and beautifully written, A quick read but no means short on content. Too bad about the ending but it is N/F.

@GregoryAFreeman

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LibraryThing member sandylw

This is the wonderful story of how General Mihailovich risked his life to save over 500 airmen who bailed out over Yugoslavia during WWII on missions to bomb the oil fields in Ploesti. It is also the story of the Serbian people who risked their lives to help these airmen, and how many of them lost

their lives as retaliation when they were suspected of aiding the airmen. These people died rather than give the airmen up. It is also the story of how Churchill supported Tito and the partisans and called Mihailovich the enemy. The OSS had recruited men, many of them communists, to work in the service. Later, it turned out these communists were working to sabotage their efforts to rescue the men. This book was very good and easy to read. I thoroughly enjoyed learning a little history while reading this true story some unknown heroes. It read just like a novel.

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LibraryThing member jamespurcell

Little known but interesting story from the Second World War.

LibraryThing member parapreacher

A story kept secret far too long! My thanks to the author for sharing this account of international injustice! May our servicemen (and women) never be pawns again in the hands of bureaucrats during wartime!

LibraryThing member creighley

During a bombing campaign, hundreds of American airmen were shot down in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia. Local Siberian villagers risked their own lives to give refuge to the soldiers, and for months the airmen lived in hiding, waiting for rescue. In 1944, Operation Halyard was born. The risks were

incredible. The starving Americans in Yugoslavia had to construct a landing strip-without tools, without alerting the Germans, and without endangering the villagers. And the rescue planes had to make it through enemy airspace and back-without them 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. This is a look at the greatest escape of World War II.

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