Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission (Doubleday, 2001) is a non-fiction book written by Hampton Sides. It is about the World War II Allied prison camp raid at Cabanatuan in the Philippines.
 First edition | |
| Author | Hampton Sides |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | history |
| Publisher | Anchor Books |
Publication date | 2001 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Pages | 343 |
| ISBN | 9781299076518 |
| OCLC | 842990576 |
Synopsis
editIn late January 1945, 121 Ranger volunteers set out to attempt a rescue of over 513 Allied prisoners of war in a Japanese camp near the Philippine city of Cabanatuan. The prisoners, survivors of the Bataan Death March, had lived in deplorable conditions for three years, suffering from starvation, tropical diseases, and abuse from Japanese soldiers. Ghost Soldiers recounts the story of the prisoners, the Ranger unit performing the raid, and the Filipino guerrillas who provided assistance. A massacre of American soldiers at Palawan alerted U.S. commanders to the danger of mass POW murder as the Japanese retreated from the Philippines. As a consequence, they planned and executed a mission to rescue the POWs from Cabanatuan prison camp. Ghost Soldiers provides historical background to the events leading to the raid, detailed accounts of camp conditions, the prisoners' heroic will to survive, and the planning and successful execution of the rescue.
Film adaptation
edit- The movie The Great Raid was partially based on Ghost Soldiers, along with William Breuer's The Great Raid on Cabanatuan.
- The movie I Was an American Spy was based on the exploits of Claire Phillips, an American spy undercover as a cabaret owner in Manila.
Awards and honors
edit- 2001 New York Times bestseller, Nonfiction #7[1]
- 2001 Amazon.com Best Books, Top 25 Editors' Favorites, #4[2]
- 2002 PEN Center USA Literary Awards, Research Nonfiction[3]
Reviews
edit- New York Times, “Books Of The Times"; A Heroic Military Rescue After the Hell of Bataan” [4]
- Kirkus Reviews; “An extraordinary tale of bravery under fire and the will to endure…”[5]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Bestsellers". New York Times. May 27, 2001. Retrieved September 15, 2013.
- ^ "Best Books of 2001: Top 25 Editors' Favorites". Amazon.com. 2001. Retrieved September 15, 2013.
- ^ "Ghost Soldiers". PEN Center United States. Retrieved September 15, 2013.
- ^ "Books Of The Times". New York Times, Richard Bernstein. June 11, 2001. Retrieved June 9, 2015.
- ^ "Kirkus Reviews". March 15, 2001. Retrieved June 9, 2015.
- Chriss, C. (1945). "Raid on Cabanatuan".
- "People & Events: Juan Pajota and Filipino Contributions to the Raid". Pbs.org. Archived from the original on 2017-03-10. Retrieved 2017-08-28.
- Sides, H. (2002). Ghost Soldiers:The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission. Anchor Books.
- Breuer, W. (1994). The Great Raid on Cabanatuan: Rescuing the Doomed Ghosts of Bataan and Corregidor. Wiley.
External links
edit- Esquire; “The untold story of an epic mission and the army rangers who pulled off the most dramatic secret raid of World War II.”[1]
- USA Today; “Ghost Soldiers: The Forgotten Epic Story of World War II's Most Dramatic Mission”[2]
- Booknotes interview with Sides on Ghost Soldiers, September 30, 2001.
- Presentation by Sides on Ghost Soldiers', Santa Fe Festival of the Book, October 13, 2001
- ^ "Esquire". Esquire Books. January 29, 2007. Retrieved June 9, 2015.
- ^ "USA Today". USA Today Books. June 25, 2001. Retrieved June 9, 2015.