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

The smooth flowing narrative follows a story that we should all be aware of. The facts explain what happened, how it happened, the main characters involved, and the sequelae after the fact. Hardly a textbook, it is moving and engaging and reveals a story that every American, and for all that, every Brit, too, should be aware of. If not for one young lady whose letter to her husband piqued him so much that he investigated it and kicked off a series of events, the rescue outlined in this book would never have happened, and further, that despite the best efforts of the British (who'd a thunk?) to quash the rescue, the Americans pulled it off anyway. A thrilling and engaging read, I'd recommend this book to all history buffs, OSS buffs, WWII buffs and students of inquiry. Well written, easy narrative, and well put together.

The Forgotten 500 By Gregory A. Freeman Every once in a while you discover a book that envelopes your emotions and you wonder how those events could happen. This is one of those stories, a true story. During WWII one of the Nazis’ main sources of fuel was an oil refinery in Ploesti, Romania. The Allied Powers made it their mission to destroy this refinery by sending countless missions from Brindisi, Italy, over Yugoslavia to Ploesti to bomb the facility. In the course of these missions, many B24 bombers were shot down and hundreds of Allied flyers (mostly Americans) were stranded behind enemy lines in Yugoslavia, a country that most did not know the language or customs. At that time in Yugoslavia there were two ruling factions. Draza Mihailovich, a staunch friend of the United States hated the Nazis and wanted to free his country from their grasp. Josip Broz Tito, a communist and ally of Russia also hated the Nazis, wanted to get rid of them and, interestingly enough, the two men hated each other. You had a dramatic triad, Mihailovich and Tito, each commanding thousands of soldiers fighting each other for control of Yugoslavia and each fighting the Nazis, their common enemy. Flyers would parachute into Yugoslavia, not having any idea how they would be received by the populace and wondering if they would be turned over to the Nazis. Much to their surprise and relief villagers would welcome them, hide them in their homes and share their meager supply of food. These villagers would risk their lives guiding them through the mountains of Yugoslavia to the troops of Mihailovich. English speaking Yugoslavians were few and far between and most communication was with gestures and pantomime. After days and, sometimes weeks, the group would reach Pranjane, Yugoslavia and be united with other flyers. This was Mihailovich’s accumulation point and ended up holding approximately 500 airmen. They would spend months with nothing to occupy their time and no communication with the allies. During this time, on a political front, Mihailovich was falling out of favor with the British because of the machinations of a Russian mole named James Klugman placed high in British intelligence. This had the effect of spoiling his relationship with the Americans, as well, though totally unfair. The few Americans who had spent time with Mihailovich behind enemy lines and had made it back knew the truth and were a small group trying to salvage the relationship and put together a rescue for the downed flyers. After several failed attempts to land an initial team at Pranjane to help prepare for the rescue as a combined British and American effort, the Americans decided to go it alone because of their belief of British sabotage. The Americans were able to land the team and, using the men there, built a runway in the mountainous region with hand tools which was no small effort. C-47 cargo planes were the ones chosen for the exfiltration and required a landing strip of 700 feet. The one built was exactly 700 feet with trees and mountains all around it. There was no room for error. Considering the fact that each plane only would hold 12 passengers and held just enough fuel to make the round trip from Brindisi to Pranjane, it is no small miracle that between August 9, 1944 and December 28, 1944, the Americans rescued over 500 airmen, 345 of them Americans with no fatalities. This, despite the fact they were flying over enemy territory in slow planes, easy targets for German Messerschmitt fighters. The trumped up case of Mihailovich collaborating with the enemy got worse because of Klugman and other communists in the ranks and he was cut off from the United States. Despite this, he remained a friend to the end and saw to it the airmen were protected at Pranjane through the entire operation. Not much longer the war ended and Tito gained control of Yugoslavia. He still hated Mihailovich and had him executed. Though Mihailovich was a friend to the very end, we aided in his execution and the eventual Communist control of Yugoslavia. Not our finest moment in history. Winston Churchill was later quoted saying that his handling of Yugoslavia was his biggest mistake of the war. In 1997 declassified British papers confirmed the Klugman/Mihailovich story and the truth was official. Mihailovich deserved much better. Sixty years after this travesty on May 9, 2005 the Legion of Merit was presented to Gordana Mihailovich for the actions of her father for the United States in WWII, In writing a review, it can be hard to decide what to include and not to include. It is a review, after all, not the book itself. Gregory Freeman has so much in this book that is not in this review and does a great job in telling this story that every American should hear. I appreciate him writing it.

It's both a thrilling adventure and a depressing look into British and American duplicity and stupidity in dealing with Stalin at the end of WWII. During late days of WWII Yugoslavia was occupied by the Germans but two bands of "patriots" occupied much of the countryside. Hundreds and perhaps thousands of Allied airmen had crash landed or bailed out over Yugoslavia. About 500 were being protected by General Mihailovich and his patriots. Civilians faced death or torture if the Germans even suspected that someone in the village had assisted the airmen to evade capture. Opposing Mihailovich were both the Germans and Gen Tito. With the war nearing its end the Soviets were looking to assure their control over Eastern Europe at the end of the war. Tito was their guy. Unfortunately British intelligence, foreign service and Churchill's staff were heavily infiltrated with Communists. Only many years after WW2 would the extent of the infiltration become evident with the defection of Burgess, McClean and Philby to the USSR. The evidence against others was overwhelming. In the US there situation was the same with Roosevelt's staff and State Dept filled with Russian agents and sympathizers including Alger Hiss. A plot was hatched by Stalin to discredit Mihailovich by accusing him of collaborating with the Germans. If he could be removed the USSR would gain control of Yugoslavia. After many attempts to contact the allies, an improvised code was used to send a message to an Army Air Force group that would be able to decode it. The message informed the Americans that there were several hundred US airmen, injured and near starvation, under the care of Mihailovich. It was not that he was denying food to the Americans but rather that there was no food for anyone. Decoded the message created a real problem for the communists in the Churchill and US governments. They had been accusing Mihailovich of delivering American airmen to the Germans but in fact he was trying to save far more than the allies thought existed. The book details the betrayals in the attempts to get team into hookup with the Americans. The author believes that British intelligence attempted to sabotage the effort but it's very possible that both British and American traitors were involved. After several efforts an all American effort resulted in success in getting agents on the ground with Mihailovich's forces. However, they were instructed to promise nothing, offer no help and just get the airmen out. The operation was a success but Mihailovich was betrayed by the allies and left to a terrible fate. This is a great book and should open eyes to an important part of American history that's not taught in our schools. Operation Halyard as this was called was matched with other operations designed to assure Soviet control at the end of the war. Secret Betrayal details the little known tragedy associated with Operation Keelhaul and related operations which delivered to several million patriots and former German POW's into Soviet hands to assure Russian control of Eastern Europe and their own territory. It included those who had fought on our side during the war as part of the governments in exile. The lucky ones were exterminated as they were passed into Russian control or committed suicide on the way , the unfortunates went to the Gulags, a near certain death sentence but far worse than death by a bullet.

The Forgotten 500 A Review by Anthony T. Riggio of the book “The Forgotten 500” written by Gregory A. Freeman I purchased this book on Amazon in a paperback edition. It was recommended to me by a fellow lover of history. I am so glad I read this book, which I unhesitatingly give Five Stars as a rating. This book is well written and follows a logical story line. I have an Uncle (now deceased) who flew missions over Yugoslavia during World War II and had many great stories. By the time I read this book he was gone so I could not ask him about his knowledge of the thousands of downed crews over this area. It is a story about real people both in the Army Air Corps., the OSS, the partisan leadership both pro the Soviet Union and Pro the other Allies fighting the Nazi’s. The brave crews who flew bombing missions over the former Yugoslavia, suffered great losses in life and many survived after bailing out in the mountainous areas. They were trained on what to do and warned about partisans who were pro Soviet Union and those that were sympathetic to the Nazi’s and what precautions they should take after landing in these territories. How they negotiated these hurdles depended upon the training and instincts of the individual airmen. They were warned against falling into the hands of one faction led by General Draza Mihailovich and believed that the partisan General Josip Broz Tito was the better of the two partisan factions and supported by British intelligence. The opposite was the reality and because of the post was politics it was Mihailovich who was tried as a war criminal. The rescue of most of the surviving air crews was truly facilitated by Mihailovich and his cooperation with the OSS. The book was intense in its presentation and the reader will be pleasantly surprised at how fast a read this book is. The book also outlined some of the struggles and brave risks taken by members of the OSS. I gave this book five Stars and highly recommend its reading.

Delves into virtually unknown issue with WWII downed pilots and the conflict between US and British intelligence and who got screwed for political expediency.

This is a story that begs to be told. It is the history of how airmen who were shot down during raids on eastern Europe were ultimately rescued by a coalition of very brave individuals. It also reveals how much of what we think of the area, its people and history is an arguably false narrative. Generally Americans, even students of military history are not told a great deal about places like the Slavic and Danubian states, know little about the ethnic groups nor the countryside. This book introduces such subjects and tells the story of how all came together to rescue the lost aircrews, spitting in the face of the Nazi war machine while kicking the figurative shins of Allied naysayers. It is an interesting read and from it I learned things I’d never been told in years of US Air Force duty which included many educational courses.

Very interesting story. But the writing was a bit ponderous. The middle of the book moves really slowly, and there's a ton of information that could have been covered in 20% of the time.

Finding good books can be tough for guys, but this one is a must-read! If you know someone who enjoys reading, this book is a fantastic choice! More guys should dive into books—there are some truly amazing ones out there! Books are such great gifts!

J'ai découvert un événement peu/pas connu. L'attitude des alliés vis à vis des partisans ou résistants yougoslaves est survolée mais n'est pas le but du livre. En revanche les mouvements de soutien au départ des Etats Unis dans l'immédiate après guerre est une découverte. Mais il reste encore tant de choses à découvrir sur cette époque. Anecdotique.

I was amazed at what the Allies did to retrieve the downed, wounded airmen in the Czech region and further amazed at the openheartedness of the friends of the Allies, the townspeople, and how the Partisans were not on our side and really helped to bring in Communism in the region. It was the Chetniks and Mihailovich who were our real Allies there. Tremendous and detailed and thoroughly readable. It was disheartening to hear how the British did not want to help and it was an American effort to get the downed airmen out. The downed airmen who were saved and airlifted out even threw their boots and coats out of the aircraft for the townspeople to wear. Good and fair Americans to the end.

Good book

A true saga of the peopole who have been forgotten, but who can forget their sacrifice and contribution they made to the humanity! A gripping saga from the first page to last.

Well priced and arrived on time are scheduled.