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The Great Raid Paperback – May 22, 2002

by William B. Breuer (Author)

20 customer reviews

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Before General Douglas MacArthur could fulfill his stirring promise of "I shall return" and re-take the Philippines from Japanese control, a remarkable rescue mission would have to take place. Captured American soldiers had been held at the notorious Cabanatuan prison camp for more than 33 months. Emaciated and ill from brutal mistreatment, a mere 511 POWs remained from the 25,000-strong force that MacArthur had been ordered to abandon on February 23, 1942.

On the morning of January 28, 1945, a small band of Army Rangers set out on an audacious and daring rescue effort: to penetrate 30 miles into Japanese controlled territory, storm the camp, and escape with the POWs, carrying them if necessary.

William B. Breuer recounts in searing, meticulous detailbased largely on interviews with survivorsthe hellish battles of Bataan and Corregidor; the horrors of the Bataan death march; and the harrowing efforts of guerilla fighters. A classic of its kind, The Great Raid tells the full story of this episode with a breadth and depth of detail that goes far beyond other accountsincluding Hampton Sides's best-selling Ghost Soldiers. The Great Raid is a thrilling true-life adventure story and an inspiring testament o American heroism and grit. And as retired four-star General Barry McCaffrey asserts in his introduction, The Great Raid is an "important book for our current military and political leaders to read."

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

William B. Breuer is the acclaimed and award-winning author of thirty-four books, focusing on World War II, the CIA, and the FBI, as well as the Korean War. Fourteen of his books have been selections of the Military Book Club. He lives in Cleveland, Tennessee.

General Barry McCaffrey as a combat officer has twice received the Distinguished Service Cross and has been awarded three Purple Heart medals. A retired four-star general, he has served as director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and is now a national security analyst for NBC News.

From AudioFile

Near the end of WWII, the U.S. military had reason to believe that Allied prisoners of war in a camp in the Philippines would be executed when the Japanese pulled out. So a secret raid well behind enemy lines was organized to rescue the prisoners, survivors of the Bataan Death March, which had taken place near the beginning of the war. This book chronicles not only the preparation for the project and the raid itself, but also the fall of the Philippines at the start of the war and the persecution of the prisoners. It's a compelling, action-oriented story, which translates well to audio. Patrick Lawlor capably keeps the story moving, but the production would benefit by more vocal restraint. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Miramax (May 22, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 078688780X
ISBN-13: 978-0786887804
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 9 ounces
Average Customer Review: 20 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,893,496 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #251 in Books > History > Asia > Philippines
- #2076 in Books > History > Asia > Southeast Asia
- #16969 in Books > History > Military > World War II

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Five Stars

BySally Hewitton May 18, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

My husband liked it.

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Powerful and moving book

ByBhongon August 17, 2002

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

A powerful moving book detailing the experience of Filipino and American soldiers' struggle to free POWs in Cabanatuan, Philippines. As a Filipino-American, whose ancestor were directly affected by WWII, I found the book to be inspirational seeing both my beloved homelands unite to fight for the greater good.
The book gives life to a time in history of great importance, that Americans lack awareness-in and in dept to pay tribute to both Filipinos and Americans who fought for their country.
After reading the book, one is left with sheer amazement, pride, appreciation, and yet saddened by the lack of tribute lacking for these veterans, and The Great Insult America has bestowed upon Filipinos who fought and died for America and America's soldiers.
In July 14, 1941, when the Philippines was still a colony of the U.S., 140,000 Filipino soldiers was call to active service by then President Franklin Roosevelt to fight in WWII along side the Americans under the U.S. flag
Their brave service under the U.S. flag was snubbed when in 1946 Congress sign into law the Rescission Act of 1946, which affectively denied them their right to receive the same right given to other WWII U.S veterans.
Today there are only 12,000 surviving Filipino American veterans in the U.S and 35,000 Filipino veterans in the Philippines.
The book exemplifies the bravery these men did for the country and the injustice they are enduring today.
Marimax is currently filming a movie based on this book.

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Five Stars

ByAmazon Customeron August 27, 2016

Format: Audio CDVerified Purchase

Very informative.

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Five Stars

ByJack V.on March 10, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

history is great. Thanks

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Five Stars

By807on December 2, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Great book and movie

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GOOD HISTORY

Bygfoxon October 2, 2013

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is a good read and really shows how inhuman these people. If this is there culture, we shouldn't have anything to do with them.

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Read "Ghost Soldiers" Instead

ByA. RossHALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE VOICEon June 20, 2007

Format: Paperback

Like many people, I read and generally enjoyed the 2001 bestseller Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission. What I didn't realize when I picked up this earlier book, was that it covers almost the exact same material, but in a much less engaging way. (It should be noted that both books owe a huge debt to Forrest Johnson's 1978 book Hour of Redemption: The Heroic WW II Saga of America's Most Daring POW Rescue, a debt acknowledged in Ghost Soldiers but not by this book.) Here, Breuer provides a workmanlike account of the post-Pearl Harbor political and military context that led to the U.S. "abandonment" of the Philippines, its subsequent fall to Japan, and the horrific fate of the US and Filipino soldiers taken prisoner. He similarly sketches out the spy network that operated under Japanese occupation, the regrouping of U.S. forces as the war in Europe wound down, and the planning and execution of the titular raid to free 511 POWs.

This material all more or less overlaps with Ghost Soldiers but isn't nearly as well written. Breuer has a penchant for trite melodramatic phrasing, and tends to repeat information over and over and over as if his reader has no memory. It also doesn't help that instead of simply writing "three Rangers did X", he writes, "John Q. Doe of Springfield, IL, James R. Doe of Anywhere, WY, and Jesse T. Doe of Plainview, MI did X." I certainly understand his desire to honor every solider he can by naming them, but it makes for very awkward reading. Another small tick that bothered me was that if any soldier had played college football, that merited mention -- but only football, no other sport. Why? Finally, his interviews with veteran POWs and Rangers seemed to yield little more than the most banal of anecdotes and recollections and their inclusion, again, while honoring them, really doesn't help the book's readability.

Unfortunately, behind the weak writing lurk bigger flaws. Foremost of these is a total lack of explanation as why it was deemed so crucial to mount a dangerous, complex, behind-enemy-lines mission to rescue the POWs. Breuer repeats a number of times that it was feared that the Japanese would massacre the POWs, but never tells what foundation that fear rested on. The reader is left to conclude that it was all basically hearsay based on the notion that the Japanese might do it for reasons of revenge as they retreat. This contrasts poorly with Ghost Soldiers, which explains that the U.S. Army's knew of one such massacre (the Palawan Massacre, in which American POWs were burned alive by retreating Japanese), and thus there was a very real fear guiding the raid at the climax of the book. The book also suffers somewhat from Breuer's agenda to lionize Douglas MacArthur and vilify Roosevelt and the "faceless Washington bureaucrats" (can someone please retire this trite phrase?). This is somewhat redeemed by his drawing attention to the massively heroic efforts of Filipino soldiers at the side of the Americans, and their subsequent total betrayal when it came to due honors and compensation from the U.S. government.

However, in the end, there's no reason to read this version of history when Ghost Soldiers is available -- unless you're really really interested in the Pacific Campaign. There's so much overlap between the two that all you'd be getting is different emphases. Related books that might be worth checking out are Silent Warriors of World War II: The Alamo Scouts Behind the Japanese Lines and Manila Espionage, Claire Phillips account of her life as the ringleader of an Allied spy ring in the Philippines (later made into the forgettable film I Was An American Spy).

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Amazing History. Less Than Amazing Retelling of History

ByIgnatious Valveon April 5, 2006

Format: Paperback

As an American missionary working in the Philippines, this bit of history was very interesting for me. The history is truly amazing- the brutality of the Japanese, the response of the American government, the personality and strategy of General Douglas MacArthur, and the reaction of the Filipinos themselves were all fascinating. The author based his book on many interviews he did with survivors, and this made the recollection of history much more interesting and also much more personal. The story is told through the lives of actual individuals and their memories- this enhances the story. The author has a political point to make in his book, and it is a political point that I happen to believe has truth to it. I will quote him from page 232, "Who was to blame for America's monumental debacle in the Philippines and at Pearl Harbor?....the culprits were the people of the United States and shortsighted politicians in Washington who held fast to the belief that the way to keep America out of war was to remain militarily weak..."

I enjoyed the book, but I believe it was written poorly. There was an obvious bias against the Japanese. No doubt the Japanese committed numerous atrocities, but everything in the book was shaded with an honest dislike for their race. I found this frustrating. Though Filipinos were often exalted in the book, the author writes in a way that shows his favoritism (maybe racist favoritism) for Americans. The Filipinos are portrayed as the cute `little brown brothers', which actually are the words of a former US President. In the book, vulgarity, machismo, and plain stupidity of American soldiers is exaggerated and exalted. The retelling of this history reminded me of how a war veteran might recount the events- with favoritism, a little added heroics, and genuine hate for the enemy. Are these things bad for a veteran to do and or believe? I don't believe so, but a non-fiction history account should retell history in a clear, non-biased way. Would I want my great-uncle Frank to tell me about his experience in WW2? Of course- I would covet first hand information. But would I want to base my understanding of the entire war on much more than Uncle Frank's observation? No. This book felt like great-uncle Frank. I look forward to reading Ghost Soldiers, to get a different style and outlook regarding the Philippines during WW2.