Overview
On January 28, 1945, 121 hand-selected troops from the elite U.S. Army 6th Ranger Battalion slipped behind enemy lines in the Philippines. Their mission: March thirty miles in an attempt to rescue 513 American and British POWs who had spent three years in a surreally hellish camp near the city of Cabanatuan. The prisoners included the last survivors of the Bataan Death March left in the camp. Hampton Sides's vivid minute-by-minute narration of the raid and his chronicle of the prisoners' wrenching experiences are masterful. But Ghost Soldiers is far more than a thrilling battle saga. Hampton Sides explores the mystery of human behavior under extreme duress-- the resilience of the prisoners, who defied the Japanese authorities even as they endured starvation, tropical diseases, and unspeakable tortures; the violent cultural clashes with Japanese guards and soldiers steeped in the warrior ethic of Bushido; the remarkable heroism of the Rangers and Filipino guerrillas; and the complex motivations of the U.S. high command, some of whom could justly be charged with abandoning the men of Bataan in 1942. At once a gripping depiction of men at war and a compelling story of redemption, this book joins such landmark books as Flags of Our Fathers and The Rape of Nanking in preserving the legacy of World War II for future generations.
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Details
- ISBN-13: 9780385495653
- ISBN-10: 038549565X
- Publisher: Vintage
- Publish Date: May 2002
- Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
- Shipping Weight: 0.8 pounds
- Page Count: 384
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