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

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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 in Yugoslavia.

“An amazing, riveting tale of unsung heroes who went above and beyond.”—James Bradley, New York Times bestselling author of Flags of Our Fathers

During a bombing campaign over Romanian oil fields, hundreds of American airmen were shot down in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia. Local Serbian farmers and peasants risked their own lives to give refuge to the soldiers while they waited for rescue, and in 1944, Operation Halyard was born. The risks were incredible. The starving Americans in Yugoslavia had to construct a landing strip large enough for C-47 cargo planes—without tools, without alerting the Germans, and without endangering the villagers. And the cargo 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 ever. The Forgotten 500 is the gripping, behind-the-scenes look at the greatest escape of World War II.

Our Top Reviews

Reviewer: Uncle Al 54
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Easy read, interesting history (again, something “they” never told us about in school!)
Review: 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.

Reviewer: Clarice
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A Riveting and Compellingly Told Story of the Rescue of 500 Airmen in WWII Yugoslavia
Review: This book is an outstandingly written and told story of the rescue of 500 airmen during World War II in Yugoslavia. It tells the story of not only the men who were rescued, but the man and the woman who were responsible for initially calling upon the United States government to make Operation Halyard happen. I highly recommend this book to not only students of World War II but students of history and book clubs who explore those subjects

Reviewer: Steve Dietrich
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great Read and Important History Lesson
Review: 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.

Reviewer: Paula
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: An eye opener
Review: Someone who should know recently told me, “war is part of life.” Considering his circumstances I felt both humbled and quieted. This book did the same for me. A part of the WW2 story I’d never heard of, has been written with clarity and compassion; not sappy, just intelligent, relatable, and honest. There’s no preaching here, nor is there an attempt to shame the reader into oblivion for things they can do nothing about. Yet, I was left with a poignant reminder to take “news” with a sense of care, and try to do good, whatever the circumstances are. The author of The Forgotten 500 has obviously done a lot of research…and follow up! I admire him for both. The story is absolutely compelling! Who knew that governments collude, lie, and seek to silence! sic I highly recommend a read…and thank the author for his considerable effort to honor some of those who have gone before us.

Reviewer: mivhk
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: 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.

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: 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.

Reviewer: deshpande, cv
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: 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.

Reviewer: DZ2
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Heroic Serbian Četniks saved 500 American airmen and got them rescued in this unbelievable story from WW2

Reviewer: flyingdutchman
Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Il libro descrive una storia interessante, probabilmento poco nota al grande pubblica (compresa me stesso).Invece la scrittura è poco appassionante, non riesce a coinvolgere il lettore, a mio parere.

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