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: Albert C.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Amazing, Relatively Unknown Aspect of the WWII European Air War
Review: An amazing, relatively unknown aspect of the WWII air war over Europe. A great read. I never knew we had such strong ties to Balkan area and the friendliness of the people who lived there who saved our downed airman from the occupying Germans. Also, the tension between the Yugoslavian leaders and eventual rise of Tito were new to me.

Reviewer: Michael Toler
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: True tales of downed bomber crewmen who, with aid of Serbian Chetniks and OSS were rescued in WWII
Review: During WWII, perhaps the most dangerous job in the Army was to be a Bomber Crewman in Europe. Only 1 in 7 men made 25 missions. Each B-17 and B-24 had a crew of 10-12 men. Over 7 thousand American bombers were shot down in Europe. More Army Air Corps men were killed attempting to bomb enemy targets than the entire US Marine Corps lost in the war. This book tells of the men who managed to bail out over Yugoslavia and were protected by the Serbian royalist Chetniks – NOT Tito’s communist Partisans. A US Army Air Corps commander and the OSS managed to rescue more than 500 US and Allied crewmen by flying into Serbia with C-46 transports and out to Allied bases.

Reviewer: Pam
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: PREVIOUSLY OWNED BOOK
Review: This was a previously owned book. It is in fairly good condition, I have no complaints.

Reviewer: Rosebud
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great read
Review: Excellent book for those interested in history

Reviewer: Michael N Vanatta
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: a staunch friend of the United States hated the Nazis and wanted to free his country from …
Review: The Forgotten 500ByGregory A. FreemanEvery 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.

Reviewer: Carl G. Wolfe
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Political Intrigue and a Daring Rescue
Review: Against a backdrop of political intrigue between the Americans and British and factions within Yugoslavia during World War II, a daring rescue was planned for hundreds of Allied airmen during World War II. It HAD to be done correctly the first time – and it was. This untold story is one that should have come to light years ago – but didn’t because of politics.

Reviewer: Nancy Halstead
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: WWII, American and Chetnik heroes in Yugoslavia
Review: This true story from World War II is an incredible account of heroes and bravery against “all odds”. This was secreted away for decades for many reasons and it took an act of Congress to start revealing this to the public.

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: 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: Maria F.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Started to read book at Airbnb we rented. Happy that Amazon had it.

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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