Product Description
On January 28, 1945, 121 hand-selected U.S. troops slipped behind enemy lines in the Philippines. Their mission: March thirty rugged miles to rescue 513 POWs languishing in a hellish camp, among them the last survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March. A recent prison massacre by Japanese soldiers elsewhere in the Philippines made the stakes impossibly high and left little time to plan the complex operation.

In Ghost Soldiers Hampton Sides vividly re-creates this daring raid, offering a minute-by-minute narration that unfolds alongside intimate portraits of the prisoners and their lives in the camp. Sides shows how the POWs banded together to survive, defying the Japanese authorities even as they endured starvation, tropical diseases, and torture. Harrowing, poignant, and inspiring, Ghost Soldiers is the mesmerizing story of a remarkable mission. It is also a testament to the human spirit, an account of enormous bravery and self-sacrifice amid the most trying conditions.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 138 reviews)

A Truly Patriotic Saga

`Ghost Soldiers' by Hampton Sides

Having just re-read `Ghost Soldiers' for the second time, I decided it was time to write a few words about this spectacular narrative. The book tells the parallel stories of the "Bataan Death March" survivors turned POW's with that of the 6th Army Rangers tasked with liberating them from the Cabantuan prison camp on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. The author recounts, in remarkable detail, these two stories until finally converging in a climactic rescue scene that rivals any great war story, WWII or otherwise.

`Ghost Soldiers' features the stories of individual prisoners whose crushing ordeal is at times almost too harrowing to believe. As you'll see in the author's acknowledgements - which, if ever, should certainly not be overlooked - the survivors fortunate enough to make it through this period of their lives, still themselves, have difficulty reconciling the circumstances of their captivity. It is more than a war story: `Ghost Soldiers' is an epic of a ghastly militaristic ideology confronted with indomitable human spirit. Mr. Sides brings these men and women's stories to life in a portrait that is truly stirring with patriotism.

November 17, 2008

Great historial account

I enjoyed the book very much. The planning and execution of the rescue, as well as historical events leading up to the imprisonment, are told brilliantly.
November 09, 2008

excellent read

This book brings an important period during WWII to life with stories that paint the horror that existed during this time and location of the war.
July 09, 2008

Incredible WWII saga, amazingly well-written!

As a student of World War II, I had heard of the infamous Bataan Death March, the occupation of the Philippines, and MacArthur's departure & subsequent return years later. The particulars of those POWs, however, were not as well-known to me. Like most people born after the last Great War, I was unaware of this particular story about the group of Cabanatuan survivors and their subsequent rescue by the Rangers. What I read was simply stunning in scope and detail.

First, let me praise Hampton Sides here for his amazing writing style and the true honor he gives to those involved in his stirring and touching tale. His writing style is easy to follow and read, but not overly simplistic. Intelligent, but attainable, I think would be most accurate. He does not patronize the reader, but logically and thoroughly tells the stories of those involved with this moment in history. From the civilians in Manila, to the Japanese invaders, to the early defenders who fell, to the returning soldiers who risked their lives for others, no detail is left unnoticed and all sides are presented with the objective view of a true historian. From the early tragedies and horrors of war (especially in the Pacific), to the heroism and triumph of 1945, everything is laid out for the audience to absorb and no stone is left unturned. A quick read, though, the pages seem to fly by and one is left feeling wiser and a bit patriotic for the experience.

Regarding the actual story, we follow the story of war in the Pacific, beginning with the hours-after-Pearl-Harbor attack on the Philippines and the surrender four months later of approximately 80,000 American and Filipino soldiers. From the original defenders of the Bataan peninsula, to the murdered POWs at Palawan, to Kreuger's Rangers, we follow this history of this volatile area during one of its most volatile times. After a group of POWs are murdered by the Japanese, the American command is worried that the farther the lines push inland, the more likely it will be that a similar fate will befall other groups of prisoners. A raid is devised and executed over the span of five days in late January 1945. If you are a student of this era, or history in general, you may already know the outcome and some of the details. I can say, though, that you likely have never known the details that Hampton Sides brings to the table. Moreover, the story should never be forgotten and is worth reading time and time again.

This was one of two principle sources for the movie, "The Great Raid," with Benjamin Bratt and James Franco. Having seen the movie as well, you will find the translation from the book to be astonishingly accurate, which is what makes for a most exciting and entertaining movie. (The love story was added for additional effect, but it does not detract from the historical angle of the movie). While the movie is a quick version of this page in U.S. Military history, you will find the book far more interesting in the end, with more intrigue, drama, action, heroism and ultimate victory. I cannot recommend enough learning more about this story or in Hampton Sides amazing way of telling it.
July 08, 2008

Accurate, compelling account of a true, combat event of WWII

This is most likely a book for a fairly narrow audience - specifically those with an interest in WWII, or in military history in general. But it is well done and might appeal to a wider group than I imagine. It is written in a direct, descriptive style interwoven with quotes or observations from the participants - prisoners, rangers, Filipino guerillas - that provide a context with the ring of historical fact.

The raid on the Cabanatuan POW camp is a story of one of the very rare instances of a military mission where planning, effort, coincidence and luck combined such that almost everything went exactly right. One hundred twenty American Army Rangers assaulted a fortified camp garrisoned by several hundred Japanese combat troops and rescued over 500 POW's, losing only two soldiers during the engagement. Simultaneously, Filipino guerillas provided a blocking action against the arrival of 1,000 reinforcements only one mile away.

Alternating chapters deliver the progression of the raid - approach, planning, coordination with the local guerillas, the assault, and the return - interspersed with descriptive background such as the fall of Bataan, the Death March, conditions and developments within the POW camp, and the Japanese plan to exterminate all the POW's in the face of the American invasion to recapture the Philippine islands.

The narrative is not dry or dull; the author's prose is colorful and he provides an appropriate but not overwhelming level of detail - the strength and weaponry of the opposing forces, the layout of the camp, the details of the tactical plan itself and some of the individual actions during the attack.

As an aside, the motion picture, The Great Raid, with Benjamin Bratt and James Franco, is very true to the book and has taken very few dramatic liberties. The rescue assault sequence is a fairly brief, but compelling piece of combat action with a terrific atmosphere of sights and sounds and a driving sense of urgency, without any extraneous gore.

July 02, 2008

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