Raid, Book

Before General Douglas MacArthur could fulfill his stirring promise of “I shall return” and retake 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 thirty-three months. Emaciated and ill from brutal mistreatment, a mere 511 POWs remained from the 25,000-strong fighting force that MacArthur had been ordered to abandon on February 23, 1942….

Seventy-nine heavy bombers failed to return from the catastrophic raid on the industrial city of Leipzig on the night of 19/20 February 1944. Some 420 aircrew were killed and a further 131 became prisoners of war.