The Great Raid: Rescuing the Doomed Ghost of Bataan and Corregidor

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.

On the morning of January 28, 1945, a small band of Army Rangers set out on an audacious and daring rescue effort: to penetrate thirty miles into Japanese controlled territory, storm the camp, and escape with the POWs, carrying them if necessary.

William B. Breuer recounts in searing, meticulous detail, based largely on interviews with survivors—the hellish battles of Bataan and Corregidor, the horrors of the Bataan Death March, and the harrowing efforts of guerilla fighters. A classic of its kind, The Great Raid tells the full story of this episode with a breadth and depth of detail that goes far beyond other accounts, including Hampton Sides’s best-selling Ghost Soldiers. The Great Raid is a thrilling true-life adventure story and an inspiring testament to American heroism and grit. And, as retired four-star general Barry McCaffrey asserts in his introduction, The Great Raid is an “important book for our current military and political leaders to read.”

Near the end of WWII, the U.S. military had reason to believe that Allied prisoners of war in a camp in the Philippines would be executed when the Japanese pulled out. So a secret raid well behind enemy lines was organized to rescue the prisoners, survivors of the Bataan Death March, which had taken place near the beginning of the war. This book chronicles not only the preparation for the project and the raid itself, but also the fall of the Philippines at the start of the war and the persecution of the prisoners. It's a compelling, action-oriented story, which translates well to audio. Patrick Lawlor capably keeps the story moving, but the production would benefit by more vocal restraint.


About the Author

William B. Breuer is the acclaimed and award-winning author of thirty-four books focusing on World War II, the CIA, and the FBI, as well as the Korean War. Fourteen of his books have been selections of the Military Book Club. He lives in Cleveland, Tennessee.