Patton's Last Gamble: The Disastrous Raid on POW Camp Hammelburg in World War II

by Duane Schultz

Overview

In March 1945, against the advice of his top subordinates, Gen. George Patton created a special task force to venture more than fifty miles behind enemy lines and liberate a POW camp near Hammelburg, Germany. The camp held some 1,500 American prisoners, including Patton’s son-in-law. Hampered by ambushes and a lack of fuel and even maps, the raid was a disaster, one of the worst mistakes of Patton’s legendary career. Out of some 300 men, only three dozen returned. Based on memoirs, diaries, combat reports, and interviews with survivors, Patton’s Last Gamble vividly recounts a mission Gen. Omar Bradley later said “began as a wild goose chase and ended in tragedy.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780811770903
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	04/01/2022
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	1,089,129
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Duane Schultz is a graduate of Johns Hopkins, Syracuse, and American University. He is the author of Crossing the Rapido: A Tragedy of World War II and Into the Fire: Ploesti, the Most Fateful Mission of World War II, among other military history titles. He has written for such magazines as World War II, World War II History, and Military History Quarterly.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 I Have Just Pissed in the Rhine 1

Chapter 2 One Last Chance to Be a Hero 8

Chapter 3 That Is Some Sorry Ass 24

Chapter 4 When Will This End? 37

Chapter 5 The Jeep Was Red with Blood 50

Chapter 6 Somebody Knew We Were Coming 61

Chapter 7 Let's Just Get the Hell Out of This Place 71

Chapter 8 Now They Know Who We Are 84

Chapter 9 This Officer Must Be Saved 98

Chapter 10 Mission Accomplished! 110

Chapter 11 Two Hours Too Long 122

Chapter 12 They Shot the Crap Out of Us 133

Chapter 13 No News of Baum 145

Chapter 14 That's Part of Me over There 158

Chapter 15 Der Krieg ist Kaput 170

Chapter 16 A Hell of a Way for a Soldier to Die 184

Chapter 17 The Judgment of History 198

Acknowledgments 203

Notes 207

Bibliography 219

Index 225

Editorial Reviews

Students of military history, World War II, and Patton will find the book useful. Readers of all backgrounds will find the book a pleasure to read. The reader who finishes this book will learn more about Patton, World War II, and an obscure piece of its history.

Military Review

Praise for the author's The Maverick War: Chennault and the Flying Tigers

Schultz’s accounts of the Flying Tigers’ feats are superb and his interpretations of their military significance are succinct and satisfying.

The Washington Post

Praise for the author’s Into the Fire: Ploesti: The Most Fateful Mission of World War II

A vivid chronicle [and] a fresh account of a particularly bloody mission.

The Wall Street Journal

Praise for the author’s Into the Fire: Ploesti: The Most Fateful Mission of World War II

Shimmers with historical parallels and modern resonances.

Washington Times

Praise for the author’s Into the Fire: Ploesti: The Most Fateful Mission of World War II “A vivid chronicle [and] a fresh account of a particularly bloody mission.” —Wall Street Journal “Schultz combines a historian’s meticulous research and a novelist’s hypnotic prose to produce this memorable popular history.” —Publishers Weekly “Shimmers with historical parallels and modern resonances.” —Washington Times

Praise for the author's The Maverick War: Chennault and the Flying Tigers   “Schultz’s accounts of the Flying Tigers’ feats are superb and his interpretations of their military significance are succinct and satisfying”  —Washington Post   “Highly readable.”  —Publishers Weekly   “A rousing account, clearing the air of myth-makers’ hyperbole without tarnishing the glory earned by these renegade warriors.”  —Kirkus    

From the Publisher