The Perfect Horse The Daring U.S. Mission to Rescue the Priceless Stallions Kidnapped by the Nazis

The Perfect Horse : The Daring U.S. Mission to Rescue the Priceless Stallions Kidnapped by the Nazis
ISBN: 9780345544803
Publication Date: 23 August 2016

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the author of The Eighty-Dollar Champion, the remarkable story of the heroic rescue of priceless horses in the closing days of World War II

In the chaotic last days of the war, a small troop of battle-weary American soldiers captures a German spy and makes an astonishing findhis briefcase is empty but for photos of beautiful white horses that have been stolen and kept on a secret farm behind enemy lines. Hitler has stockpiled the worlds finest purebreds in order to breed the perfect military machinean equine master race. But with the starving Russian army closing in, the animals are in imminent danger of being slaughtered for food.

With only hours to spare, one of the U.S. Armys last great cavalrymen, Colonel Hank Reed, makes a bold decisionwith General George Pattons blessingto mount a covert rescue operation. Racing against time, Reeds small but determined force of soldiers, aided by several turncoat Germans, steals across enemy lines in a last-ditch effort to save the horses.

Pulling together this multistranded story, Elizabeth Letts introduces us to an unforgettable cast of characters: Alois Podhajsky, director of the famed Spanish Riding School of Vienna, a former Olympic medalist who is forced to flee the bomb-ravaged Austrian capital with his entire stable in tow; Gustav Rau, Hitlers imperious chief of horse breeding, a proponent of eugenics who dreams of genetically engineering the perfect warhorse for Germany; and Tom Stewart, a senators son who makes a daring moonlight ride on a white stallion to secure the farms surrender.

A compelling account for animal lovers and World War II buffs ...