Rescue at Los Baños: The Most Daring Prison Camp Raid of World War II

Early in 1945, as the Nazi regime began to crumble and American soldiers, marines, and sailors relentlessly pushed ever closer toward the Japanese home islands, two thousand civilian prisoners of war, mostly Americans, suffered indescribable deprivation at the hands of a sadistic prison camp commander, deep in a Philippine jungle. Their story—and that of their liberators—is brilliantly told in Bruce Henderson‘s Rescue at Los Baños. It’s a tale of courage and resourcefulness that illuminates one of the most revealing chapters in the history of World War II.A disturbing account of an episode in a war so many ignoreAs best I can tell, the overwhelming majority of books in English about World War II center on the conflict in Europe. This seems to be the case even though the war in the Pacific was more protracted—starting in 1937 rather than 1939—and was arguably more consequential geopolitically than the European war. The map in Asia was massively changed, with three of the world’s most populous countries—China, India, and Indonesia—gaining their independence from European colonialists in the war’s aftermath.Of course, it’s true that casualties were far lighter in the Pacific, perhaps totaling twenty to twenty-five million on all sides compared to as many as one hundred million or more in Europe. But there’s no denying the ferocity of the fighting between the Japanese and the Allies. Nor did Imperial Japan take a back seat to Nazi Germany in the fanaticism and cruelty of its fighting men. And that cruelty is reflected in high relief in Bruce Henderson’s terrific account of “the most daring prison camp raid of World War II.”A military enterprise of staggering complexityI’m not aware that any film has been produced about the Los Baños prison camp rescue. If so, it must have proven to be a monumental challenge to the producers and scriptwriters. Henderson’s story of the raid reveals it in all its staggering complexity, highlighting the role played by its planners in US Army intelligence. Still, Rescue at Los Baños reads much like a novel, featuring the experiences of a dozen key figures in the raid, including Army soldiers and paratroopers, prisoners, and Philippine guerrillas. This is a story of ordinary people rising to extraordinary heights of performance.I have no idea whether the raid on Los Baños was indeed the most daring of World War II. But it was surely the most spectacular, involving near-simultaneous attacks by at least half a dozen different units coming at the camp from every conceivable angle. And it was spectacularly successful. Just three US combatants and two Philippine guerrillas died in the operation. The Japanese lost hundreds of soldiers to death or capture. There were “no civilian fatalities.”The raid was spectacular. So, why wasn’t it famous?Those Army intelligence planners couldn’t possibly have come up with a better subject for a book. It should not be surprising that, as the author discloses in the book’s appendix that lists the Dramatis Personae, “the Los Baños rescue mission became a legendary benchmark for military intelligence, planning, and execution of a raid behind enemy lines, and has been studied at military staff and command schools in the United States and elsewhere.”So, why did the Los Baños prison camp rescue receive so little attention at the time? Henderson explains that it “was not a case of wartime censorship. For on February 23, 1945, the same day as the raid, a combat photographer named Joe Rosenthal snapped an image of five soon-to-be-famous U. S. Marines raising the Stars and Stripes atop Mount Suribachi at a place called Iwo Jima.”

I've seen the movie and I think read another book about this raid/rescue. But this book keep me enthralled the whole time. I esp liked the photos that the author enclosed and the recap of what happened to whom at the end (with photos too). Excellent tying together all the different happenings and characters. It is always hard to believe that people (in this case the japanese) did such terrible things to civilians. I would highly recommend this book!

I was very excited when I learned that there was going to be a new book coming out about this amazing WWII rescue in the Pacific that saved more than 2,000 innocent, civilian American men, women and children. You see, my father, a paratrooper with the 11th Airborne, was one of the rescuers that day – February 23, 1945. Being a bit of an “insider” into this story, I have read most, if not all, of the accounts of this rescue.I began reading the Rescue at Los Banos with the expectation that much of what I would read I would have already read before. But, I felt that if I learned just one or two new things about the rescue, my time would be well spent. Well, what I learned was MUCH more than that!Bruce Henderson turned this historical event into a compelling personalized account of those involved. Through extensive research into the experiences of a few of the many people involved in the planning, timing and execution of this daring rescue, Bruce Henderson personalized their stories so that you, the reader, can feel just what it must have been like for them and, by extension more importantly, for the many.When reading Rescue at Los Banos, you will get to personally know the US soldiers, the Filipino guerillas and the Filipino people, the brave American civilian men, women and children imprisoned by the Japanese and the Japanese that imprisoned them.Though, in the past, I have met quite a few of the US soldiers that were there that day and read many accounts of the rescue, Bruce Henderson’s intense and compelling narrative brought this story to life for me for the first time. It’s a true story of human existence – good, evil, brutality, resilience, bravery, self-sacrifice, compassion, love…I wish that my Dad was still here with me so that I could ask him the questions that came to mind as I was reading. How did you feel when this was happening? What were you thinking when that was happening? How were these people acting? What were those people doing?I can no longer ask him those questions. But, in reading and feeling the personal, human, stories of the individuals brilliantly profiled by Bruce Henderson, I believe I have learned the answers.

THis is a most interesting book covering the civilian prisoners of the Japanese in the Philippines. The major part deals with the civilians in the camp at Los Banos while the rescue operation covers about the last third of the book.I thoroughly enjoyed it if enjoyed is the right word for the subject matter.

I just couldn't put this down, the people mentioned put up with so much. People should read this and think about what a privileged life we now lead.

Good read. Easy reading . Sad story happier ending. Sadly not worth the full 5 stars. Read it on holiday.

A gripping and extraordinary narrative indeed.