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  • Published: 22 October 2014
  • ISBN: 9780451419149
  • Imprint: Dutton
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 368
  • RRP: $32.99
Categories:

Savage Will

The Daring Escape of Americans Trapped Behind Nazi Lines



On a cold morning in war-ravaged Sicily in 1943, a group of American medics and nurses boarded a routine flight to the Italian mainland to care for wounded soldiers. En route, their plane became lost in storm clouds looming over the Adriatic Sea, drifted hundreds of miles off course, and crash landed in remote, mountainous Albania.

Stranded without proper winter clothing or even weapons, the Americans were trapped 850 blizzard-plagued miles from Allied lines, in a Nazi-occupied country torn apart by rival bands of resistance fighters and pro-German guerillas.

What followed is the most thrilling untold story of World War II.

The plight of these men and women became a top secret obsession for Allied intelligence community, who hatched desperate rescue missions to save the group. Evading capture with the help of partisan guides and a British secret agent who parachuted in under the cover of night, the Americans endured sixty days of grueling terrain, terror and near-death, all while their ordeal was followed with bated breath by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill.

For the first time, author Timothy M. Gay tells this incredible true tale of perseverance, heroism, and survival--an amazing, inspirational story that salutes the ordinary citizen soldiers who gave their all for the country.

In the tradition of incredible true stories from The Great Escape to Argo, Savage Will recounts a tale of survival, daring, and evasion behind enemy lines: that of American medics and nurses stranded for two months in Nazi-occupied Albania.

“Amazing.”—The Washington Times • “New and surprising.”—America in WWII • “A must-read espionage and survival story.”—Marcus Brotherton • “Wonderfully entertaining”—Alex Kershaw

In 1943, men and women of the 807th Medical Air Evacuation Squadron boarded a routine flight from Sicily to the Italian mainland to care for wounded soldiers. En route, their plane drifted hundreds of miles off course and crash-landed in remote mountainous Albania.
 
The unarmed Americans were trapped hundreds of blizzard-plagued miles from Allied lines, in a country torn apart by rival bands of pro- and anti-German guerrillas. Hunted by German soldiers, the castaways relied on what one survivor called their “savage will” to elude their enemy and find their way to freedom.

What followed is the most thrilling untold story of World War II—a saga reaching from President Roosevelt and top Allied intelligence officials to a host of brave Albanian Resistance fighters, the British and U.S. Mediterranean air forces,  and the dashing English lieutenant and the tenacious American captain sent behind enemy lines to carry out a heroic rescue.

  • Published: 22 October 2014
  • ISBN: 9780451419149
  • Imprint: Dutton
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 368
  • RRP: $32.99
Categories:

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Praise for Savage Will

"Powerful, intriguing, well-researched, and fierce. Savage Will is a must-read espionage and survival story that will appeal to fans of military nonfiction everywhere. This is Argo meets Ernest Shackleton during WWII's darkest days. "
--Marcus Brotherton, Author of Shifty's War
"Savage Will is a wonderfully entertaining and moving story of survival, heroism and escape, one of the best to emerge from World War II."
--Alex Kershaw, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Liberator
"This interesting, well-researched story reads like a thriller, and I suspect, like Argo, it would make an interesting movie."
--The Washington Times
"Gay has unearthed a rip-roarer in Savage Will."
--Lancaster Intelligencer Journal