9781422277188

SPECIAL FORCES: STORIES World War II Prison Breakout!

Army Rangers Make Their Mark

SPECIAL FORCES: STORIES

Captured! Bringing in 9/11 Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Going After Sparky! Pararescue Jumpers Bring Vietnam War Pilot Home Rescue from an ISIS Prison! Delta Force in Iraq During the War on Terror Saving Private Lynch! A Rescue Story from Operation Iraqi Freedom Storming the Somali Pirates! Navy SEALs Save Hostages Take Out Bin Laden! Navy SEALs Hit the Most Wanted Man A Terrorist Goes Down! Delta Forces in Syria Take Out an ISIS Leader World War II Prison Breakout! Army Rangers Make Their Mark

World War II Prison Breakout! Army Rangers Make Their Mark

By Jim Gigliotti

Mason Crest

Mason Crest 450 Parkway Drive, Suite D Broomall, PA 19008 www.masoncrest.com © 2019 by Mason Crest, an imprint of National Highlights, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher. Printed and bound in the United States of America. Series ISBN: 978-1-4222-4077-9

Hardback ISBN: 978-1-4222-4085-4 EBook ISBN: 978-1-4222-7718-8 First printing 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2

Produced by Shoreline Publishing Group LLC Editorial Director: James Buckley Jr. Designer: Bill Madrid Production: Sandy Gordon www.shorelinepublishing.com Cover photograph by Bettmann/Getty Images.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file with the publisher.

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C ontents

Introduction: Mission Briefing…….…….…….…….…….…….……. 6 1. Mission Report: Background …….…….…….……. 10 2. Meet the Rangers …….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…… 16 3. Mission Report: Making the Plan …….…….…….26 4. The Action Begins …….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….……34 5. Mission Report: Gear Up … .…….…….…….…….……42 6. Go! Go! Go! …….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….……46 7. Mission Accomplished …….…….…….…….…….…….…….……54 Text-Dependent Questions …….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….60 Research Projects …….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….… 61 Find Out More …….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….62 Series Glossary of Key Terms …….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…63 Index… .…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….64 Words to Understand: These words with their easy-to-understand definitions will increase the reader’s understanding of the text, while building vocabulary skills. Sidebars: This boxed material within the main text allows readers to build knowledge, gain insights, explore possibilities, and broaden their perspectives by weaving together additional information to provide realistic and holistic perspectives. Educational Videos: Readers can view videos by scanning our QR codes, providing them with additional educational content to supplement the text. Examples include news coverage, moments in history, speeches, iconic mo- ments, and much more! Text-Dependent Questions: These questions send the reader back to the text for more careful attention to the evidence presented here. Research Projects: Readers are pointed toward areas of further inquiry connected to each chapter. Suggestions are provided for projects that encourage deeper research and analysis. Series Glossary of Key Terms: This back-of-the-book glossary contains ter- minology used throughout this series. Words found here increase the reader’s ability to read and comprehend higher-level books and articles in this field. Key Icons to Look For

L ieutenant Colonel Henry Mucci crouches low in a ditch just 30 yards from the main gate of the Cabanatuan (pronounced “ka-ba-na-TWAN”) detention camp in the Philippines. He checks his watch. The time: 7:30  pm . Any second now, the fighting will begin. It is January 30, 1945. In what will turn out to be the final year of World War II, the tide has turned in the battle in the Pacific. The US-led Allied forces have the Japanese on the run. The enemy forces are retreating fast, about to be driven out of the Philippines by General Douglas MacArthur and his troops. But before the Japanese go, they are hell-bent on leaving a trail of death and destruction in their wake. So Mucci and his Sixth Battalion of US Army Rang- ers have been assigned the most important task of their lives. They are to ambush the camp at Cabanatuan and liberate the men held captive there. Their mission: get all 500-plus prisoners of war (POWs) out alive. Mucci nervously looks at his watch: 7:35. Why haven’t the Rangers who have snuck around to the back gate fired the first shot yet? That was the M ission B riefing

Words To Understand Allied in the context of World War II, the side on which the United States fought, which also included Great Britain, France, Russia, and others liberate to set free

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• Cabanatuan

The heavily forested area of Cabanatuan is located on the island of Luzon north of Quezon City.

signal that would set the whole operation in motion. While the back gate is engaged, Mucci’s men will storm the front gate, take out the guards there, and free Cabanatuan’s POWs—almost all of whom are Americans. Now it is 7:38. Were Mucci’s men spotted en route to the back gate? Surely if that had happened, the guards in the towers would be on high alert. Instead, like most nights, they are just going through the motions, certain that no Allied troops can sneak up on a camp surrounded by hundreds of yards of wide-open terrain.

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And yet, it is 7:39—and still no sound of the gunfire that will mark the official start of the largest rescue mission in American military history. The POWs at Cabanatuan don’t realize they are about to be delivered from the nightmare they have lived for the past several years. They have no idea what is about to unfold. Neither do the 200-plus Japanese guards and other soldiers in the camp. Nor do the 1,000 or so members of the Japanese

The “rising sun” flag of Imperial Japan was flown over thousands of miles of captured countries and islands.

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American soldiers faced the Japanese in rugged country, sometimes with gear not suited to the region.

military stationed less than a mile from the back gate across the Cabu River— at least, everyone concerned with the operation hopes so. Because the suc- cess of the mission depends on absolute secrecy. It must be a complete and total surprise attack. The lives of the POWs—and those of the Army Rangers—depend on it.

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BACKGROUND 1. MISSION REPORT : E arly on the morning of December 7, 1941, more than 350 Japanese planes attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. It was a devastating strike that killed 2,403 Americans and wounded more than 1,000 others. The attack damaged all eight navy battleships stationed there, as well as several other cruisers and destroyers, plus dozens of aircraft. December 7 at Pearl Harbor was, as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt told the nation in a speech to Congress the next day, “a date which will live in infamy.” A World at War Before Pearl Harbor, the United States had remained on the sidelines dur- ing World War II. America had built up its military and had given indirect aid to its overseas friends, but the country was deeply divided over entering another conflict in Europe less than 25 years removed from deadly World War I—the “war to end all wars,” as it was called at the time. Many Ameri- cans believed the country should fight alongside Great Britain, France, Rus-

Words To Understand bayonet a long knife attached to the muzzle end of a rifle detention in this case, being held against one’s will isolationist a person who believes countries should stand on their own and not get involved in foreign conflicts

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This stunning image shows the explo- sion of the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

11 sia, and the other Allied forces against Germany, Italy, Japan, and the Axis powers. Many other Americans took an isolationist stance—saying that the country should keep to itself as much as possible and stay out of the war. After Pearl Harbor brought the fight directly to America, President Roosevelt was left with little choice. The next day, the United States officially entered World War II.

MISSION REPORT : BACKGROUND

The Japanese re-created this scene days after actually capturing these American and Filipino troops.

12 Most people even casually acquainted with US history can tell you about that. What’s not as well known is that only 10 hours after Pearl Harbor, Japan invaded the Philippines. There wasn’t enough left of the US Navy to mount a proper defense on the sea. Some 76,000 American and Filipino soldiers in the province of Bataan held out on land as long as they could, but they were backed into a corner, surrounded by water, jungle, and the Japanese army. And with most of America’s military attention and resources

directed toward stopping Adolf Hitler and Germany over in Europe, rein- forcements and supplies were not forthcoming. By early April, the troops in the Philippines were forced to surrender. Death March The Philippine surrender was the largest in US history. The number of sol- diers was so great that it took the Japanese by surprise. They expected far fewer than even half the number of the 76,000 men. Unsure what to do with POWs, they forced the men to walk from Bataan to a detention center at Camp O’Donnell, more than 60 miles (96 km) away. It was dusty, dry, “I Shall Return” In the spring of 1942, the Philippine island of Corregidor was the last line of defense between the Allied forces and full control of the Philippines by the Japanese. Corregidor’s location at the entrance to Manila Bay in the southwest part of the main Philippine island of Luzon, plus an elaborate system of tunnels and fortifications, enabled it to hold off enemy forces longer than the rest of the nation. But with defeat looming, General Douglas MacArthur—commander of the US Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE)— and his family were evacuated from Corregidor in March 1942. By boat, they evaded the Japanese Navy through 560 treacherous miles (901 km) to the island of Mindanao, and then were flown to Australia. There, MacArthur was given charge of the Allied forces in the southwest Pacific and famously promised “I shall return” to the Philippines. Two-and-a-half years later, he did. He put together the plan that retook the Philippines from the Japanese.

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MISSION REPORT : BACKGROUND

and exceedingly hot—sometimes more than 100°F (38°C). Many of the men were sick to begin with from malnutrition and tropical diseases. And most of the soldiers didn’t help. If men tried to drink water found by the side of the road, they might get the butt of a rifle cracked over their skull. If they stumbled, maybe the fatal pierce of a bayonet . Filipino citizens who tried to help were shoved out of the way.

Japanese soldiers (left) guard prisoners forced to go on the hellish Bataan Death March in the Philippines.

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