48 Hours to Hammelburg

New York, N.Y.: PBJ Books, 1982. First PBJ Books, Inc., printing [stated]. Mass market paperback. Good. xix, [1], 199, [5] pages. Map. Footnotes. Bibliography. Cover has wear and soiling. This is the story of one of the boldest and most exciting missions of World War II was carried out far behind the German lines by a handful of brave American soldiers. Yet in spite of having all the elements of a great popular adventure, it is a story that has never been told before in detail because of the power and position of the man who ordered the mission carried out. This is the first attempt to tell the story in full detail. Their target was Hammelburg, a POW camp sixty miles behind enemy lines. Their objective--to rescue the 1000 Allied prisoners held there. Three desperate German divisions stood in their way, ready to counterattack with a last-stand fierceness. Charles Henry Whiting (18 December 1926 - 24 July 2007), was a British writer and military historian and with some 350 books of fiction and nonfiction to his credit, under his own name and a variety of pseudonyms including Duncan Harding, Ian Harding, John Kerrigan, Leo Kessler, and Duncan Stirling. In 1967, he began writing nonfiction books for the New York publisher Ian Ballantine. Whiting continued this work even when producing novels. Between 1970 and 1976, he wrote a total of 34 books which he described as "Bang-bang, thrills-and-spills". From 1976, he was a full-time author and would average some six novels a year for the rest of his life. He was a prolific military historian, who developed a niche market for writing about the Second World War from the point of view of the experiences of regular soldiers rather than the military strategists and generals. This is the gripping, true, and long-suppressed full story of what exactly happened in the desperate drive to Hammelburg. Task Force Baum was a secret and controversial World War II task force set up by U.S. Army general George S. Patton and commanded by Capt. Abraham Baum in late March 1945. Baum was given the task of penetrating 50 miles (80 km) behind German lines and liberating the POWs in camp OFLAG XIII-B, near Hammelburg. Controversy surrounds the true reasons behind the mission, which most likely was to liberate Patton's son-in-law, John K. Waters, taken captive in Tunisia in 1943. The result of the mission was a complete failure; of the roughly 300 men of the task force, 32 were killed in action during the raid and only 35 made it back to Allied-controlled territory, with the remainder being taken prisoner. All of the 57 tanks, jeeps, and other vehicles were lost. General Patton assigned the mission to Combat Command B (CCB), 4th Armored Division, commanded by Lt. Col. Creighton Abrams. Abrams wanted to use his entire combat command (two battalions and supporting artillery) but was overruled, and instead one company of medium tanks, a platoon of light tanks and one company of armored infantry were assigned to the task force. The tank battalion commander tabbed to command the mission was ill and suggested that Baum, the battalion S-3, instead lead the task force. The largest problem facing the force going into the mission was a lack of maps—15 for 57 vehicles—and lack of knowledge of the exact location of the camp, which would have to be obtained through questioning of the locals en route. This slowed the task force considerably, forcing it to take on more fire than anticipated. Furthermore, a German spotter plane shadowed the column as it neared the camp, which would help coordinate resistance to the task force. Baum was shot in the groin while trying to flee back to allied lines and captured by the Volkssturm. He joined Waters in the Serbian hospital at the Hammelburg camp, which was liberated by the 14th Armored Division on 6 April—just 9 days after the failed liberation by Task Force Baum. Ironically, the failure of the task force did help set Waters free sooner: had he not been shot he would have been marched off to a camp further into Germany with the rest of the POWs. Baum received a Distinguished Service Cross. Patton awarded it to him personally.