Raid! is the "untold story of Patton's secret mission" toward the end of the War. This mission, devised by Patton and cleared by the higher ups (i.e. Bradley's HQ), was a raid behind enemy lines to liberate the Hammelburg POW camp. Although never directly admitted, it was (and is still) clear that the raid was ordered by Patton to rescue his son-in-law who was imprisoned there. Made at the end of March 1945, a portion of the US 4th Armored Division (about 50 vehicles, including a medium tank company, a light tank platoon, an assault gun platoon, and a large number of halftracks and jeeps) took nearly a day to charge 60 miles behind the front lines and liberate 1500 POWs. The primary two authors, Baron and Baum, were particpants in this raid: Baron was one of the POWs and Baum was the commander of the task force.

The book is exciting: it lives up to its advertisement from the Boston Globe ("A true war story that reads like a novel"). The authors do a good job providing details of the composition of the task force, and are able to give personality to many of the key figures in the story. This includes the events during the task force's charge to the camp as well as what was going on inside the camp. This is a barn-burner of a story, and the reader gets a front-row seat to all the action, as the authors successfuly "personalize" the battles. I found myself really rooting for those guys, feeling great when they smashed the enemy, relieved when they narrowly escaped, and disappointed whenever things went badly. This is the sign of a good book: I really cared about what was going on.

Although there is detail and information about what was happening on the American side, there is scarcely anything about the German side. Several significant combat actions are dealth with in a matter of a page or two each, if that (e.g. breaking through the German line to begin the raid, shooting up a Flak Company, surprising a unit on drill, or getting turned away from the main route due to a roadblock and blown bridge). Furthermore, almost no information is given about the nature of the German forces, such as unit or composition. While this book isn't supposed to be historical research, I found these ommissions to be disappointing. It was frustrating to have such little and incomplete information about the who they had to fight to reach the POW camp.

The end of the book, detailing the struggle of the task force and the newly-liberated prisoners to escape back to US lines, is heartbreaking and also eye-opening. That "the brass" would sanction and order such a suicide mission to rescue one man is disturbing. Along with providing a ripping good tale, this book takes some of the shine off of Patton's and Bradleys' reputations. Highly recommended.

In a nutshell: Exciting account, but not an assessment or analysis of why the raid was made

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