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Sons and soldiers : the untold story of the Jews who escaped the Nazis and returned with the U.S. Army to fight Hitler

Author
Henderson, Bruce, 1946- author.
Title
Sons and soldiers : the untold story of the Jews who escaped the Nazis and returned with the U.S. Army to fight Hitler / Bruce Henderson.
Format
Book
Edition
First edition.
Published
New York, NY : William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2017] ©2017
Description
xii, 429 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm
Notes
Portraits on lining papers. Includes bibliographical references (pages 411-418) and index. English.
Contents
  • Prologue: Germany 1938
  • Saving the children
  • Escaping the Nazis
  • A place to call home
  • Camp Ritchie
  • Going back
  • Normandy
  • The breakout
  • Holland
  • The forests
  • Return to Deutschland
  • The camps
  • Denazification
  • Going home.
Summary
As Jewish families were trying desperately to get out of Europe during the menacing rise of Hitler's Nazi party, some chose to send their young sons away to uncertain futures in America, perhaps never to see them again. As these boys became young men, they were determined to join the fight in Europe. In 1942, the U.S. Army unleashed one of its greatest secret weapons in the battle to defeat Adolf Hitler: training nearly 2,000 of these German-born Jews in special interrogation techniques and making use of their mastery of the German language, history, and customs. Known as the Ritchie Boys after the Maryland camp where they were trained, they were sent in small, elite teams to join every major combat unit in Europe, where they interrogated German POWs and gathered crucial intelligence that saved American lives and helped win the war. Though they knew what the Nazis would do to them if they were captured, the Ritchie Boys eagerly joined the fight to defeat Hitler. As they did, many of them did not know the fates of their own families left behind in occupied Europe. Taking part in every major campaign in Europe, they collected key tactical intelligence on enemy strength, troop and armored movements, and defensive positions. A postwar Army report found that more than sixty percent of the credible intelligence gathered in Europe came from the Ritchie Boys. Bruce Henderson draws on personal interviews with many surviving veterans and extensive archival research to bring this chapter of the Second World War to light, in an epic tale of heroism, courage, and patriotism that will not soon be forgotten.
Subject headings
World War, 1939-1945--Participation, Jewish. World War, 1939-1945--Military intelligence--United States. Jewish soldiers--United States. Jews, German--United States. World War, 1939-1945 Participation, Jewish. World War, 1939-1945 Military intelligence United States.
ISBN
9780062419095 (hardcover) 0062419099 (hardcover) 9780062803849 (international trade paperback edition) 0062803840 9780062803849

Holdings

Library
Blmgtn - Herman B Wells Library
Call Number
D810.J4 H46 2017
Location
Wells Library - Research Coll. - Stacks
Floor
4th Floor, East Tower
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Library
Columbus - University Library of Columbus
Call Number
D810.J4 H46 2017
Location
Columbus Library - Stacks
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Library
Indpls - IUPUI University Library
Call Number
D810.J4 H46 2017
Location
Stacks
Floor
3rd Floor
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Library
South Bend - Schurz Library
Call Number
D810.J4 H4235 2017
Location
Stacks
Floor
3rd Floor
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