Late in March 1945, six weeks before Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender, then-Lieutenant-General George S. Patton set in motion a bold initiative to rescue several hundred American officers from a POW camp forty miles behind enemy lines in Germany. He ordered twenty-three-year-old Captain Abraham Baum to lead an armored column of 300 men and 50 vehicles, including 16 tanks, to liberate Oflag XIII-B near Hammelburg in Bavaria. Three of Patton’s staff officers present at the meeting, and Baum himself, protested that the force was far too small, but the general was adamant. And Task Force Baum set out on March 26, 1945. James D. Shipman’s novel about Task Force Baum is a highly fictionalized account of the action that ensued during the following three days.
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
The action unfolds through the eyes of three junior officers
In Shipman’s imaginative telling, the experiences of three fictional junior officers dominate the story.
- Captain Jim Curtis, a draftee recently promoted to lead a full company, is on the front lines in the Ardennes in December 1944 when the Germans launch the Battle of the Bulge. He is taken prisoner and sent to Oflag XIII-B, and we follow his grim experiences from within the camp as Task Force Baum approaches.
- Meanwhile, Patton has ordered First Lieutenant Sam Hall to accompany the task force. Hall sees it as an opportunity to win a medal and a promotion to ease his way into politics back home in Washington State. He observes the action from a Jeep as the task force breaks through the German lines on its way to Hammelburg.
- And Hauptmann (Captain) Richard Koehl leads a platoon of motorized 180-mm anti-tank weapons dispatched to attack the task force as it penetrates more deeply behind the lines. When Koehl’s sister inadvertently dies under fire from the Americans, he becomes obsessed with destroying the entire task force and repeatedly defies orders in a frantic attempt to do so.
Task Force Baum by James D. Shipman (2019) 304 pages ★★★★☆
Three men, fighting their own personal battles
Like Hauptmann Koehl, Captain Curtis and Lieutenant Hall fight their own personal battles as the story moves forward. Curtis has made an enemy of a sadistic SS guard who sees it as his duty to make the captain’s life as miserable as possible. And Patton has sent Hall under the command of the grumpy, battle-hardened major who is the general’s observer within the task force. The major has taken an instant dislike to Hall, and the feeling is mutual. But the three unfolding personal battles play out against the drama of the task force’s penetration into central Germany. And that is a truly tragic story, as German snipers and anti-tank weapons steadily erode the tiny force.
Why Patton sent Task Force Baum into Germany
The events on which this novel is based are well known to history. Among the officers imprisoned at Oflag XIII-B was Colonel John K. Waters, Patton’s son-in-law. When Eisenhower later reprimanded him for ordering the mission, the general insisted that he did not know Waters was one of the prisoners, and there was no mention of the younger man in his diary. However, a letter to his wife at the time indicates that, in fact, he did know.
Circumstantial evidence also suggests that Patton ordered the mission to rescue his son-in-law. As his own staff unanimously argued, a 300-man task force was far too small to do the job. More to the point, Task Force Baum didn’t include enough vehicles to transport all the nearly one thousand officers held in the camp. Patton would have been well aware that sending a large enough force would be sure to come to Eisenhower’s attention—and anger him. The supreme commander wanted a coordinated attack on the German lines, not a solo mission.
About the author
James D. Shipman writes on his author website that “I’m a northwest author and attorney. I live with my wife and our blended family of seven children north of Seattle.
“I have always loved history. My father started giving me children’s history books when I was very young. He was an avid civil war buff and book collector. I was fortunate to study history at the University of Washington before moving on to Gonzaga Law School.”
Google Books adds that he “James D. Shipman, an Amazon bestselling author, was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. He began publishing short stories and poems while” attending college and law school. “He opened his own law firm in 2004 and remains a practicing attorney. Constantinopolis, his first published novel, depicts the epic fifteenth-century battle between the Turkish and Roman empires for the fabled city of Constantinople. Going Home, his second novel, is based on a true Civil War story. An avid reader, especially of historical nonfiction, Shipman also enjoys traveling and spending time with his family.”
Shipman’s novel about Task Force Baum is one of his eight historical novels.
For related reading
I’ve also reviewed a book about a successful rescue mission: Rescue at Los Baños: The Most Daring Prison Camp Raid of World War II by Bruce Henderson (A true-life account of a spectacular WWII prison camp rescue).
And I’ve reviewed another of the author’s novels, Beyond the Wire (Jews stage an uprising at Auschwitz).
You might also enjoy:
- The 10 best novels about World War II
- Great war novels reviewed here
- 10 top nonfiction books about World War II
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- The 10 most consequential events of World War II
- Top 20 popular books for understanding American history
And you can always find my most popular reviews, and the most recent ones, on the Home Page.