Ghost Riders

When US and German Soldiers Fought Together to Save the World's Most Beautiful Horses in the Last Days of World War II

By: Mark Felton

Narrated by: Alex Hyde-White

Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

It is April 1945, and the world's most prized horses are about to be slaughtered....

As the Red Army closes in on the Third Reich, a German colonel sends an American intelligence officer an unusual report about a POW camp soon to be overrun by the Soviets. Locked up, the report says, are more than a thousand horses, including the entire herd of white Lipizzaners from Vienna's Spanish Riding School, as well as Europe's finest Arabian stallions - stolen to create an equine "master race". The horses are worth millions and, if the starving Red Army reaches the stables first, they will kill the horses for rations. The Americans, under the command of General George Patton, whose love of horses was legendary, decide to help the Germans save the majestic creatures.

So begins "Operation Cowboy", as GIs join forces with surrendered German soldiers and liberated prisoners of war to save the world's finest horses from fanatical SS soldiers and the ruthless Red Army in an extraordinary battle during the last few days of the war in Europe. This is an epic untold story from the waning days of World War II.

Drawing from newly unearthed archival material, family archives held by descendants of the participants, and interviews with many of the participants published throughout the years, Ghost Riders is the definitive account of this truly unprecedented and moving story of kindness and compassion at the close of humanity's darkest hour.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2018 Mark Felton (P)2018 Hachette Audio

Ghost Riders

Awesome story. Fascinated by the story of the saving of the Spanish Riding School horse s-the Lipizzaner stallions. Anazed at the heroism of both German and Americans who worked together in wartime to save this special line of horses.

Excellent

Listened to the entire book in a single day. The excellent mix of non-fiction story with dramatic narrative made it hard to turn off.

Uplifting read

A genuinely uplifting read that inspires hope that even enemies come together for a cause that benefits the greater good.

A must read for any WW2 history fan.

The tension that they faced is palpable in the recounting of this story. I had no idea this even occurred. The voice reader is perfect.

OMG!

Fantastic. Loved that he told what happened to the men and the horses after the war.

Great story

Great story, would make for a good modern movie.I wish Mark had narrated the story.

it was ok

Great story just could of been told better. was kind of historical in its presentation.

Little about the Horses

If you want to read mostly about the horses, this is not the book. It is about the men and how the US Army battled Germans, Russians and others to save them. The very end of the book talks about the movement of the Lippizans into German Territory. I enjoyed the story about the men themselves with their thoughts and efforts to aid the horses, I did not like the parts about actual troop battles. Only because of this I am giving the story a 3. The performance by Alex Hyde-White is perfect.

Decent Story, Overwritten

I was familiar with Mark Felton from his YouTube channel, which inspired me to try his book. Unfortunately, the strength of his channel, which is to find a way of telling stories in a matter-of-fact way that let their inherent interest speak for themselves, does not carry over to this story. As a matter of history, the tale that Ghost Riders tells is definitely interesting. The degree to which a number of powerful people's love of horses motivated them to take huge political risks and cross the huge cultural divides of the time is definitely inspiring.

But there maybe isn't quite enough story to go around, and the author pads it out by framing it as something of a dramatic retelling, exploring the thoughts and feelings of the central actors in a way that a history generally doesn't - and generally can't. To me, the way that the historical actors were fleshed out seemed a little false while still not being enough to truly develop them into interesting characters.

Lastly, the narration is mostly okay, not distracting except when it comes to voicing individuals. He does a decent Patton, but most of the other Americans ended up sounding like an old Ronald Reagan.