Book Review: The Secret Rescue: An Untold Story of American Nurses and Medics Behind Nazi Lines

Recently, I have been tapping into previously untold stories about World War II. These stories have provided another glimpse into a horrific war. However, these stories have shown bravery, compassion, and a better side of humanity. The Secret Rescue: An Untold Story of American Nurses and Medics Behind Nazi Lines by Cate Lineberry is one of those stories. I found the book in Bernadette’s collection of books. It was an interesting story. I can’t even begin to imagine what they went through.

The Secret Rescue is 304 pages long. Lineberry arranged the book into 16 chapters, an extensive notes section, and an index. The book also contains pictures of the people involved.

Basically, this true story is about a group of nurses and medics who crash-landed in Nazi-occupied Albania and their rescue. The rescue took months to develop. To better understand the terrain they had to navigate, I put together a literature trip using Google Earth. I would encourage you to download the KMZ file to follow their path as you read the book.

Lineberry was able to capture a number of factors essential to telling this story. As can be expected, this crew was not prepared to crash in Albania. They struggled to survive their trek across Albanian mountains during the winter. Because there was a mix of officers and enlisted, there was unequal treatment among the party. This led to some bitterness. The entire ordeal lasted for two months moving from town to town. Naturally, this was quite exhausting. Lineberry was able to capture this in her writing.

The majority of Albanians opened their homes to provide assistance while understanding the danger they put themselves in. Because Albanian was a poor country, they could provide only the basics of assistance without starving themselves. I found it interesting to see the interaction between cultures. At times, I was disappointed to see the Americans take advantage of their situation at the expense of the Albanians. Actions some of the Americans took could have put their entire party in jeopardy.

There were a few individuals who stood out in the book. They worked tirelessly to help the party escape. In some cases, they gave their lives to do so.

I found The Secret Rescue to be a fascinating glimpse into an amazing event in WWII. If you like World War II history, I am confident that you will like this book.

Additional Reading

• Book Review: Lightning Sky: A U.S. Fighter Pilot Captured During WWII and His Father’s Quest to Find Him
• Book Review: The Liberator: One World War II Soldier’s 500-Day Odyssey From the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau
• Book Review: Arnhem: The Battle for the Bridges, 1944
• Book Review: A Bridge Too Far
• Book Review: D-Day Through German Eyes
• Band of Brothers Series

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