Ghost Riders by Mark Felton

Description

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 over a thousand horses, including the entire herd of white Lipizzaner’s 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.

Q&A with Mark Felton

September 11 2018

Q&A with Mark Felton

Q: Why did the Germans steal famous horses? Mark: As part of a breeding program to create an ‘Aryan super horse.’ Q: Why was the Spanish Riding School targeted? Mark: The Lipizzaner breed are among the purest bred horses in existence – they would provide the base stock for creating the super horse, along…

Read full article

Shopping Cart

Q&A with Mark Felton

Q&A with Mark Felton