Thomas H. Taylor - Behind Hitlers Lines: The True Story of the Only Soldier to Fight for both America and the Soviet Union in World War II

Remarkable Without a doubt, one of the most incredible stories you will ever read.

The Roanoke Times

Every once in a while, a true story comes along that reads like fiction. [This book] is a remarkable true story about a remarkable American soldier. It grabs you on page one and never lets go. That Joe Beyrle survived the horror of the German stalags and the Gestapo to escape and continue fighting against Hitler with the Russian army is a testament to the training and professionalism of the Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne Divisionand to the courage and fierce determination of the kind of men who served in that storied unit. One of the most gripping tales of war you will ever read, and it will be read for generations to come as a tribute to the inextinguishable love of country and love of freedom of one resilient American, Joe Beyrle.

SENATOR CARL LEVIN, chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee

It is a tale of courage and daring, torture and escape, of going to hell and coming back, of survival against the worst odds: a soldier imprisoned; a paratrooper forced to the ground.

The Grand Rapids Press

Amazing This is not just another war story. It is a history lesson about courage, fear, perseverance, revenge and redemption.

Muskegon Chronicle

Also by Thomas H. Taylor

NONFICTION

RANGERS, LEAD THE WAY

LIGHTNING IN THE STORM

WHERE THE ORANGE BLOOMS

FICTION

A-18

A PIECE OF THIS COUNTRY

BORN OF WAR

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FOR CHAPTERS DESCRIBING COMBAT G? WHICH JOE WAS NOT involved, I'm indebted to Ed Albers and Mark Bando, the latter author of The 101st Airborne from Holland to Hitler's Eagle s Nest (Motorbooks International), from which the stories about Charles Eckman and Ross Goethe were derived. For maps I've relied on Rendezvous with Destiny, an eight-hundred-page hardback published by the 101st Airborne Division Association.

Phil Wallace published his pre-D Night letter to his wife through the association's quarterly, The Screaming Eagle, from which Dutchman Robert Postman's remembrance of September 17 was also taken. The most senior 101st officers of World War II, still living, are Harry Kinnard and Julian Ewell, both retired lieutenant generals, lieutenant colonels at Bastogne. They graciously provided me elucidating insights about the realities during that epic siege.

Then of course there was my father, whom I plied for 101st lore when I became a Screaming Eagle veteran after Vietnam. He died in 1987. For the many honors and titles he received, including command of all United Nations forces in Korea and the chairmanship of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the only emblem he directed to be engraved on his headstone was the Screaming Eagle.

Good fortune for me was doubled when Owen Laster of the William Morris Agency offered this manuscript to Bob Loomis of Random House. Their combined appreciation of Joe's singular place in the American experience of World War II was invaluable.

Any author's spouse must be gratefully acknowledged for patience, support, and understanding. No less so for me, as I grappled to put in words what was sometimes too much for words. So, as is her due, I give the last word to Pam. Joe, in turn, is indebted to his wife, JoAnne, and I am too for her unique ability to decipher and transcribe Joe's handwriting.