Captain Jim Curtis was captured by the German army the day he landed in the Ardennes forest, and in March 1945, he’s in a prisoner of war camp near Hammelburg, in Bavaria. Coming from different directions, the Russian and American armies are advancing into German held territory, and will they arrive in time to liberate the desperate POW’s?

Fifty miles away a task force has been quickly formed for a special mission, Captain Abe Baum is in charge, and the battle hardened veteran always follows orders. Supported by ten Sherman tanks and five light tanks, he sets off with three hundred poorly armed soldiers, and it doesn’t take long for things to start going wrong.

After seeing action in Russia and being in the German army for six years, and Hauptmann Richard Koehl is putting his entire and depleted force in danger. He wants to avenge the death of his sister Gerta, he’s disobeying orders by continuing to pursue to the American task force and he desperately wants to find them!

Task Force Baum is based on a true story, and real reason for the mission being kept secret for twenty years, was because Commander George S. Patton wanted his son-in-law Colonel John Waters rescued from the prisoner of war and it was hushed up. I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Kensington Books in exchange for an honest review, it’s a fast paced story, full of military action, brutal battles, and tactical movements. I’m looking forward to reading James D. Shipman’s next book, Beyond the Wire, and I gave Task Force Baum four stars.

Author James D. Shipman (https://www.james-shipman.com) published the novel “Task Force Baum” in 2019. Mr. Shipman has published six novels.

I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story is set in March 1945 in Germany. The primary characters are a mix of Americans and Germans. While this is a novel of fiction, the event is part of history. Most of the characters in the novel are real people.

In the closing weeks of WWII General Patton sent a small force behind enemy lines to free prisoners held in a POW camp. This novel is a dramatization of that raid.

Task Force Baum had many things working against it. The force sent was too small, a reinforced company. Baum is leading merely 300 men on the mission. The intelligence on the POW camp was faulty. Though the end of the war was near the German troops resisted the American thrust.

I enjoyed the 8.5 hours I spent reading this 338-page historical fiction novel. This was a well-written novel that I think gives a good feel for the military on both sides. The majority of the events described are factual. While the cover art is a little dull, I do think it represents the plot of the novel. I give this novel a 4.5 (Rounded up to a 5) out of 5.

You can access more of my book reviews on my Blog ( https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/).

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James D Shipman is among my list of must read authors. I have enjoyed his previous books and have been looking forward to reading this one. It is different than the others and I had a little hard time getting into it. I finally got hooked about the last half of it.
I give it three and a half stars.