Gauntlet: Five Friends, 20,000 Enemy Troops, and the Secret That Could Have Changed the Course of the Cold War

by Barbara Masin

On 3 October 1953, five young men, armed with four pistols, crossed the border from Czechoslovakia into East Germany. Their mission was to deliver an explosive secret message from a Czechoslovak general to U.S. authorities at all costs. The journey was to take three days. Their ultimate objective was to join the U.S. Army Special Forces, then return to liberate their country. What ensued was the largest manhunt of the Cold War. This fast-paced book tells the exciting story of their plight as thousands of East German and Soviet troops chased them across swampland, forests, and fields for thirty-one days. After surviving several pitched gun battles, gunshot wounds, starvation, and the bitter cold, three finally reached West Berlin. Prior to their escape, they had formed the nucleus of an anti-Communist resistance group, inspired by the testament of celebrated World War II resistance leader, Czech general Josef Masin, father to two of the young men and grandfather to the author of this book. As she was growing up, Barbara Masin heard parts of this story. Eager to learn more, she began to investigate. The result of her efforts is this thriller, which makes use of eyewitness interviews and extensive archival research in four countries. Her book places events in their historical context and analyzes the bitter present-day controversy surrounding the group’s actions, examining the larger question of individuals making moral choices. It is a dramatic tale of courage and daring against overwhelming odds and a testament to American ideals of freedom.

Genres: History

382 pages, Hardcover

First published August 7, 2006

Reviews

[Dwayne Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this story, I felt the pain, the cold, hunger, fear, of the Czechs. It's an amazing history.

[Bonnie Oldre · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story of five young men on a mission to escape Communist Czechoslovakia in the 1950s and attempt to get to West Berlin is an engaging read and raises interesting questions. Such as, how people cope with totalitarian regimes and why a few resist while the majority just try to accommodate themselves and get on with their lives while waiting for the inevitable shifts brought about by time. The two Masin brothers, who are the main characters in this somewhat fictionalized (in my view) history, are among the resistors. Some of their actions can be viewed as criminal, and the debate continues whether they were heroes, doing what they had to resist and stay alive, or just violent thugs. I'd say, probably some of both.

[Rachel O'Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible true story about lengths two brothers, and their friends, would go to to leave the USSR and join the US Army and how the words of a hero and father can have such a profound effect on his sons in shaping their world view.
Not a light read, small triumphs are tailed by tragedies throughout the book so be prepared for small details and actions to be to have strong effects.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book with gripping suspense. Anyone deluded enough to think the "communist experiment" represented anything better than the absolute enslavement of a number of nations outside of the Bolshevist revolution in Russia in 1917, or thinks somehow it offers a better hope for humanity than the liberties of "free markets" and "free thought" as long practiced in the West, is in need of reading books like this. The USSR is over, dead, finito, and it is primarily because those who live within its system and its satellites have testimonies like this which only but prove it. That the West is yet gien to its own forms of imitation (the tendency toward secret police to ensure "security" rather than liberty is rather beside the point, as there is still time to correct that trend. But the Communist dream died when the Berlin Wall fell. That dead dog has ha its day. Even as where still practiced, (N Korea, China, and Cuba) overwhelming arch-militarism and general fascist "dialectical" points of view still drive the political life in all 3 nations. The "Workers Republics" (where all trade unions were outlawed!) unraveled for many reasons. All of which point to a complete and total discrediting of "the Marxist dream put into action". I fail to see how anyone might still believe otherwise unless they grew up brainwashed in one of those 3 forenamed countries. So read this to get a good picture of what it was like for a few who decided their liberty and sense of national belonging was worth all the risks to defy their communist oppressors, and took them.

[DeAnn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly written by a relative about people with my last name!

[Quent Cordair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding. Highly recommended.