The Perfect Horse: The Daring U.S. Mission to Rescue the Priceless Stallions Kidnapped by the Nazis
Elizabeth Letts
ISBN: 9780345544803
Read September 2016
So the title is a bit misleading, because honestly the US didn't know (or didn't care) about European stallions during the course of the war, and even through the course of this book. They don't even appear in the narrative until half-way in, and that's just to track the beginnings and development of the characters for when they DO become important, which is at the last minute (insert "typical American" joke here).
So this is the real sub-title: How Devoted People from LOTS of Countries Saved Really Expensive Horses During the Last Days of the War.
So: Why is this important? Did you know that Hitler wanted to apply eugenics to horses, so he got the civilian manager of the German-hosted Olympics to start a horse-breeding program, which he did mostly by stealing the Arabian and Lipizzaner horses from neighbors as they were conquered. Horse-loving people in several places all worked furiously behind the scenes to keep the welfare of the horses in mind as the horrible war took place and people's minds were generally on more important global issues, until one week, right at the end of the war, when everything fell into place for the US to basically steal the stolen horses, and try to get any of them back to their proper owners and countries of origin (which we didn't do very well, but it was only partly because we were selfish and wanted them for ourselves).
Very well written, interesting cast of characters, and a really interesting read - right up until the end, when all the narrative drive just dies a slow whimpering death as people lost track of the horses which had been so important up until then, and leaves the story to end with only two of the now-American horses' fates actually known. How sad that was.
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