Shadow Commander
The Epic Story of Donald D. Blackburn - Guerrilla Leader and Special Forces Hero
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Narrated by:
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Jason Huggins
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By:
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Mike Guardia
About this listen
The fires on Bataan burned on the evening of April 9, 1942 - illuminating the white flags of surrender against the nighttime sky. Woefully outnumbered, outgunned, and ill-equipped, battered remnants of the American-Philippine army surrendered to the forces of the Rising Sun. Yet amongst the chaos and devastation of the American defeat, Army Captain Donald D. Blackburn refused to lay down his arms.
With future SF legend Russell Volckmann, Blackburn escaped from Bataan and fled to the mountainous jungles of North Luzon, where they raised a private army of over 22,000 men against the Japanese. Once there, Blackburn organized a guerrilla regiment from among the native tribes in the Cagayan Valley. "Blackburn's Headhunters," as they came to be known, devastated the Japanese 14th Army within the western provinces of North Luzon and destroyed the Japanese naval base at Aparri - the largest enemy anchorage in the Philippines.After the war, Blackburn remained on active duty and played a key role in initiating Special Forces operations in Southeast Asia. In 1958, as commander of the 77th Special Forces Group, he spearheaded Operation White Star in Laos - the first major deployment of American Special Forces to a country with an active insurgency. Seven years later, Blackburn took command of the highly classified Studies and Observations Group (SOG), charged with performing secret missions now that main-force Communist incursions were on the rise.
In the wake of the CIA's disastrous Leaping Lena program, in 1964 Blackburn revitalized the Special Operations campaign in South Vietnam. Sending cross-border reconnaissance teams into Cambodia and North Vietnam, he discovered the clandestine networks and supply nodes of the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail. Taking this information directly to General Westmoreland, Blackburn received authorization to conduct full-scale operations against the NVA and Viet Cong operating in Laos and Cambodia. In combats large and small, the Communists realized they had met a master of insurgent tactics - and he was on the US side.
Following his return to the United States, Blackburn was appointed "Special Assistant for Counterinsurgency and Special Activities," where he was the architect of the infamous Son Tay Prison Raid. Officially termed Operation Ivory Coast, the Son Tay raid was the largest POW rescue mission - and indeed, the largest Special Forces operation - of the Vietnam War.
During a period when United States troops in Southeast Asia faced guerrilla armies on every side, it has been little recognized today that America had a superb covert commander of its own, his guerrilla skills honed in resistance against Japan. This book follows Donald D. Blackburn through both his youthful days of desperate combat against an Empire, and through his days as a commander, imparting his lessons to the newly-realized ranks of America's own Special Forces.
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Story
They landed in a dust storm so thick the pilot used dead reckoning and a guess to find the ground. Welcomed by a band of heavily armed militiamen, they climbed a mountain on horseback to meet the most ferocious warlord in Asia. They plotted a war of nineteenth-century maneuvers against a twenty-first-century foe. They trekked through minefields, sometimes past the mangled bodies of local tribesmen who'd shared food with them hours before. The men they helped called them brothers. Hollywood called them the Horse Soldiers. They called themselves Green Berets—Special Forces ODA 595.
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Very timely
- By Mary E. Dasaro on 08-08-22
By: Mark Nutsch, and others
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Operatives, Spies, and Saboteurs
- The Unknown Story of World War II's OSS
- By: Patrick K. O'Donnell
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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"A revealing look into the intrigue and extraordinary courage of our intelligence gatherers of World War II. A rare combination of suspense thriller and true heroism by a great American writer." (Clive Cussler, New York Times best-selling author)
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Great book...
- By Nicholas G. on 05-11-05
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Airborne
- The Combat Story of Ed Shames of Easy Company
- By: Ian Gardner
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Some men are born to be warriors, and Ed Shames is one of these men. His incredible combat record includes service at D-Day, Operation Market Garden, and Bastogne and finally in Germany itself.
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Let down
- By Craig W. Mcsorley on 06-30-15
By: Ian Gardner
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The Brenner Assignment
- The Untold Story of the Most Daring Spy Mission of World War II
- By: Patrick K. O'Donnell
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Like a scene from Where Eagles Dare, a small team of American spies parachutes into Italy behind enemy lines. Their orders: link up with local partisans and sabotage the well-guarded Brenner Pass - the Nazis' crucial supply route through the Alps - thereby bringing the German war effort in Italy to a grinding halt.
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Interesting History
- By Gary L. Richardson on 03-21-24
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Masters of Chaos
- The Secret History of Special Forces
- By: Linda Robinson
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Special Forces soldiers are daring, seasoned troops from America's heartland, selected in a tough competition and trained in an extraordinary range of skills. They know foreign languages and cultures and unconventional warfare better than any US fighters, and while they prefer to stay out of the limelight, veteran war correspondent Linda Robinson gained access to their closed world. She traveled with them on the frontlines, interviewed them at length on their home bases, and studied their doctrine, methods, and history.
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Story of Special Forces
- By Austin Pearson on 02-28-18
By: Linda Robinson
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The Last Battle
- When US and German Soldiers Joined Forces in the Waning Hours of World War II in Europe
- By: Stephen Harding
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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May 1945. Hitler is dead, and the Third Reich is little more than smoking rubble. No GI wants to be the last man killed in action against the Nazis. But for cigar-chewing, rough-talking, hard-drinking, hard-charging Captain Jack Lee and his men, there is one more mission: rescue 14 prominent French prisoners held in an SS-guarded castle high in the Austrian Alps. It's a dangerous mission, but Lee has help from a decorated German Wehrmacht officer and his men, who voluntarily join the fight.
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A Maddening Book
- By Reggie on 09-23-17
By: Stephen Harding
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Crete 1941
- The Battle and the Resistance
- By: Antony Beevor
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Nazi Germany expected its airborne attack on Crete in 1941 to be a textbook victory based on tactical surprise. Little did they know that the British, using Ultra intercepts, had already laid a careful trap. It should have been the first German defeat of the war, but a fatal misunderstanding turned the battle around.
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Engrossing
- By Jean on 02-01-16
By: Antony Beevor
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Chesty
- The Story of Lieutenant General Lewis B. Puller, USMC
- By: Colonel Jon T. Hoffman USMCR
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 23 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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The Marine Corps is known for its heroes, and Lieutenant General Lewis B. Puller has long been considered the greatest of them all. His assignments and activities covered an extraordinary spectrum of warfare. With his bulldog face, barrel chest (which earned him the nickname Chesty), gruff voice, and common touch, Puller became - and has remained - the epitome of the marine combat officer. Author Jon Hoffman has been given special access to Puller's personal papers as well as his personnel record. The result will unquestionably stand as the last word about Chesty Puller.
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Great book great man good read
- By Just_Shoppin on 07-10-18
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Forty-Seven Days
- How Pershing's Warriors Came of Age to Defeat the German Army in World War I
- By: Mitchell Yockelson
- Narrated by: Napoleon Ryan
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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The Battle of the Meuse-Argonne stands as the deadliest clash in American history: More than a million untested American soldiers went up against a better-trained and more experienced German army, costing more than 26,000 deaths and leaving nearly 100,000 wounded. Yet, in 47 days of intense combat, those Americans pushed back the enemy and forced the Germans to surrender, bringing the First World War to an end - a feat the British and the French had not achieved after more than three years of fighting.
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Comprehensive history of The First Army in WWI
- By Bruce Miller on 03-08-18
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Beyond Band of Brothers
- The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters
- By: Dick Winters, Cole C. Kingseed
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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They were called Easy Company, but their mission was never easy. Immortalized as the Band of Brothers, they suffered huge casualties while liberating Europe in an unparalleled record of bravery under fire. Dick Winters led them through the Battle of the Bulge, the attack on Foy, where Easy Company reached its breaking point, and finally into Germany, by which time each member had been wounded. Outside Munich, they liberated an S.S. death camp and captured Berchtesgaden, Hitler's alpine retreat.
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I listen to this over and over
- By David Ewing on 08-10-07
By: Dick Winters, and others
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Rogue Heroes
- The History of the SAS, Britain's Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War
- By: Ben Macintyre
- Narrated by: Ben Macintyre
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Britain's Special Air Service - or SAS - was the brainchild of David Stirling, a young, gadabout aristocrat whose aimlessness in early life belied a remarkable strategic mind. Where most of his colleagues looked at a battlefield map of World War II's African theater and saw a protracted struggle with Rommel's desert forces, Stirling saw an opportunity: Given a small number of elite, well-trained men, he could parachute behind enemy lines and sabotage their airplanes and war matériel.
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Those Who Dared, Won!
- By Matthew on 10-07-16
By: Ben Macintyre
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All the Way to Berlin
- A Paratrooper at War in Europe
- By: James Megellas
- Narrated by: Richard M. Davidson
- Length: 2 hrs and 34 mins
- Abridged
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In mid-1943 James Megellas, known as "Maggie" to his fellow paratroopers, joined the 82nd Airborne Division, his new "home" for the duration. His first taste of combat was in the rugged mountains outside Naples.
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Incredible book - narrator was terrible
- By joseph metz on 01-06-22
By: James Megellas
What listeners say about Shadow Commander
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Arjay
- 11-13-17
Great Story About Guerilla Warfare and the US Army
Gen. Blackburn wasn't the only one who led guerillas in the Philippines in WWI but he was able to translate that experience into a model for the special Forces, making them the true force multiplier that they are today. The story flows well throughout. My only gripe is the mispronunciations that occurred more often than I would like. Otherwise the narrator did a pretty good job. This is an Audible 20 Review Sweepstakes Entry
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- gp1930
- 08-02-16
A true American patriot
This book is excellent for career military but would be hard to follow for those with little or no experience into military life. The USA is safer today because of this man and all the things he did throughout his military life. His legacy lives on especially in the Special Forces community.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Thomas Le Min
- 08-21-16
A great tale of an unsung American hero and Special Forces legend.
This remarkable biography of Brigadier General Donald Blackburn was meticulously researched and aided by his thorough diary entries mad throughout his time in the Philippines during WWII.
It goes on to detail his extensive contributions to Special Forces training and operations during the Vietnam War, to included his involvement in Operation White Star in Laos and his tenure commanding MACV-SOG. His remarkable career ended with his planning of the Son Tay prison raid in 1971.
The narrator for this audiobook has a wonderful voice and does a wonderful job of narrating this story. The only fault I can find is with the mispronunciations of so many names of people, places, and things. This I blame on the production and editing team, for they should have had the foresight to have acquainted the narrator with the pronunciations beforehand. Failing that, they should have caught and corrected these errors. It is a shame, really, because everything else about the book and its performance was superb.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Dr Milonga
- 02-02-20
Blackburn's Headhunters
Great story, you need to pay attention to follow it, but well worth the effort.
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- GLENN G. KEITH
- 03-06-17
I learned a lot gorilla fighting in this book
Blackburn was not afraid to buck the system. Really enjoyed the fact he had balls enough to buck the system.
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- M. Helm
- 09-18-23
Poorly written and narrated worse.
Narrator made the dialogue sound like a cheap western - I had to stop listening in short order before losing respect for even the subjects of the book, much less the author and abominable narrator.
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- Mike R Morgan
- 02-11-23
Horrible narration
It’s a shame that an author who spent months or years researching a book had it read by narrator, who could not pronounce so many words properly. I quit listening after about an hour.
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- Mikeabq
- 11-21-18
A disappointing book
This book was a big disappointment for me. The first part of the book, concerning Blackburn's actions in the Philippines, was pretty good. The second half was brief and just a cursory treatment of the rest of his career. It could have been much better.
The reading was awful. The narrator stumbled over words and sentences. His pronunciation of Philippine places and people was horrible. Similarly, his pronunciation of Vietnamese people and places was awful. I cringed through the whole book.
Overall, a great disappointment.
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- Michael Heinsohn
- 10-20-19
couldn't get past the narrator
couldn't get past the narrator to enjoy the book, so I didn't knock the book, just the narrator.
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- Michael
- 04-13-13
Good Story, awful Reader
What did you like best about Shadow Commander? What did you like least?
This is a very interesting Story, the life story of a courage's Man.Least: the constant mispronounced titles, place names, ie it should be Chu Lai, not Chu Lay.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Shadow Commander?
Blackburn's Homecoming and re-adjustment to Peace and Home.
How could the performance have been better?
A Reader who had familiarized himself with the proper/correct pronunciations of place >names and definitions, ie. the Army of South Vietnam was not pronounced A.R.V.N. but Arven, he spelled it every time.
Could you see Shadow Commander being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?
Harrison Ford
Any additional comments?
It's frustrating and discouraging to find a Book with a great story being butchered by the Reader. How about giving some Readers an Audition and have the script reviewed by someone who is familiar with the local flavor and lingo.
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