April 1945. As Allied

bombs rain down on Europe, a 400-year-old institution looks set to be wiped off

the face of the Earth. The famous white Lipizzaner stallions of the Spanish

Riding School in Vienna, unique and precious animals representing centuries of

careful breeding, are scattered across rural Austria and Czechoslovakia in

areas soon to be swallowed up by Soviet forces – there, doubtless, to become

rations for the Red Army.

Their only hope lies with

the Americans: what if a small, highly mobile US task force could be sent deep

behind German lines, through fanatical SS troops, to rescue the horses before

the Soviets arrive. Just five light tanks, a handful of armoured cars and jeeps,

and 300 battle-weary GIs must plunge headlong into the unknown on a rescue

mission that could change the course of European history.

So begins

Operation Cowboy, the greatest Second World War story that has never been fully

told. GIs will join forces with surrendered German soldiers and liberated

prisoners of war to save the world's finest horses from fanatical SS and the

ruthless Red Army in an extraordinary battle during the last few days of the

war in Europe.