Rails of War

Oppressive conditions, a thankless task, a theater of war long forgotten and barely even known at the time – nonetheless, as Rails of War demonstrates, without James Harry Hantzis and his fellow soldiers of the 721st Railway Operating Battalion, the Allied forces would have been defeated in the China-Burma-India conflict in World War II. Steven James Hantzis's father served alongside other GI railroaders in overcoming danger, disease, fire, and monsoons to move the weight of war in the China-Burma-India theater. Torn from their predictable working-class lives, the men of the 721st journeyed fifteen thousand miles to Bengal, India to do the impossible: build, maintain, and manage seven hundred miles of track through the most inhospitable environment imaginable. This remarkable story of the extraordinary men of the 721st includes the harrowing adventures of the Flying Tigers and Merrill's Marauders, the Siege of Myitkyina, detailed descriptions of grueling jungle operations, and much more as they move an entire army to win the war.