With the end of the war in Europe just days away, one of the strangest episodes of the entire conflict unfolded along the German-Czechoslovakian border. More than 350 American soldiers had just fought their way through enemy lines to reach the town of Hostau. The settlement, which was still in the hands of a detachment of Wehrmacht soldiers, was home to a treasure trove of considerable value: several hundred prized Lipizzan horses. The famous and extremely rare animals had been seized by the Third Reich as part of a bizarre wartime cattle breeding program. Fearing for the horses’ lives, the German officer in charge of the breeding sent word to the Americans that he and his men would surrender en masse if the U.S. Army promised to rescue the beasts. A cavalry unit from Patton’s Third Army jumped at the chance to save the legendary Lipizzans. The mission, which has been dubbed Operation Cowboy, would have seen U.S. troops, along with a motley collection of liberated Allied prisoners of war, a bona fide Cossack aristocrat, and a platoon of turncoat German soldiers race against time to shepherd a herd of priceless horses to safety, all the while fending off attacks from a legion of Waffen-SS stormtroopers bent on their destruction. This incredible true story was the inspiration for Ghost Riders, a new nonfiction book by author and historian Mark Felton. Here, Felton himself takes us through the story.