THE EAGLE HAS LANDED

by Jack Higgins ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 12, 1975

Already bought by the movies, this novel purports to be 50 percent ""documented historical fact. . . ."" In 1943, when a small German commando unit made a lightning attack on a hotel in Italy and spirited the deposed Mussolini off to Hitler's headquarters on the Eastern Front, the Fuhrer is so overjoyed that he demands that his chief of military intelligence set up a secret strike to kidnap Churchill from England. Leading the new attack force is paratrooper Colonel Kurt Steiner, a great hero recently disgraced in Warsaw when he helped a Jewish girl escape the furnaces. Since his father is held hostage by Himmler, Steiner accepts the surreal mission and parachutes with his suicide squad onto an English beach near Churchill's summer cottage. Assisted by various spies, including an IRA renegade, they masquerade as Polish paratroops until things fall apart and a considerable skirmish occurs in which British and American troops are heavily mauled. Finally, with his squad eliminated, Steiner at last faces Churchill and in a moment's hesitation is himself shot. It makes no difference, since the real Churchill is on his way to Teheran and Steiner has confronted a mere impostor. The incident is completely hushed up and deleted from all recordS, but author Higgins says it's mostly true. Spinach perhaps, but it's vivid.

Pub Date: June 12, 1975

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Holt, Rinehart & Winston

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1975

Categories: FICTION