The eagle has landed (novel)
The Eagle Has Landed (Original title: The Eagle Has Landed ) is a novel by British author Jack Higgins from 1975. The book, which caused Jack Higgins breakthrough as an author was in 1976 by John Sturges filmed . In 1991 the book Der Adler ist Escaped was published as a sequel.
The Eagle has landed
content
prehistory
Jack Higgins found a grave in the cemetery of the small town of Studley Constable in eastern England , on which a German lieutenant commemorates a certain Lieutenant Colonel Kurt Steiner , who was killed on November 6, 1943 with thirteen German parachutists. Higgins was amazed at the inscription because it cannot be historically. He asked around the village, but only met with rejection. After over a year of research, he then managed to understand the incidents that he summarizes in his novel.
action
After German paratroopers freed Benito Mussolini from captivity as part of the Eiche company , Adolf Hitler had the idea of kidnapping Winston Churchill in order to have some leverage against the English. He instructs Admiral Canaris , the chief of the German defense , to examine the feasibility of such an enterprise and to have a corresponding plan drawn up.
Canaris instructs Colonel Radl to work out the plan, but hopes that Hitler will forget the whole thing again, but fears that Heinrich Himmler will do his best to get the company going. Unlike Canaris, Radl believes the company is feasible. He is already in contact with liaison officers in the English coastal town of Studley Constable , where Churchill plans to watch a maneuver soon , and thus exceeds his competencies. He also already has two people who are considered for the company. One is Colonel Kurt Steiner, commander of a paratrooper regiment, who ends up with his men in a punishment unit after helping a Jewish woman to escape. The other is the Irish freedom fighter Liam Devlin, who is currently lecturing at a Berlin university.
Himmler is enthusiastic about the commitment Radl has shown in preparation for Operation Adler and gives him a power of attorney signed by Hitler personally, giving Radl freedom of action in the matter. Steiner and his men are disguised as Polish paratroopers and dropped off on the English coast. Under their camouflage they wear their German uniforms, which very soon becomes their undoing: During a camouflaged maneuver, a soldier from Steiner's unit saves a child who falls into a stream and threatens to get into a mill wheel. The uniform rips open and the Wehrmacht uniform underneath becomes visible. The pastor, who is also watching the maneuver, is shocked by the incident. Steiner immediately had all spectators brought into the church and held them prisoner there. A young woman who is in a relationship with an American soldier goes through a secret back door to her car and informs a friend, who, however, turns out to be a collaborator and tries to kill her. It fails because she only shoots at them. With the last of her strength, the young woman reaches an American base in her car.
A US unit stationed near Studley Constable tries to thwart the operation and surrounds the church where Steiner and his men have holed up. After almost all Germans had been killed in the church, Steiner tried to get at Churchill on his own. At the last moment, when the two men finally face each other, he hesitates and is shot by the prime minister's bodyguards . It later turns out that the man he was facing was not Winston Churchill, but an actor . According to historical records, the real Churchill is on a trip to Tehran at this point in time . Liam Devlin and Lieutenant Neumann can get to safety with the help of a speedboat .
Remarks
- It is not directly confirmed in the book itself, but the reader can guess that Himmler forged Hitler's signature. This suspicion is confirmed in the film adaptation and the follow-up novel.
- In 1976, the book by director John Sturges was filmed .
background
- It is not known whether Operation Adler really existed, but Higgins writes in the preface to his novel that 50 percent of it is a confirmed historical fact and the reader can decide for himself what is true and what is not. He also writes the first and last parts of the story in the first person and tells of his research that should have led to this book.
- The Tehran Conference took place from November 28 to December 1, 1943. The operation eagle but the book ended, according to the grave inscription on 6 November 1943rd
- The words The Eagle Has Landed came five years before the novel was published when the US lunar lander (Eagle) reached the moon in July 1969.
Reviews
"First-rate [...] a fascinating adventure story."
"The master's master of World War II spycraft storytelling [...] A superb and mysterious tale."
The eagle escaped
The sequel to the book was published in 1991 under the title Der Adler ist escaped (original title: The Eagle Has Flown ). In the prologue and epilogue of the novel, Jack Higgins himself appears as a character in the novel.
content
prehistory
Jack Higgins received a visit from an American historian during a stay in London in 1975, who showed him evidence that indicated that Kurt Steiner was still alive. Higgins keeps the copied documents that the young woman accidentally found in an archive and wants to give them back to her the next morning. However, a police officer rings the doorbell asking him to identify a body that was recently killed in a traffic accident. Higgins accompanies the policeman and discovers that the dead woman is the woman from earlier. After he was released by the policeman, he arrived at home and found that the documents had been stolen from his home. In order to clarify what really happened after the failure of Operation Adler, Higgins travels to Ireland, where he see Liam Devlin and let him tell the story.
action
The operation Adler has failed, but it is known that Kurt Steiner, who managed the operation, but is not dead, but in the Tower of London is being held as a prisoner.
Since Steiner is a war hero, Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler wants to free him in order to introduce him at a meeting with Goebbels and Canaris to Hitler, who is not yet informed about the failure of the operation.
Himmler manages to win over the Irishman Liam Devlin for a second operation to free Steiner. With the help of an old colleague from the IRA , Michael Ryan, he manages to free Steiner disguised as a pastor and bring him to Germany.
Walter Schellenberg , who acts as the mission's operator, uncovered a conspiracy : Himmler recognized that the German Reich could not win the war because Hitler made too many wrong decisions and therefore decided to launch a putsch at the meeting through the SS perform. The SS would then take control and continue the war according to their will.
Steiner, Devlin and a group of soldiers manage to thwart the plans and save Hitler at the last minute.
After they were personally rewarded with medals by Hitler, Steiner, Devlin and the pilot Vaughan set off for Ireland.
The entire operation is - for understandable reasons - kept top secret by both sides even after the war.
people
Fictional characters
- Liam Devlin
- Kurt Steiner: Was the leader in Operation Adler , which was supposed to kidnap Winston Churchill. Was shot and imprisoned while attempting to kill Churchill.
- Maxwell Shaw: A Brit who still believes or is hoping for a German invasion of Great Britain.
- Michael Ryan: Devlin's old friend from the IRA.
- Mary Ryan: Michael Ryan's niece.
- Horst Berger: Sturmbannführer of the Gestapo . Should first find Liam Devlin in Spain, then later start the coup for Himmler.
- Asa Vaughan: Finnish pilot who is in the service of the German Air Force .
- Dougal Munro
- Jack Carter
- Rivera
- Baron Oswald von Hoyningen-Heune: Minister of the German legation in Lisbon .
Actually existing people
- Wilhelm Canaris
- Heinrich Himmler
- Adolf Hitler
- Erwin Rommel
- Joseph Goebbels
- Walter Schellenberg
- Winston Churchill
background
- Higgins wrote this sequel based on thousands of letters from fans asking him if he would like to do a sequel.
- Jack Higgins came up with the idea for Steiner's stay in prison in the Tower of London while visiting London. In the same building, Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess was temporarily held prisoner.
Reviews
"Peerless entertainment."
"An action-packed mosaic from an expert storyteller."