The Eagle Has Landed is a book by Jack Higgins first published in 1975. It was made into a film in 1976.
The book is still in print, as it was reissued in New York by Berkley Books in 2000 with ISBN 0425177181
The film starred Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland and Robert Duvall.
During World War II a German Officer, Colonel Steiner (Caine), intervenes as SS officers round up Jews at a railway station. He is subsequently court-martialled. Rather than face certain death, Steiner and his men are sent to a penal colony in the Channel Islands where their numbers are reduced by testing manned torpedoes. They are then offered a chance to redeem themselves by accepting an assignment to travel to England and capture Winston Churchill. They are aided by a member of the IRA, Liam Devlin (Sutherland.)
The plan is an invention of Himmler, inspired by the daring rescue of Germanys' ally Benito Mussolini by German special forces. Himmler's underlying intention however, is to discredit Admiral Whilhelm Canaris, head of the Abwehr, (German military intelligence). What Canaris (Anthoney Quayle) takes as a joke is demonstrated to be feasible by Lt. Col. Radel (Duvall.)
When the film came out it was not considered a success.
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Last updated: 05-23-2005 19:42:50
