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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
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English
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FOUR HOURS OF FURY

James M. Fenelon

The Untold War Story of World War II's Largest Airborne Operation and the Final Push into Nazi Germany

In this viscerally exciting account, a paratrooper-turned-historian reveals the details of World War II's largest airborne operation - one that dropped 17,000 Allied paratroopers deep into the heart of Nazi Germany.
On the morning of March 24, 1945, more than two thousand Allied aircraft droned through a cloudless sky toward Germany. Escorted by swarms of darting fighters, the armada of transport planes carried 17,000 troops to be dropped, via parachute and glider, on the far banks of the Rhine River. Four hours later, after what was the war's largest airdrop, all major objectives had been seized. The invasion smashed Germany's last line of defense and gutted Hitler's war machine; the war in Europe ended less than two months later.

Four Hours of Fury follows the 17th Airborne Division as they prepare for Operation Varsity, a campaign that would rival Normandy in scale and become one of the most successful and important of the war. Even as the Third Reich began to implode, it was vital for Allied troops to have direct access into Germany to guarantee victory - the 17th Airborne secured that bridgehead over the River Rhine. And yet their story has until now been relegated to history's footnotes.

Reminiscent of A Bridge Too Far and Masters of the Air, Four Hours of Fury does for the 17th Airborne what Band of Brothers did for the 101st. It is a captivating, action-packed tale of heroism and triumph spotlighting one of World War II's most under-chronicled and dangerous operations.


James Fenelon served in the United States Army for twelve years as a paratrooper and jumpmaster. He has been previously published in World War II magazine and FlyPast, Britain's largest-selling aviation magazine. As well, he regularly consults as a technical advisor for such video games as Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, and Enemy Front. A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, he and his wife live in Texas. Four Hours of Fury is his first book.
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Book

Published 2019-04-23 by Scribner

Book

Published 2019-04-23 by Scribner

Comments

Hook up your static line and get ready to jump into hell. James Fenelon, a former Army paratrooper well-aware of what it takes to drop into the middle of a war, delivers a riveting chronicle of personal courage, overwhelming logistics, and inevitable mayhem that is as authentic as it gets. 'The ambition, scope and execution of Operation Varsity remains unparalleled in the annals of warfare,' he writes. The same can be said of Fenelon's telling of the largest single-day airborne assault of World War II.

James Fenelon's epic account of the Allied invasion of Nazi Germany recreates in stirring detail both the generals' strategies and the privates' emotions as their colossal effort climaxed in momentous achievement. Four Hours of Fury is a fine tribute to the gallantry of the men and women who, against overwhelming odds, vanquished a great evil.

Four Hours of Fury depicts as few books ever have the complex levels of planning that are a precursor to a major invasion, but it also shines a light on the seldom-viewed human element: lull moments that often drift into comedy, and, once the action starts, the struggle to bury fear as death draws closer. Above all, the book showcases the speed, noise, and permanence of horrifying, front-line combat. In the end, the reader is left with this: the perfect plan rarely works; it is for each other that men fight; and facing annihilation releases emotions that never entirely disappear. It is a weight that is carried for a lifetime.

"James Fenelon compellingly chronicles one of the least studied great episodes of World War II with power and authority. Four Hours of Fury is a riveting read and adds immensely to our understanding of the war's largest airdrop." --Donald L. Miller, John Henry McCracken Professor of History at Lafayette College, host of the PBS series "A Biography of America," and author of Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany