Publishers Weekly
04/22/2019
Fenelon, a former paratrooper, examines Operation Varsity, a little-known but massive operation near the end of WWII, in perhaps too fine detail. On March 24, 1945, more than 16,000 Allied paratroopers landed around the German city of Wesel over a four-hour stretch, protecting bridgeheads seized by ground troops, in “the culmination of Allied airborne experience earned the hard way over the past three years.” Nearly 55,000 German troops, from battle-hardened SS veterans to old men and boys corralled into Volkssturm units, were dug in to defend their homeland, but the concentration of Allied firepower, air support, and a well-trained, fully supplied fighting force was overwhelming. Testimony from surviving veterans provides gripping detail, but the minutiae of the operation (recommended size of base camps, the number of weapons in a regiment) are meticulously noted, nearly to a fault, which can make for slow passages and a lack of clarity about the larger context. Readers interested in granular detail of military operations and individual combat accounts will appreciate this most. Agent: Jim Hornfischer, Hornfischer Literary. (May)
From the Publisher
"Details every aspect of the American 17th Airborne Division's role in Operation Varsity . . . inspired."
—Wall Street Journal
“Fenelon brings his personal experience as a paratrooper to bear in analyzing airborne operations in the 20th century’s greatest conflict....A riveting account of an airborne division at war.”
—Army Times
“Examines Operation Varsity, a little-known but massive operation near the end of WWII...Testimony from surviving veterans provides gripping detail.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Tells the forgotten story of this airborne operation...[James Fenelon] does an excellent job in interweaving personal histories and recollections with unit histories and after-action reports to give a good sense of the heavy fighting that occurred around the drop and landing zones.”
—New York Journal of Books
"I was hooked . . . . The give-and-take dialogue and the physical interchange between the members of the unit are authentic. It is how it was! . . . If you 'were there and did that' you'll relive it. If you're just a reader and not reliving your own experiences in battle, some of what you read will be hard to believe—but that is the way it was!"
—Col. William E. Weber, USA-Ret, Airborne Quarterly Magazine
“Gripping and well-written... Fenelon provides both the American and German perspectives of the fight, deftly weaving operational history with vivid personal accounts of the paratroopers who so bravely floated down to earth, where the hell of war greeted them.”
—Robert M. Edsel, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Monuments Men
“Exceptional...[Fenelon] examines all of the battle’s various aspects: from Allied and German high command strategy conferences, to the logistics of dropping tens of thousands of soldiers behind enemy lines, to the experiences of the paratroopers and glider soldiers in the air and on the ground.... An extraordinary story well told.”
—Peter R. Mansoor, author of The GI Offensive in Europe: The Triumph of American Infantry Divisions, 1941-1945
“Deeply impactful... As you experience this four-hour descent into chaos, you’ll feel like your own boots are hitting the ground.”
—A.J. Baime, New York Times bestselling author of The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman and the Four Months That Changed the World
“Depicts as few books ever have the complex levels of planning that are a precursor to a major invasion...Above all, [it] showcases the speed, noise, and permanence of horrifying, front-line combat.”
—Robert O’Neill, former SEAL Team operator and New York Times bestselling author of The Operator
“Compellingly chronicles one of the least studied great episodes of World War II with power and authority....A riveting read.”
—Donald L. Miller, author of Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany
"Fenelon has fashioned a mirror of hell... Four Hours of Fury helps us see deeply into this little known but critical fight to the death.”
—Winston Groom, New York Times bestselling author of Forrest Gump, The Aviators, and The Generals
"Epic... Four Hours of Fury is a fine tribute to the gallantry of the men and women who, against overwhelming odds, vanquished a great evil.”
—Craig Nelson, New York Times bestselling author of Pearl Harbor, Rocket Men, and The First Heroes
“Diving into Four Hours of Fury is like opening the jump door on a C-46 transport high over Germany in March of 1945.... The book is a gripping reminder that the crash of war is at its most deafening before the end.”
—Adam Makos, author of Spearhead: An American Tank Gunner, His Enemy, and a Collision of Lives in World War II
“A brilliant tribute to the last great parachute assault, and the men who invaded Hitler’s empire from the air.”
—Jonathan W. Jordan, New York Times bestselling author of Brothers Rivals Victors
“A riveting chronicle of personal courage, overwhelming logistics, and inevitable mayhem that is as authentic as it gets.”
—Walter R. Borneman, author of Brothers Down: Pearl Harbor and the Fate of the Many Brothers Aboard the USS Arizona
