The village in The Eagle Has Landed is a small, rural community in England. The village is the setting for the novel, which tells the story of a group of German soldiers who are stranded in the village during World War II. The villagers are initially hostile to the Germans, but they eventually come to accept them as part of the community. The novel ends with the villagers helping the Germans escape from the village before the Allied forces arrive.

The fourth Liam Devlin novel and yet the second one when you look at the timeline of Devlins life. He has escaped the hospital in Holland after the return from the failed mission in The Eagle has landed and has moved to Portugal. The fact that the final outcome of the story was known at the very beginning of the story took away much of the suspense/mystery for me. Now this is not always the case when reading about real life events in which the final outcome is well known, as I have read a lot of historical ficiton and real life crime fiction that kept me at the edge of my seat. However, in this case, the slow, methodical planning of the kidnapping just never seemed to pull me in and so I found the story very slow moving.There is no definitive answer as to whether or not the film The Eagle has Landed is based on a true story. However, there are some elements of the film that suggest that it may be based on real events. For example, the film is set during World War II and follows a group of German soldiers who are sent to England on a secret mission to kidnap Prime Minister Winston Churchill. This plot is similar to a real-life operation that was conducted by the German military during the war. Additionally, the film includes several historical figures, such as Churchill and Adolf Hitler, which adds to its plausibility. Higgins frequently fictionalized real-life events from World War II in his novels. According to a statement issued by his publisher, Higgins was working on a new novel about the D-Day landings that were planned in 1942 and took place on June 6, 1944.

Michael Caine was originally offered the part of Devlin but did not want to play a member of the IRA, so asked if he could have the role of Steiner. Richard Harris was in line to play Devlin, but ongoing comments he had made in support of the IRA and attendance at an IRA fundraising event in America embroiled him in scandal and drew threats to the film's producers, so he was removed from the production and Donald Sutherland was given the role instead. [1] [7] Second, even if German spies in London had full knowledge of the movements, it would require lead time for the Nazis to form a meticulous plan. Training and preparation of their assault commando unit would be necessary months ahead of time. Weather, tides, flying conditions for insertion, and U-boat/E-boat movement for evacuation. The required complexity for such a plan would be too much.

The Eagle Has Flown: The Sequel

I read this book because it was recommended by Reader's Digest as one of the best all time. Needless to say that they weren't wrong. I enjoy reading war & related fiction & have read many books but what Higgins presented here was beyond doubt extraordinary. Here are a few elements that I was amazed to see: Higgins wrote a sequel called The Eagle Has Flown, which was published in 1991. It was also set during World War II. a b Lovell, Glenn. Escape Artist: The Life and Films of John Sturges. University of Wisconsin Press, 2008, pp. 284–288. Steiner and his men are professional soldiers, not Nazis. They are in a penal unit, after attempting to stop an SS unit killing a Jewish girl. Steiner himself has an old-fashioned code of honour, and his father is an anti-Nazi who the Gestapo have imprisoned. He also has no negative personal characteristics at all. His men love him. Women love him. He’s thoughtful, charming and strong. He inspires instant respect in everyone he meets.