Where the Eagle Landed

In the summer of 1941, when the likelihood of an invasion was a daily threat to the people of England, one of the most intriguing and persistent legends of the World War II was born: that German troops did land on the coast of East Anglia in a prelude to the invasion that was then only weeks, perhaps even days, away. It is a legend that has inspired writers such as Graham Greene (The Lieutenant Died Last), the filmmaker Alberto Cavalcanti (Went the Day Well?), and of course, Jack Higgins, whose 1975 novel The Eagle Had Landed was an international bestseller and became a hugely popular film. But all of these stories are fiction. Using recently declassified documents, eyewitness accounts, contemporary reports, and newspaper and magazine features, Peter Haining investigates the story and ultimately provides the solution to an enduring mystery, while at the same time illuminating a particularly fraught period of Britain's wartime history.