num_pages: 425
description: In this viscerally exciting account a paratrooper-turned-historian reveals the details of World War IIs largest airborne operationone that dropped 17000 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 17000 troops to be dropped via parachute and glider on the far banks of the Rhine River. Four hours later after what was the wars largest airdrop all major objectives had been seized. The invasion smashed Germanys last line of defense and gutted Hitlers 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 victorythe 17th Airborne secured that bridgehead over the River Rhine. And yet their story has until now been relegated to historys 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 IIs most under-chronicled and dangerous operations.
language: English
title: Four Hours of Fury: The Untold Story of World War II's Largest Airborne Invasion and the Final Push into Nazi Germany
publisher: Scribner