Best of Book History Online

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #61708 in Books

Published on: 2008-10-06

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Binding: Hardcover

304 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Military historian Brenner (We Were One: Shoulder to Shoulder with the Marines Who Took Fallujah) brings a cinematic style and considerable expertise to this engrossing tale of a behind-enemy-lines mission during the last year of WWII. Conducted by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS, the predecessor to the modern CIA), the plan was to cut "a carotid artery of the Third Reich," the infamous Brenner Pass through the mountains between Austria and Italy, leaving the German army in Southern Italy isolated. Arguably one of the war's most dangerous operations, it was led two OSS operatives who never met: Stephen Hall, a combat engineer trained in demolitions, who conceived and sold the plan (and himself) to the newly formed OSS; and Howard Chappell, a Fort Benning paratroop trainer recruited by the OSS to train the team of "shadow soldiers" who would infiltrate Nazi Germany under Hall's command. Unfortunately, the main theater of operations had shifted to France by the summer of 1944, and the team was shorted critical logistical support. With thorough research and new interviews, O'Donnell provides an insightful look into the internal struggles of the burgeoning OSS as well as a real-life espionage adventure of bravery, ingenuity and sacrifice.
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Review
Kirkus Reviews
“O’Donnell clearly enjoys narrating war’s gristle along with its meat; small successes and failures ground the story in the reality of sabotage, reconnaissance, capture and escape, torture and murder. Along the way, the participants’ motivations, allegiances, thoughts and actions come alive in vigorous, exciting prose. A taut real-life thriller.”

Charles Pinck, President, The OSS Society
“The Brenner Assignment” is an important contribution to the still unfolding history of the Office of Strategic Services, perhaps the most remarkable organization in American history. A fascinating tale of brains, brawn, and bravado.”

John C. McManus, author of The Americans at D-Day and Alamo in the Ardennes
“Patrick O’Donnell is a first-rate storyteller and one of our most perceptive historians. Few writers give as much of themselves to bring history to life. The Brenner Assignment is vintage O’Donnell—a pulse-pounding thriller that reads like a novel.”

Military.com
“Beginning with an inherently engaging tale of wartime derring-do, the author adds extensive research—from the OSS files at the National Archives to interviews with eyewitnesses including Italian partisans and the 90-year-old Chappell—and sprightly prose. The result is a first-rate spy tale.”

Internet Review of Books, October 2008
“This book cries out to be made into a movie. Two heroes on the same quest, a grand setting, evil Germans, spies and traitors, and a beautiful countess. What more would it need?...A tale untold until now…It’s a great story…Anyone interested in the details of a struggle as full of cruelty and heroism as any war has ever been will keep turning the pages right through to the end.”

Library Journal, 10/15/08
“This exciting narrative of war at the personal level will be a good supplement to subject collections.”
 

 
Rocky Mountain News, 11/6/08
“O'Donnell draws from primary documents and interviews with the story's main characters, lending the story historical truth…A valuable read for WWII buffs.”
 

Bookgasm.com, 11/08
“The best spy thriller of the year is a true account of one Howard Chappell, a captain who was one of the first OSS operatives…This is material that could not be made up. The story is told through not only detailed notes of missions, but of Chappell’s personal diaries, where you just feel for what he must have been going through. It is jaw-dropping that everything in The Brenner Assignment is 100 percent real, making the writings of certain spy masters look like fairy tales…This is no Hollywood tale where things are tied up nicely, making this book even more of a must-read, since there are moments where you can’t believe what is going on and how these people pulled off these missions…Brenner could easily be referred to as the real-life Where Eagles Dare, but that would be a disservice to the men behind this history…O’Donnell has created a work of non-fiction that surpasses the greatest works of spy fiction.”
 

The Electric Review, 11/08
“A fast-paced Word War Two epic that grips the reader with a sharp intensity seldom seen in today’s middle-of-the-road literature. Melding the blow-by-blow reportage of Mailer’s The Executioner’s Song with the high drama of Hemingway’s best short fiction, military historian Patrick O’Donnell manages to tell the story of a small platoon of Americans who were assigned a dangerous and almost impossible task…While most World War Two stories written today mistakenly attempt to be bigger than life, what’s best about The Brenner Assignment is that it captures the human elements of war in true-to-life wordscapes (showing that valor and bravery are often only the by-products of ordinary men persevering against hard-edged odds). Featuring immaculate prose and exhaustive research, O’Donnell has created a movie in book form that will captivate its reader from start-to-finish. If there’s a veteran in the house, this book makes for a natural gift that will entertain as it educates and enlightens.”
 

Curled Up with a Good Book, 11/08
“A wonderful telling of this daring spy mission…Patrick O’Donnell keeps the reader enthralled with his smoothly flowing historical narrative… O’Donnell makes those people who had died alive again…Highly recommended to those interested in World War II in Italy, spy stories, the OSS, or a good ol’ hero story.”
 

The Advocate, 10/11/08
“As strange and glorious as the most wildly conceived espionage fiction…Prose that could come right out of a spy thriller…O’Donnell is not only a first-rate historian, he’s a world-class storyteller…He fleshes out history with a combination of hard evidence and intimate biography of the major players. If this were fiction, it would be remarkable; as an overlooked piece of world war history, it’s priceless.”
 

Deseret News, 11/23/08
“If moviemakers ever run out of material for James Bond movies, they could always Anglicize the true stories of heroic American war saboteurs Stephen Hall and Albert Chappell…O'Donnell's story is compelling because the author has done so much legwork… World War II book lovers should enjoy The Brenner Assignment for the larger-than-life risks and successes of a few daring American paratroopers…O'Donnell's valuable history certainly proved one thing: More than 63 years after it ended, World War II still has incredible stories to tell.”
 

Infodad.com. 11/20/08
“The book’s story is told with novelistic, even cinematic impact, and is sure to thrill fans of the derring-do of that war…O’Donnell writes nonfiction as if he is creating a thriller…He effectively presents not only the American operatives but also their enemies…And he traces the Brenner Pass assignment carefully, including what went right and what went wrong—bringing to life the small triumphs and failures that, collectively, can win or lose a war…O’Donnell’s use of primary sources is impressive, as is his ability to knit the various parts of this story together. It is a well-told, true tale.”
 

HistoryWire.com, 11/20/08
“[A] made-for-the-movies saga.”
 

Washington Post Express, 11/19/08
“In stark yet evocative prose, O'Donnell deftly shows how a young, idealistic Army lieutenant attempted to cut off access to the Brenner Pass.”
 

Providence Journal, 12/7/08
“Tell[s] for the first time the real-life story of how Office of Strategic Services warriors worked behind enemy lines to shut off the supply channels of Nazi Germany into Italy…The classic spy story O’Donnell succeeds in creating is complex, suspenseful, romantic, and reads like fiction.”
 

Augusta Metro Spirit, 11/26/08
“For the first time, the most daring operation of World War II is brought into the light in a wonderfully crafted narrative…Most readers will have to remind themselves they are reading a non-fiction account…Interested in military history or thrilling stories, here’s a powerful combination of the two.”
 

PopMatters.com, 12/4/08
“A story not widely known of unbelievable bravery, heroism, and commitment…A gripping old-fashioned tale of good (American agents and Italian Partisans) vs. evil (Nazi SS and Gestapo) with evil finally defeated and made to atone…Written with cinematic pacing and simplicity and with a cast of characters that are reminiscent of the black and white war films made during the war or shortly after.”
 

BiblioBuffet, 10/5/08
“[It] has captured my attention so thoroughly it was hard to put down…The story that is emerging (even from the first few pages) is thrilling. I can already recommend this.”
 

Washington Post Express, 11/19/08
“The story of an improbable and important WWII mission—one that’s never been told before.”

America in WWII, 02/09
“O’Donnell, who wrote brilliantly of the current Iraq War in We Were One, has revealed a little-known story of World War II…in fast-moving and engaging prose…Read[s] like a good suspense or spy novel. O’Donnell entertains thoroughly while bringing to light a locale and struggle few students of the war know about.”

About the Author
Patrick K. O’Donnell is a military historian and the author of four previous books: Beyond Valor, winner of the prestigious William E. Colby Award for Outstanding Military History; Into the Rising Sun: Operatives, Spies and Saboteurs; and the highly acclaimed We Were One, about a Marine platoon in the Battle of Fallujah. He has provided historical consulting for DreamWorks’s award-winning miniseries Band of Brothers, and for documentaries produced by the BBC, the History Channel, and Fox News. He is an expert on WWII espionage and special operations, and he is also the founder of the Drop Zone (www.thedropzone.org), an award-winning online oral history Web site. He lives in Arlington, Virginia.

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Customer Reviews

Just OK for me
This is a tough review as all previous eight reviews gave The Brenner Assignment a full five stars which makes me wonder why I thought it so ... average. I received this book as a Christmas gift and finished it in less than a week. My wife and daughter bought it for me knowing I enjoy just about anything WWII, and also based on the previous Amazon ratings. As such, I thought I was in for an incredible read. First of all, the author (Patrick O'Donnell) did a great job of researching and collecting the information for this book that became the skeleton of the story. The problem (for me) was in not bringing all that research to life, thereby putting flesh on the skeleton. Many of the other reviews indicated that this book would make a great movie. That would probably be true as a good Hollywood screenwriter would no doubt flesh out a lot of the gaps in the story the author failed to describe. For instance, in one story a demolition team was underneath a bridge fixing explosives as "two German soldiers passed by... I was very quiet, but continued to work." This must have been a very tense moment, but it was just reported matter-of-factly without any drama. This style is fairly typical of the whole book as many stories are just quoted directly in the words of the participants. My other criticism would be in the overall editing of the book. When describing August Schiffer the author wrote that "The Gestapo promoted Schiffer to the lofty rank of major." On the very next page he wrote "Despite holding the mere rank of major, Schiffer commanded most of the Gestapo outposts in the area." So what is it, lofty rank of major or mere rank of major? He also described the 104-foot wingspan on a Halifax heavy bomber as "gaping".

You'll like it. I did!
The Brenner Pass through the Alps between Italy and Austria has been a route of conquest and commerce since before the Romans. The last combat took place there in the 1940s when Germany, the Allies (US OSS), and the Italian partisans (the communist Garibaldi Brigades, Giustizia e Libertà Brigades, and socialist Matteotti Brigades) fought the last year of WWII. They fought to stop supply to the Nazis, to cut off the retreat from the Nazis and to start the civil war in Italy.

This is the untold story of brutality, intrigue, combat, and even a little romance. You'll like it. I did!

Great story teller
Since I soak up all OSS books like a sponge, it was with great zeal that I sprung on this book the moment it was out. O'Donnell is a great writer, and never let's the reader get bored. It would make a great movie. Like all the interesting stories, it's fortunate that they are told by someone like O'Donnell who has the right touch.
I have read these books by the real men and women who served and have written their memoirs, like Erasmus Kloman, Assignment Algiers: With the OSS in the Mediterranean Theater, Richard Cutler Counterspy: Memoirs of a Counterintelligence Officer in World War II and the Cold War, Helias Doundoulakis I Was Trained To Be A Spy: A True Life Story, and Dorothy Ringlesbach OSS: Stories that can now be told, and you have to read between the lines. I salute them for their courage and patriotism. These authors might have O'Donnell write their memoirs.