The Brenner Assignment: The Untold Story of the Most Daring Spy Mission of World War II [Hardcover]

Patrick K. O'Donnell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 7, 2008

An impossible mission
Behind enemy lines
The never-before-told true story of a small team of American saboteurs with orders to sever the Third Reich’s main supply artery—the Brenner Pass

Like a scene from Where Eagles Dare, a small team of American special operatives parachutes into Italy under the noses of thousands of German troops. Their orders: link up with local partisans in the mountains and sabotage the well-guarded Brenner Pass, the crucial route through the Alps for the Nazi war machine. Without the supplies that travel this route, the German war effort in Italy will grind to a halt.

Using thousands of recently declassified files, personal interviews, and private documents, including a behind-the-lines diary buried in a bottle, military historian Patrick K. O’Donnell has written a cinematic World War II adventure story. The unforgettable cast of characters includes the dashing and daring team leader; the romantic idealist who plans the operation; the seductive Italian countess who is also a double-agent; and the maniacal SS officer who will stop at nothing to kill the team and their partisan collaborators. The Brenner Assignment is also a World War II story that resonates today, revealing lessons for the war on terror and illustrating the complex nature of insurgency.

Packed with action, suspense, intrigue, and even romance, this exciting true tale of survival and sabotage behind enemy lines is one of the greatest untold adventure stories of World War II.
 

Editorial Reviews

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.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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.”

 

Rick Atkinson, author of Day of Battle
“Remarkable and very readable. Patrick O’Donnell has transformed an obscure World War II spy mission into a vivid and improbable adventure yarn.”

 

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.”

 

Bookviews.com, 4/09
“O’Donnell is a skilled military historian…Anyone with an interest in WWII will want to read [this] excellent book.”

 

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.”

Italian America, Winter 2009
“For the first time, the facts behind the most daring covert operation of WW II are revealed in this true adventure story…Tapping thousands of recently declassified files, documents and interview...

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press; Complete Numbers Starting with 1, 1st Ed edition (October 7, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 030681577X
• ISBN-13: 978-0306815775
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #808,551 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Combat historian Patrick K. O'Donnell has authored seven critically acclaimed books which recount the epic stories of America's troops in World War II, the Korean War, and the current conflict in Iraq. His bestseller Beyond Valor, which tells the gripping tales of U.S. WWII Ranger and Airborne veterans, won the William E. Colby Award for Outstanding Military History. His other books include Into the Rising Sun; Operatives, Spies, and Saboteurs; We Were One: Shoulder to Shoulder With the Marines Who Took Fallujah; The Brenner Assignment: The Untold Story of the Most Daring Spy Mission of WWII; They Dared Return; and Give Me Tomorrow: The Korean War's Greatest Untold Story - The Epic Stand Of The Marines Of George Company, which is his most recent work.

Reviewers from media outlets as diverse as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Jerusalem Post, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, C-SPAN, and National Public Radio (NPR) have hailed his publications. In addition, his books have been Main or Alternate selections of the Book-of-the-Month, History, and Military History Book-Clubs.

O'Donnell has appeared as a guest on countless television and radio shows on CNN, MSNBC, FOX, and other networks. He served as a war correspondent for Men's Journal and Fox News, reporting on the conflict in Iraq from the perspective of the Marines on the ground. He has also written for Military History Quarterly (MHQ) and WWII Magazine and is a frequent contributor to a variety of nationally recognized blogs.

An expert on WWII espionage, special operations, and counter-insurgency on the modern battlefield, the historian has helped with production or writing for numerous documentaries produced by the BBC, the History Channel, and Fox News.

He also provided historical consulting for DreamWorks' award-winning miniseries Band of Brothers, as well as for the billion-dollar Medal of Honor game franchise.

His skills have even been tapped by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). For the agency, the historian worked on modern weapons systems for urban warfare, looked at historical counter-insurgency, and researched and analyzed German technology from WWII and how it can be applied to the modern battlefield.

Dedicated to preserving the stories of combat veterans for generations to come, O'Donnell founded the Drop Zone (www.thedropzone.org). The award-winning web site contains many of the 4,000 oral history interviews O'Donnell has personally conducted over the past twenty years with American combat veterans and their adversaries.

O'Donnell not only writes about combat--he's experienced it firsthand. He served as the only civilian combat historian to spend three months in Iraq documenting the experiences of troops in battle. He literally fought with a Marine rifle platoon in Fallujah, surviving several ambushes and once dragging a mortally wounded Marine from battle (www.wewereone.com).

Because he believes in experiencing the places and people he writes about firsthand, O'Donnell has travelled to nearly all of the battlefields of North America and many of the WWII battlefields in Northern Europe. In addition, each one of his books contains scores, if not hundreds, of oral history interviews he has personally conducted, combined with years of archival research (The Brenner Assignment, for instance, took 10,000 documents to produce.)

His websites include:

www.patrickkodonnell.com
www.givemetomorrowbook.com
www.theydaredreturn.com
www.thedropzone.org
www.brennerassignment.com
www.wewereone.com
www.facebook.com/patrickkodonnell

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty exciting, but not without problems., February 8, 2009

By 

Björn Hellqvist (Skövde, Sweden) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Brenner Assignment: The Untold Story of the Most Daring Spy Mission of World War II (Hardcover)

After the fall of Mussolini in 1943, Italy saw an increase in partisan warfare against the Germans. While Allied troops were slowly pressing north, partisan bands of almost every political stripe were formed, disrupting the German rear areas and tying down troops needed for the front. Seeing an opportunity to make life harder for the Germans, the newly-created OSS (Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of CIA) parachuted agents behind enemy lines, tasked with the mission to aid the partisans and to conduct commando operations. Few missions were more daring than the plan to block the main German supply route through the Brenner Pass on the Italo-Austrian border. It was the brain-child of Captain Stephen Hall, an OSS agent with an adventurous streak. Parachuted into northern Italy, his exploits could have been the subject for an action movie, had he succeeded. A fellow OSS agent, Captain Howard Chappell, entered the area the same way together with his team, and with one of his objectives to link up with Hall. His colleague had disappeared, though, and was in the clutches of the Gestapo...

The blurb for the book likens it to movies like "Where Eagles Dare", and isn't far off the mark. Daring American agents, sadistic Gestapo officers, brave (and not-so-brave) partisans, double agents, traitors, mysterious countesses, sabotage, capture, escapes, and missions that could alter the course of the war (or so it was believed) - "The Brenner Assignment" has it all. Now, this might sound like a cheap thriller, if it wasn't for O'Donnell's research, which is based on original documents and interviews with people directly involved in the story. For those of you who like a (mostly) well-written, exciting and true (as far as can be told) story from WW2, the book is bound to be a great read. You can stop reading now, as some major spoilers will follow in the second part of my review.

For all his thorough research, the author fall victim to a few inaccuracies and generalizations. One of the main antagonists, Major Otto Schröder, is said to have commanded a Waffen-SS battalion, when it appears like he commanded the 2nd Battalion of the SS-Polizei-Regiment "Bozen"; to some, this might be a minor mistake, but considering the brutality of the anti-partisan warfare, the blame should be laid at the right door. Another of the bad guys, the local Gestapo chief August Schiffer is said to have joined the Kriminalpolizei in 1933, "(...) the criminal police branch of the Nazi Party. At the time, the secret state police, or Gestapo, had yet to be formed" (page 68). First off, the KriPo became a branch of the SS in 1936, and not of the NSDAP in 1933. Besides, the Gestapo was founded in 1933. On page 113, he mentions a couple of deserters from "the 20th Luftwaffe Division"; there was no such unit, and the closest candidate, the 20. Luftwaffe Feld-Division, wasn't in Italy at all. Some members of Chappell's team ended up in the Gries concentration camp, where "Jews [had] a temporary home for them on their way to the hell of death camps such as Auschwitz-Birkenau". This takes place in mid-March, 1945, but the only remaining death camp, Auschwitz, had been liberated six weeks earlier. Chappell claims that the April 14 blowing of the Busche bridge created a huge traffic jam, where retreating German troops were caught next night by fighter-bombers, "killing several thousand Germans". Strangely enough, I've been unable to find any mention of such attacks; 12th Air Force attacks at that time appear to have been made against targets near Bologna further to the south.

While I didn't read the book with the intent to ferret out every error, I couldn't help checking up on a few minor mistakes. The author writes - twice - that the required number of jumps for the Parachutist Badge ("Jump Wings") was four, when it was five. A mid-March (1945) night is described as one with "bright moonlight", when it was dark (the Moon was new, and not up at night anyway). The surrendering Germans of the schwere Panzer-Abteilung 504 are said to have had a single Tiger I tank left, when other sources claim that it lost its last Tiger the day before. Perhaps it was a PzKpfw IV. Then there's the question of style. O'Donnell writes in a mostly straightforward style, but he occasional lapses into purple prose like: "A bony finger depressed the gunmetal trigger of an Italian Breda machine gun. With a maximum cyclic rate of over 450 rounds per minute, the weapon spat bursts of flying lead with deadly fury (...) cutting down Germans like a scythe through a wheat field". He refers to the Germans alternately as "Germans" and "Nazis", which perhaps suits his style, but which sounds rather tired in the 21st century. As a side note, most of the SS Police troops in the area where from South Tirol, and not German at all.

There are some interesting insights in the book, like the descriptions of the diverse partisan groups and the problems leading them, and the improvised nature of the OSS operations, with poor communications and lofty plans that came for naught. Some of the OSS agents were real mavericks, like the Spaniard Fabrega, and fun to read about. The goal of the whole operation, to block the Brenner Pass, failed in all crucial aspects, and it is hard to judge what impact the presence of OSS agents had on the partisan warfare in the area. A few bridges were blown, and rear-area security units were tied down, but I find it hard to believe that the operation had other than a marginal effect on the fighting in the region.

There are some maps that illuminate some of the operations, and the photos are mostly relevant. The book is a pretty exciting read, and throws light on a little-known aspect of WW2. It will appeal to those who like to read about secret missions and behind-enemy-lines stories, but the subject is still just a foot-note in the history of the war. While the story is quite well documented, there are some errors and omissions that I couldn't ignore. I give the book three strong stars.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FIVE STAR HISTORY!, May 4, 2009

By 

W. H. McDonald Jr. "The American Author Assoc... (Elk Grove, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Brenner Assignment: The Untold Story of the Most Daring Spy Mission of World War II (Hardcover)

Start off with one great writer, Patrick K. O'Donnell, add a daring spy mission; then add a world at war, some really bad guys and lots of action and suspense, and you have the essence of a great book. "The Brenner Assignment: The Untold Story Of The Most Daring Spy Mission Of World War II" is that book and it captures a story that is so fascinating it truly is worthy of being made into one of those huge blockbuster action films.

For history buffs and readers who enjoy spies, war, suspense and action entertainment they do not get much better. Written like a great novel this story will hold reader's attention from page one to the end. O'Donnell reminds us of why we enjoyed his other writings so well - he is a first rate story-teller!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, poorly written, March 18, 2011

By 

Mark A. Wilson "Renaissance Geek" - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Brenner Assignment: The Untold Story of the Most Daring Spy Mission of World War II (Kindle Edition)

The true story this book tells should be gripping, tense, and cinematic. It has all the elements: heroes, villains, beautiful women (both good and bad), spies, war, and more. Yet it is none of those. The writing is pedestrian at best, although it strives irregularly for a novelistic flair. If it were drier, it might be palatable as a straight history; if it were better written, it could be a terrific page-turner. Sad to say, it's neither.
I'm glad to have read it, in the sense of having learned about an interesting time, and a daring plan, but I certainly wish the experience hadn't felt so much like work! There are places where the failings might be blamed on a bad book-to-Kindle conversion, but there are far too many awkward turns of phrase, or thuddingly cliched descriptions, to ever enjoy the reading itself.