
Crash of the Heavens:
The Remarkable Story of Hannah Senesh and the Only Military Mission to Rescue Europe’s Jews During World War II
Buy ebook
Crash of the Heavens:
The Remarkable Story of Hannah Senesh and the Only Military Mission to Rescue Europe’s Jews During World War II
Overview
The awe-inspiring story of Hannah Senesh, a female paratrooper in World War II whose courage and sacrifice left an indelible mark on history.
In the years before World War II, thousands of young Jewish men and women escaped Europe, seeking safety in British Mandatory Palestine. By 1942, horrifying reports began to spread about industrialised killing centres in Poland and a chilling campaign to exterminate Europe’s entire Jewish population. When it became clear that the Allies were unwilling to spare any forces from the war effort to save civilians, the Jewish community in Palestine came up with a daring plan.
Working with British Military Intelligence, an elite unit of young Jewish paratroopers volunteered to return to eastern Europe. Once behind enemy lines, they would use their expertise in the local languages and terrain to rescue thousands of downed Allied pilots and escaped POWs. At the same time, these volunteer commandos would help Jewish civilians escape deportation to death camps or take up arms in resistance against the Nazis. Hannah Senesh was one of only three female paratroopers who risked everything to infiltrate occupied Europe.
In 1939, at just eighteen years old, Hannah emigrated from Hungary to British Mandatory Palestine, where she dreamed of being a poet and a schoolteacher. Instead, she became a poet and a paratrooper. Five years after fleeing Europe, Hannah parachuted back into occupied territory as a freedom fighter with the most crucial role in her team: the wireless operator tasked with sending and deciphering top secret British radio codes. Though captured after crossing the border into Hungary, she refused to give up her radio codes or any information about her mission, despite enduring months of torture. Her final act of defiance — choosing to die before a firing squad rather than beg for clemency — cemented her legendary status as the ‘Jewish Joan of Arc’, and her posthumously published poems, translated into more than twenty languages, continue to inspire new generations of readers.
More than just a gripping historical account of Hannah’s life and afterlife, Crash of the Heavens offers a powerful reminder of the human spirit’s ability to shine, even in the darkest of times.
Details
- Format
- Size
- Extent
- ISBN
- RRP
- Pub date
- Rights held
- Other rights
- Hardback
- 234mm x 153mm
- 432 pages
- 9781915590701
- GBP£25.00
- 20 November 2025
- UK & Commonwealth (ex. Can)
- Creative Artists Agency
Praise
‘Hannah Senesh isn’t just a hero. She’s a reminder of what happens when Jews stop running and start fighting. Crash of the Heavens captures the essence of that moment — when young volunteers, men and women, parachuted into the heart of Nazi Europe not as victims but as warriors.’
‘What a story! This book is a magnificent masterwork, and you won’t be able to put it down.’
About the Author
Douglas Century is the author and coauthor of numerous bestselling books including Hunting El Chapo, Under and Alone, Brotherhood of Warriors, Barney Ross: The Life of a Jewish Fighter, The Last Boss of Brighton, and Takedown: The Fall of the Last Mafia Empire. His World War II nonfiction narrative, No Surrender, coauthored with Chris Edmonds, was the recipient of a 2020 Christopher Award. A veteran investigative journalist, Century’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Billboard, The Globe & Mail, Tablet, and The Guardian.