The Winter Army
The World War II Odyssey of the 10th Mountain Division, America's Elite Alpine Warriors
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
WINNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL SKIING HISTORY ASSOCIATION'S ULLR AWARD, the epic story of the US Army’s 10th Mountain Division, whose elite soldiers broke the last line of German defenses in Italy’s mountains in 1945, spearheading the Allied advance to the Alps and final victory.
At the start of World War II, the US Army had two cavalry divisions—and no mountain troops. The German Wehrmacht, in contrast, had many well-trained and battle-hardened mountain divisions, some of whom by 1943 blocked the Allied advance in the Italian campaign. Starting from scratch, the US Army developed a unique military fighting force, the 10th Mountain Division, drawn from the ranks of civilian skiers, mountaineers, and others with outdoor experience. The resulting mix of Ivy League students, park rangers, Olympic skiers, and European refugees formed the first specialized alpine fighting force in US history. By the time it deployed to Italy at the beginning of 1945, this ragtag group had coalesced into a tight-knit unit. In the months that followed, at a terrible cost, they spearheaded the Allied drive in Italy to final victory.
Ranging from the ski slopes of Colorado to the towering cliffs of the Italian Alps, The Winter Army is a saga of an unlikely band of soldiers forged in the heat of combat into a brotherhood whose legacy lives on in US mountain fighters to this day.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hamilton College history professor Isserman (Continental Divide) chronicles the U.S. Army's first mountaineering unit from inception to its decisive role in the Allied invasion of Italy in this exhilarating account. Inspired by the "hit-and-run attacks" Finnish ski troops launched against Soviet forces, National Ski Patrol System founder Charles Minot "Minnie" Dole believed that specially trained mountain soldiers could help protect North America from Nazi invasion. He prodded President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Army chief of staff Gen. George C. Marshall, and other military leaders to train and deploy such a force. Thousands of recruits, including mountain climbers, forest rangers, and Ivy League skiers, underwent rigorous training in Washington State and the Colorado Rockies before being shipped to Italy, where they broke through Germany's defensive line in the North Apennine mountains. Drawing from letters sent by 10th Mountain Division soldiers to family and friends back home, Isserman provides frontline views of such famous battles as Riva Ridge and Mt. Belvedere, and relates how the unit's veterans took part in the postwar rise of the American ski industry. The result is an entertaining, well-sourced blend of military and sports history.
