The Force

December 1943. A German fort sits impregnable atop a mountain. Standing between the Allied forces and their path to Rome is a steep climb up a 200-foot cliff, in the snow, in the middle of the night.

As the future of civilisation hangs in the balance, with Axis forces sprawled around the world, a group of highly trained US and Canadian soldiers from humble backgrounds is asked to do the impossible: capture this crucial Nazi stronghold. After completing state-of-the-art training – including skiing, rock climbing and parachuting – they advance upwards, through savage conditions and vicious fighting, into the darkness and towards almost certain defeat

‘Every chapter is filled with harrowing adventure, life and death struggle… The amount of new cutting-edge research is impressive. A monumental achievement!’ Douglas Brinkley

‘Saul David has both a knack with the pen and a nose for a thrilling tale….Masterly [in] style…Readers should exult in The Force, whose heroic subjects deserve to be forever remembered’ Wall Street Journal

Reviews

‘A very fine book…Saul David has both a knack with the pen and a nose for a thrilling tale….Masterly [in] style…Readers should exult in The Force, whose heroic subjects deserve to be forever remembered’ Alexander Rose, Wall Street Journal

‘A mesmerizing read that blends strategy with tactics and traditions, narrating in gritty detail the 1943 mountain battle by a small, dauntless American-Canadian force. This was the battlefield birth of our special Operations Forces. A compelling tale of human valor, doubts, mistakes, and victory, honestly told’ Bing West, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense, New York Times bestselling author of The Village and coauthor with Jim Matthis of Callsign Chaos

‘Compelling and well-researched, The Force is an uplifting story of bravery, duty, and honor, an account of men who found the courage to take on an impossible mission – and prevail against all odds’ Howard Blum, New York Times bestselling author of Dark Invasion and The Last Goodnight

‘The Force provides incredible insight into the formation, development, and performance of the U.S. Army Special Forces Group, which traces its lineage to these fearless men. With his incomparable gift for storytelling, Saul David captures the brotherhood forged in war, the tragedy and chaos of battle, and the rich tradition of American tactical brilliance that these elite soldiers helped to launch’ David M. Reel, Executive Director, West Point Museum

‘Every chapter is filled with harrowing adventure, life and death struggle, and bedrock patriotism. The amount of new cutting-edge research is impressive. A monumental achievement!’ Douglas Brinkley, #1 New York Times bestselling author of American Moonshot: John F.Kennedy and the Great Space Race