The Last Ridge: The Epic Story Of The U.S. Army'S 10Th Mountain Division And The Assault On Hitler'S Europe,Used

Product Descriptionwhen World War Ii Broke Out In Europe, The American Army Had No Specialized Division Of Mountain Soldiers. But In The Winter Of 193940, After A Tiny Band Of Finnish Mountain Troops Brought The Invading Soviet Army To Its Knees, An Amateur Skier Named Charles Minot Minnie Dole Convinced The United States Army To Let Him Recruit An Extraordinary Assortment Of European Expatriates, Wealthy Ski Bums, Mountaineers, And Thrillseekers And Form Them Into A Unique Band Of Alpine Soldiers. These Men Endured Nearly Three Years Of Grueling Training In The Colorado Rockies And In The Process Set New Standards For Both Soldiering And Mountaineering. The Newly Forged 10Th Mountain Division Finally Faced Combat In The Winter Of 1945, In Italys Apennine Mountains, Against The Seemingly Unbreakable German Fortifications North Of The Gothic Line. There, They Planned And Executed What Is Still Regarded As The Most Daring Series Of Nighttime Mountain Attacks In U.S. Military History, Taking Mount Belvedere And The Sheer, Treacherous Face Of Riva Ridge To Smash The Linchpin Of The German Armys Lines.Drawing On Unique Cooperation From Veterans Of The 10Th Mountain Division And A Vast Archive Of Unpublished Letters And Documents, The Last Ridge Is Written With Enormous Warmth, Energy, And Honesty. This Is One Of The Most Captivating Stories Of World War Ii, A Blend Of Band Of Brothers And Into Thin Air. It Is A Story Of Young Men Asked To Do The Impossible, And Succeeding.From Publishers Weeklyresearched Thoroughly, Written Clearly And Dramatized With Aplomb, This Presentation Of The U.S. 10Th Mountain Division'S Wwii Exploits Increases Our Knowledge Of The War'S Italian Theaterand Of The Postwar American Outdoor Recreation Industry. Jenkins, An English Professor And Historian Of The Conservation Movement, Is The Author Of The White Death, A Similarly Wellwritten Book On Avalanche Rescue. He Shows That The Division Spent Most Of The War In The United States, In Washington State, Colorado And Texas, Recruiting An Astonishing Variety Of People, From Ibm Executives And Cowboys To European Outdoorsmen Exiled From Several Nazioccupied Countries. Their Early Days Of Ski Training Resembled A Gigantic Keystone Kops Routine In The Snow, But Left Them Exceptionally Fit And With High Morale. In Fact, The Division Was Fully Trained By 1943 And Could Have Been Invaluable At Cassino, But Saw Combat Only At The End Of 1944, Clearing The Germans Off A Key Position In The Apennine Mountains, And Doing So Without Its Mountain Gear, All Left In Warehouses In New Jersey. Between Then And The End Of The War, The Division Suffered Nearly 5,000 Casualties (Including Bob Dole, Who Became The Kansas Senator) And Did A Full Share And More Of Driving The Germans Out Of Italy. Afterward, Its Veterans Founded The Aspen And Vail Resorts, Among Other Cornerstones Of The New West, And Worked Extensively In Conservation.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.From Booklistthe 10Th Mountain Division Of World War Ii Has A Denver Archive (The Brainchild Of Winter Sports Enthusiasts) That The Author Has Productively Combed For This Complete History Of The Unit. It Is A Bloody One, For The Unit Suffered A 30 Percent Casualty Rate, And Jenkins' Direct Descriptions Of Combat Leave No Room For Euphemisms: When Robert Dole Is Hit, Jenkins Does Not Soften The Scene Of The Future Politician'S Grievous Wounding. The 10Th'S Carnage Occurred In The War'S Final Months In Northern Italy, Where It Had Been Sent Following Some Two Years Of Training In Colorado. During That Time, Jenkins Relates, The 10Th Acquired A Glamorous Reputation As It Awaited An Assignment Worthy Of Its Highaltitude Skills. To Recapture Life In The 10Th, Jenkins Relies Heavily On A Clutch Of Soldiers Given To Expressive Letter Writing And Oral Histories, While He Mines Memoirs Of Generals For The Strategic Deadlock The 10Th Was Ordered To Break, And Did. The 10Th Is Famous Among