10th Mountain Division, XVIII Airborne Corps
10th Mountain Division, XVIII Airborne Corps
Posted on Jan 17, 2022
'The Last Ridge' explores how one group of World War II soldiers set the stage for modern skiing
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As the best skiers in the world are about to put themselves to the test in the winter Olympics in China, we look back to a group of World War II soldiers who set the stage for modern skiing.
The 10th Mountain Division fought in the Italian Mountains against Axis soldiers, and they returned home with an insatiable love for the mountains.
Here & Now's Scott Tong speaks with McKay Jenkins, author of “The Last Ridge: The Epic Story of America's First Mountain Soldiers and the Assault on Hitler's Europe.” He teaches journalism and environmental humanities at the University of Delaware.
The 10th Mountain Division fought in the Italian Mountains against Axis soldiers, and they returned home with an insatiable love for the mountains.
Here & Now's Scott Tong speaks with McKay Jenkins, author of “The Last Ridge: The Epic Story of America's First Mountain Soldiers and the Assault on Hitler's Europe.” He teaches journalism and environmental humanities at the University of Delaware.
'The Last Ridge' explores how one group of World War II soldiers set the stage for modern skiing
Posted from wbur.org
Skiing
WWII World War Two
Military History
Italy
Posted >1 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
"When World War II broke out in Europe, the American army had no specialized division of mountain soldiers. But in the winter of 1939–40, 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 thrill-seekers 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 Italy’s 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 army’s lines."...
"When World War II broke out in Europe, the American army had no specialized division of mountain soldiers. But in the winter of 1939–40, 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 thrill-seekers 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 Italy’s 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 army’s lines."...
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