The Last RidgeMcKay Jenkins 304pp ISBN 0375759514 Drawing on unique cooperation from veterans of the 10th Mountain Division and a vast archive of unpublished letters and documents, this book is written with enormous warmth, energy, and honesty. The story of the division is one of the most captivating stories of World War II, a blend of Band of Brothers and Into Thin Air. Consisting of an extraordinary assortment of European expatriates, wealthy ski bums, mountaineers, and thrill-seekers, they 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. This is a story of young men asked to do the impossible, and succeeding Item Status: In stock as of this morning | |||