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McKay Jenkins details the most daring mountain attack in U.S. military history

3:26 p.m., Sept. 15, 2003--During World War II, the Allied march through Italy came to a complete standstill in the Apennine mountain range. The German army had set up a plethora of artillery guns, land mines and troops in the Apennines, which are about 100 miles south of the Italian Alps.

McKay Jenkins, associate professor of English

For a year and a half, 27 Allied divisions were unable to launch a successful attack with the 33 Axis divisions looking down on them. This seemingly impossible mission would be the stage for the most daring mountain attack in U.S. military history.

Enter the 10th Mountain Division, an elite group of soldiers made up of Olympic and recreational skiers, mountain climbers and outdoorsmen. After two years of extreme training in Colorado, the 10th was sent to Italy to destroy the German blockade that had hampered the Allies for so long.

The only possibility for success was climbing the steep mountain ridges that were left unprotected at night. The Germans left these ridges unguarded because they felt no force could scale the ridge with enough troops and artillery to mount a successful attack. Which was true—until the arrival of the 10th Mountain Division.

The amazing feats of the Army’s specialized 10th Mountain Division have not been widely known until now. A detailed account of the heroics of these men has been written by McKay Jenkins, a professor of English at UD.

The soldiers of the 10th faced all the dangers of battling an enemy on unfamiliar ground, Jenkins said, but also had to confront atypical dangers, like falling off a mountain, freezing to death and “figuring out how to toehold on an icy rock face while making sure your grenades remained in your pocket.”

Jenkins’ book, “The Last Ridge,” tells the complete story of the 10th, from the days in training, to a strange mission in the Aleutian Islands, and ultimately the division’s final battle in the Apennines. His work is based on more than 1,000 pages of personal letters written by soldiers training at Camp Hale in Colorado and fighting in Italy, as well as hundreds of military documents. Jenkins spent hours interviewing family members of the soldiers, as well as 10th Mountain Division veterans like Edward “Nick” Nickerson, a retired English professor who founded the journalism program at the University of Delaware.

Jenkins traveled to Camp Hale, where most of the 10th’s grueling training took place. He also visited the Apennine Mountains in Italy where the epic battles were fought.

Released in August by Random House, “The Last Ridge” has received enthusiastic reviews.

The odyssey of the 10th did not end with the war. Many veterans went on to found famous ski resorts like Vail and Aspen. During the ‘50s and ‘60s, many of the world’s most famous mountain climbers were veterans of the 10th.

“When the 20,000 experienced skiers and mountain climbers returned from the war they didn’t go get desk jobs, they went out and did some really amazing things,” Jenkins said. “When you think of the outdoor industry and all these extreme sports that are going on now, their roots are deeply tied to the 10th Mountain Division’s return from the war,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins will be signing copies of “The Last Ridge” at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 16, in 127 Memorial Hall, as part of a lecture and slideshow of the 10th Mountain Division. Division veteran Nickerson will be a featured guest at the event. For more information call 831-1974.

Article by Dean Geddes, AS 2005

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