The Boys Of Winter

by Sanders, Charles J.

• ISBN13: 9780870817830
• ISBN10: 0870817833
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-12-01
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Colorado

Summary

The Boys of Winter is the poignant true story of three young Depression-era American ski champions and their brutal, heroic, and ultimately tragic transformation from athletes to infantrymen with the fabled 10th Mountain Division. Rudy Konieczny, Jacob Nunnemacher, and Ralph Bromaghin -- three skiers from disparate geographic and economic backgrounds -- forged names for themselves in the burgeoning sport of snow skiing during the late 1930s. With the world suddenly at war, they found themselves drawn together with several of the world's greatest winter athletes in the US 10th Mountain Division at Camp Hale, Colorado, where they trained to fight Hitler's troops in the mountains of Europe. Drawing on dozens of interviews and extensive historical research, Charles J Sanders reveals the stories of these young men in a fast-paced and exhilarating narrative. Sanders traces their journeys from childhood to ski championships and from training at Mount Rainier and in the Colorado Rockies to bloody battles against the Nazis in the Apennine Mountains of Northern Italy. Ultimately, The Boys of Winter is the story of how some of America's best and brightest died in the war's last and most desperate battles under General Mark Clark, calling into question their sacrifices -- and those of thousands of other troops -- on the 'forgotten' Italian front in the spring of 1945.

Author Biography

Charles J. Sanders is a professor at New York University.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	ix
Foreword	xi
Major John B. Woodward
Preface	xv
Acknowledgments	xvii
The Hero of the Thunderbolt	1	(19)
Rudy Konieczny
The Pied Piper of Pine Lake	20	(21)
Jake Nunnemacher
The Sun Valley Serenader	41	(17)
Ralph Bromaghin
The Time of Their Lives	58	(15)
Rocky Mountain Highs	73	(16)
From Alaska to Austin	89	(18)
General Clark and the War in Italy	107	(5)
Good-byes	112	(5)
Into the Maelstrom	117	(11)
The Ridges That Could Not Be Taken	128	(16)
The Brutal Road to Castel d'Aiano	144	(11)
Rest and Recuperation	155	(9)
The Bloodbath of Spring	164	(9)
Bad Times	173	(17)
Pursuit to the Alps	190	(3)
Home	193	(6)
Legacy	199	(6)
Notes	205	(34)
Selected Bibliography	239	(4)
About the Author	243	(2)
Index	245