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 U.S. Army to let him recruit an extraordinary assortment of European expatriates, mountaineers, and thrill-seekers and form them into a unique band of Alpine soldiers. Telling a remarkable yet little-known story, McKay Jenkins follows the newly forged 10th Mountain Division into Italy's Apennine Mountains, proving itself against the seemingly unbreakable German fortifications north of the Gothic Line.