The Boys of Winter: Life and Death in the U.S. Ski Troops During the Second World War

"The Boys of Winter" is author Charles J. Sanders' tribute to the soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division during the Second World War. The author is a self-described avid skier and nephew of a veteran of the division, who knew other veterans fairly well. His emotional attachment to the sport and to the soldiers permeates the narrative. Sanders approaches the 10th Mountain Division story through the lives of three of its soldiers. All were pre-war competitive skiers who answered the call for ski troops shortly after Pearl Harbor and who "grew up" with the division as it trained at various mountain camps in Washington and Colorado. The author draws draws heavily on letters, interviews with survivors and family members, and regimental histories. The result is a very human-sized narrative, told largely from the soldier level. Sanders makes clear the close connections of the division's soldiers to the pre-war skiing and mountaineering communities. Sanders' handling of the story is less sure as the 10th finally ships off to Italy in late 1944 to participate in the final grinding months of the Italian campaign. The 10th, composed of select volunteers bonded by nearly two years of training, fought heroically in the mountains of northern Italy and led the breakout into the Po Valley at the end of the war. Sanders complains bitterly about the tough conditions, the carnage of the fighting, and the alleged poor leadership of 5th Army Commander General Mark Clark. In the process, he comes disquietingly close to pleading that the outstanding young men of the division should somehow have been spared their share of the fighting. He does not offer a detailed military analysis of the campaign. "The Boys of Winter" is highly recommended to the general reader looking for insights into the experiences of the soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division during the Second World War.

I am a descendant of a 10th Mountain soldier, who is still living, my review of course is biased to that slant. My dad shared with my brothers and I the places in Colorado where he trained, the mountain songs, however, he has never told us about the sights, sounds, or events of the battles in Kiska or Italy. This book brought to me the understanding of those events and the impact of why he never talked about those events, it has opened to me what happened on the battlefield. The book is non-fiction, it reads like fiction. One reviewer commented that it was not great military writing, I don't believe that was the premise for the book. Thank you Mr. Sanders for helping me understand my father's role as well as those which whom he served. I'm grateful he came home and enriched my life.