Putnam s account of his experiences as a member of the 10th Mountain Div., the first & only mountain warfare unit of the U.S. Army. In WW II, the elite Mountain Troops were sent to break the German Gothic Line in the Apennine Mountains of Italy. Brilliantly led, they fought their way northward with magnificent dash, seizing control of ten mountain crests. Their determined drive broke the German resistance & brought on the first large-scale enemy surrender of the war. They were much celebrated & studied after the war for their striking success & spirit in the field. The ski troopers were conceived in 1940 & demobilized in 1945. Photos.