The Boys Of Winter: Life And Death In The U.S. Ski Troops During The Second World War

Rating:
Summary: Nicely written human story, poor military history
Review: The Boys of Winter: Life and Death in the U.S. Ski Troops During the Second World War is Charles J. Sanders' attempt to tell the story of the 10th Mountain Division from formation to the end of war in the ETO (plus brief discussion of post-war adventures of veterans). Unfortunately it is not an attempt that succeeds from the standpoint of a piece of military history. On the other hand Sanders has created a highly readable story about skiers-turned soldiers. In fact, if one is interested in skiing, the history of American ski resorts and learning the who's-who of 30-40's skiing The Boys of Winter might be for you. However, if you're looking for solid unit combat history this is not it!

Sanders' book can be separated into four topical sections: 1) introductions of the three central characters of the book (pp. 1-57) - Rudy Konieczny, Jake Nunnemacher, and Ralph Bromaghin; 2) formation and training of the Eighty-seventh Mountain Regiment (the precursor unit to the 10th Mountain Division) (pp. 58-116); 3) Deployment of the 10th Mountain Division to Italy in January 1945 and the subsequent four months spent battling German troops (pp. 117-192); and 4) discussion of what became of 10th Mountain Division men who survived (pp. 193-204). The first, second and fourth sections are mainly devoted to skiing adventures, ski racing, and the personal lives of the three central characters and other notables of the skiing world. Sanders clearly knows skiing history and can name drop with the best of them.

In contrast, the third section of the book, which is really the only section with significant military focus, is not particularly good history. Sanders' prose in this section is very readable but not very deep. His narrative relies almost exclusively on second and third-hand accounts and is rarely substantiated by other materials (e.g., after-action reports, official U.S. Army documents, German Army documents). There is amazing human value in accounts made by the men who were there but the most reliable, accurate and sound history is that which combines information from multiple sources - both emotionally attached and not. Here Sanders fails. In many cases Sanders' writing style, while engaging to the reader, will also annoy the more serious students of WWII history. Two examples are particularly obvious and prevalent. First, Sanders refers to the Germans simply as "Nazis" in almost every context where he is writing the prose himself. In contrast, when Sanders is quoting 10th Mountain Division veterans the term Nazi is rarely (if at all) used. Take note Mr. Sanders - not all Wehrmacht or Waffen-SS soldiers, or Germans in general for that matter, were Nazis. It is simple wrong to refer to WWII German soldiers as "Nazis" broadly. Is it fair to call Hitler's regime Nazi? Yes. But not the German soldiers as a whole. The veterans didn't use the term for a reason! As a second example, Sanders also appears to create his own set of U.S. Army unit designations. For example, in a reference to B Company/87th Infantry Regiment/10th Mountain Division Sanders uses the shorthand designation "Company 86-B" (p. 152). This is in no way a standard U.S. Army designation.

In the final tally, The Boys of Winter is a four-star book from the standpoint of readability but a 1.5 star effort for military history. Total score: 2.5 stars. If you want a well-written human story that is skiing centric this might be one to pick up. If you want a history of the 10th Mountain Division (what this reviewer thought he was getting) - save your money!