The Lost Mountaineers

How it feels

This film follows the history of the 10th Mountain Division of the U.S. Army. It shows their training for mountain warfare and their combat in Italy during World War II.

factualinformativehistoricalearneststraightforwarddryeducationalneutral

What happens

The 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) is a light infantry division in the United States Army based at Fort Drum, New York. Formerly designated as a mountain warfare unit, the division was the only one of its size in the U.S. military to receive specialized training for fighting in mountainous conditions. Originally activated as the 10th Light Division (Alpine) in 1943, the division was redesignated the 10th Mountain Division in 1944 and fought in the mountains of Italy in some of the roughest terrain in World War II. On 5 May 1945, the division reached Nauders, Austria, just beyond the Reschen Pass, where it made contact with Germans being pushed south by the U.S. Seventh Army. A status quo was maintained until the enemy headquarters involved had completed their surrender to the Seventh. On 6 May, 10th Mountain troops met the 44th Infantry Division of Seventh Army. Following the war, the division was deactivated, only to be reactivated and redesignated as the 10th Infantry Division in 1948. The division first acted as a training division and, in 1954, was converted to a full combat division and, in 1955, was sent to Germany before being deactivated again in 1958. Reactivated again in 1985, the division was designated the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) to historically tie it to the World War II division and to also better describe its modern disposition. Since its reactivation, the division or elements of the division have deployed numerous times. The division has participated in Operation Desert Storm (Saudi Arabia), Hurricane Andrew disaster relief (Homestead, Florida), Operation Restore Hope and Operation Continue Hope (Somalia), Operation Uphold Democracy (Haiti), Operation Joint Forge (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Operation Joint Guardian (Kosovo), and several deployments as part of the Multinational and Observers (Sinai Peninsula). Since 2001, the 10th Mountain Division has been the most deployed unit in the entire US military. Its combat brigades have seen over 30 deployments, to both Iraq and Afghanistan, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, as well as Syria and parts of Africa in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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