 In the closing months of 1944, forward units of the American Fifth Army were faced with the task of breaking through these ridges of the German-Gothic defense line. On November 26th of that year, a deathly silence settled over this sector of the Italian front, for it was on that day that our third attempt to break the line failed. The story, born out of that stalemate, is the subject of this film told from the personal viewpoint of those who were there. My name is Bill Putnam. I was lieutenant for the 85th. My name is George Weibung. I was a sergeant assigned to a transport unit. I witnessed the end of the war in Italy. My name is Ben Busch. I was a sergeant with the 86th. I am Hans George Hildebrand. I was a German general in northern Italy. My name is George P. Hayes. I was the commanding general of the 10th Mountain Division. This is the story of the Climb to Glory, a combined German, American and Italian account of the combat record of one of America's most unusual fighting outfits, the 10th Mountain Division. I was certain that words would never be capable of describing what happened here. Ben has a way of helping a man put a lot of jagged memories back together again. But we were not the first division to come to Italy, nor did we, as one reporter put it, win the war single-handed. I have no doubt that our final story would have been a lot different had it not been for so many other people who had come here before us. We were not responsible for the victories at Anzio, Salerno, or Montecassino, or for the march into Rome. We were still in the States in those days. I believe it was Ernie Pyle who called it the forgotten front. We became a part of this tragic scenery on December 23, 48 hours before Christmas 1944. We checked into Lovarno exactly one month and one day after the Germans beat back our third attempt to scale their Gothic line. We were given lots of straw to bed down so that we could have insulation from the cold. And it seemed like a wonderful place, because the sun was warm. We were well-dressed, we were being fed very well, we had lots of time to ourselves, and the idea of the front lines or warfare seemed very far away. We were a peculiar assortment. Our rank and file was made up of Austrian and German Schussbombers, Olympic ski champions, European and American mountain climbers, and what today's generation would probably refer to as Ivy League double-domes. Harvard, Dartmouth, and Yale were well-represented. An intelligence officer reported that the Germans were not impressed. On the 8th of January, this first contingent moved north through Florence to face the deadlock at the front. Ten days later, the rest of the division pulled into Lovarno. We had come up from Naples on landing craft and were camped in a park. The whole division was there except for parts of the 86 that were ahead of us and had been in the line. It was raining, things were rather miserable and soggy, but we were cleaning our equipment, relaxing a bit, getting rested up from the long trip in the ocean. It was wet, muddy, and the foxholes that they had dug were full of water and very unpleasant, so they were quite anxious, I think, to get on with the show and get something moving. On February 4th, we were ordered my platoon plus one rifle platoon from the three rifle companies of our battalion into a makeup company that was supposed to do something. We weren't really sure what we were supposed to do, but we had orders to go up the valley to our left and ascend the ridge that overlooked the town of Pian Sinatico. We did this. We got up to the top of the ridge in fairly good order and I put my mortars in position to shell the town of Pian Sinatico and we then waited for something to happen. Now come the armies from Hinton. It happened. We did some damage to the town of Pian Sinatico, but it was all done with my mortars, the 60 millimeter mortars of a line company. I remember rather enjoying the performance because we were actually doing something. We felt constructive. I'm sure the Germans had a different attitude, but we could see some Germans in the town and I did my own observing, calling the shots to create maximum damage. You can't really do a great deal of damage against buildings with 60 millimeter mortars, but I tried. I remember seeing, praying, just hoping I could drop one round down the chimney of the building that I'm sure was their headquarters. We knocked an awful lot of tiles off the roof first, but I finally got one round, right smack down that chimney. I felt so good to see the flames and smoke shoot out the windows and the door. It was a glorious feeling. I guess it was really the only satisfying event of the whole day for any of us on that raid. But it was then that someone turned the tables on us. First I thought it was maybe our own artillery, but it was our friends down below, lobbing shells all over the stupid bridge. For some of us, it was our first experience under fire. It wasn't very pleasant. Then a funny thing happened. We couldn't get enough of us to move out of the way. I kept wondering why the officer in charge didn't move, but no one budged. But the moment I got hit, everybody cleared out. My leading the parade down was the guy in charge of the foolish raid. I never saw anybody move so fast in all my life. As he did, getting out of there after the hours that I'd spent urging him to do something. The end of the first skirmish. Confusion, fear, a wounded man, just a sample of what life on the line could be like. There may have been more than one man who wished he had stayed in Livorno. A communique from the front read, the sector immediately south of the German Gothic line was relatively quiet today. Another report simply stated that the Germans had been observed digging in. Six days later, on the 11th, elements of the 86th Regiment began probing into enemy territory, looking for ways in which the 10th might gain access to some of the heights the Germans held. No one made much noise about those patrols. There was no mention of them in the press. We lost men on some of these patrols. And you know, a guy that's killed on patrol is just as dead as a guy that's killed in the big push. Within three weeks of their arrival in Livorno, all remaining elements of the 10th that had been limbering up in rear areas began moving up to their pre-assault positions in and around the town of Viticattico. They passed men who had already been at the front. We naturally spoke to them eager to find out what battle was like, what combat was like, what bullets were like. And I remember how they told us about the horror that they had experienced, how death actually came to many of their comrades, how they narrowly escaped death, how they were wounded and they would never go back under any circumstances. Here was the situation at the front as General Hayes saw it from his command post. On my left is Riva Ridge. And on my right is Mount Belvedere. And on the right of Mount Belvedere is Mount Gorgolesco. Between Belvedere and Riva Ridge, that small humpback ridge was also held by the Germans. As you can see, the Germans had observation on all of our front and was essential to capture Riva Ridge, to prevent them from looking down in our flank and rear when we attacked Mount Belvedere. The thing that disturbed me most in preparing for the attack was assembling the division in this sort of a punch bowl surrounded by the mountains that the Germans held. They had observation on the whole area that the division would have to come into to prepare for the attack. I felt quite sure if the Germans found out that the whole division was assembling in that area, that they would reinforce their troops and make it much more difficult. So the problem, the first problem that I faced was trying to slip the division in at night. The American line runs from here down to this valley in northeast of Rocco Cornetta. We haven't got any reporters yet on their exact whereabouts on the western flank. Now I've ordered out two patrols in strength there to capture any American in the 10th Mountain Division sector and return him alive to me, not to the intelligence. Who's in charge? Captain Kroner, he's a mountain man himself. That night an American patrol also went out. Hans, Hans, here Riva! Hold the flap back there and turn off the light! In the dark, they met. That night, no prisoners were taken. The entire division, more than 13,000 men, continued to move into and around the town of Etihadico. After patrolling for a period of a week, we finally found four little paths that we could climb. We thought we could climb up the mountain. Now they'd had to go up a single file. One German at top of the mountain could throw angonades down and stop the whole show if we didn't gain surprise. So naturally, under situation of that kind, the man would be a little nervous. You couldn't expect him to be otherwise. And there was Mount Belvedere, serenely majestic, covered with landmines, and for the fourth time, the prime objective of the coming assault. The first impression of Mount Belvedere from in front of Vitachateco was that it was so far, far away and awfully high up. It seemed impossible that we'd ever be able to make that distance and ever be able to capture that mountain. On the 14th of February, General Hayes told his commander, Major General Willis D. Crittenberger, that he was ready to breach the German line and to spearhead the Fifth Army's advance into the Poe Valley that lay to the north. He was given the green light. On the 15th of February, General Hayes dictated this order. The 10th Mountain Division will attack on D-Day to seize, occupy, organize and defend the Mount Belvedere, Mount Della, Torres Sia, Ridge and prepare for action to the northeast, D-Day and H-Hour to be announced. The Germans were well aware that something was up, but according to their records, there wasn't much they could do about countering our intentions. General Hildebrand was asked about the obvious absence of German aircraft. You ask about the lack of support by our Air Force? Gentlemen, I can only reply that there were days, well weeks, when I did not see a single German plane. There were many planes up there, but they were yours, gentlemen, not ours. It was extremely frustrating when a British or an American fighter plane made observations of our positions and I had no way of going after it. Some 10th Mountain Division veterans may remember this house. Farmer Giuseppe Lenzi has lived in it all his life. During the tense wait for D-Day that followed the General's combat order, a handful of men of the 86th Mountain Infantry hold up inside Lenzi's house. Giuseppe remembers their arrival and the day they left. In February of 1945, the Americans arrived at the village of Vittacateco, most of them from the 10th Division. Then in one evening of that February, they began their advance on Mount Riva and Mount Belvedere, where they started a great battle. As Giuseppe and other farmers watched the troops move out, another man helped guide one of our first probes up the sheer cliffs of Riva Ridge, his name Geno Lenzi. On the evening of February 19, 1945, the 10th American Division began the seizure, the occupation of Mount Capel Busso, slowly, slowly, quietly, to surprise the Germans who were sleeping. There are only four places in that ridge that our troops could climb and then only single file, and it was absolutely essential that they get on top of that ridge before the enemy was alerted. It was at this point that the Division's special talents first came into play. Expert rock climbers of the 1st Battalion of the 86th began climbing the ridge's jagged rocks to a height of 1,500 feet and, without making a sound, fixed ropes for the use of units that were moving up from below. We flashed some searchlights on the cloud formation up above, and that reflected back just a little bit of light on the hill-mountain side, which enabled them to see a little bit of the rock structure that they had declined. All ropes were secured by midnight. The entire valley below was still. After two hours of combat, there was still no word from the men on top of the ridge. It was reported, however, that the first of several wounded were on their way down. To General Hayes, there were two questions. Would mountain climbers prove to be the answer to the Gothic line, and would their special talents plus the strategy of surprise help keep initial casualties down? After midnight, the first indications of success trickled down to the valley below. Company B of the 86th had dislodged all German troops from the top of Rivas Mount Capobusso. At dawn, a single platoon of Company A reported that it had occupied the northern end of the ridge, Piso di Campopiano. Piso di Campopiano. Until tomorrow morning, we threw the bombs down. Let's go! Had chopped the key threat out of the Gothic line, Belvedere was next. In the early morning hours, while initial mopping up operations got underway on Riva Ridge, the 10th let loose with a terrible hail of steel against Gorgolesco and Belvedere. It did not inspire peace of mind in the men who waited below. The Germans had, after all, overcome that kind of shellacking on three previous occasions. When it seemed as though the hill had died, the 85th and 87th regiments pushed off for the minefields above them. Lassi, come in! We knew the Germans had two weapons. They had an 88th and they had the Burp gun. Of course they had a Luger, but that was the kind of thing you've got as a souvenir. The Burp gun was something you were afraid of. The 88th was something you should be definitely concerned with. On the morning of the 20th, one whole battalion of the 85th reached the top of Mount Belvedere. But the trick, as they soon discovered, was not just to reach it, but to hold it. As the 87th swung to the northeast to firm up the Belvedere line, evidence of the cost of that action began to show. The Germans rushed the 741st Jäger regiment into the line and the 10th climbed up to meet them. Dwepped as they crawled and they screamed and the Germans who saw them thought they were crazy. And the Germans cried too. Some out of pity, some out of fear, and some out of disbelief. By the 22nd it became obvious to both American and German commanders that the 10th was no ordinary combat outfit. For by that day it had become clear that it would succeed in holding the objectives assigned to it. News of this relentlessly aggressive outfit spread deep into the German lines. Prisoners revealed that their commanders had called it the elite mountain division. German Sergeant Gerg Weibel was in that combat zone. I remember distinctly when I took over a transport unit south of Bologna. I learned that the American mountain division impressed upon us. It came as a shock to all of us because we knew very well that this would spell our collapse. On February 24th, Riva was secure. Belvedere was secure. And all initial objectives to the northwest were also secure. Peace returned to Vitiatico. Just an occasional shot could be heard. In a letter of commendation to the division, General Mark W. Clark, commander of the 15th Army Group, said, My congratulations to the officers and men of the 10th Mountain Division. You men have done a damn fine job. General Hildebrand says, I respect this unit, for I fought against it. Your men fought back very well, and you did not make it easy for us. But I believe our men did not make it easy for the 10th Mountain Division either. A soldier's fate, a soldier's duty. Next week, part two of the Climb to Glory.