FOR FANS OF Band of Brothers, Unbroken, AND Beneath a Scarlet Sky

Two mountains, two impossible climbs, one chance to break the war in Italy wide open.

On July 14, 1918, near Grevés Farm, France, Lt. George P. Hays earned a Medal of Honor when seven horses were shot from under him in a storm of steel during the Second Battle of the Marne. Decades later, after landing at D-Day and fighting his way through Normandy, the now Major General faces what he would call the most bitter battles of his career. His first target: Riva Ridge, a linchpin of the German Gothic Line. The Germans have fortified an impassable cliff. It is a fatal miscalculation.

Adirondack woodsman Johnnie Grey grew up hunting to survive the Great Depression. A chance encounter with a broken pair of skis unlocks a natural talent that leads him to the newly formed National Ski Patrol—the primary recruiting ground for the Army’s first-ever mountain division. Trained in the frozen Rockies and on the sheer cliffs of West Virginia, Johnnie becomes a new kind of soldier, uniquely prepared for the mission General Hays is about to authorize.

The mission: a silent, nighttime climb straight up a 1,500-foot cliff with 75-pound packs into a fortified German base at the summit. The slightest sound—a falling rock, a clink of metal—means instant annihilation for the 140 men Johnnie leads. Johnnie’s heart belongs to Ellie, the West Virginia farm girl who slips a silver St. Andrew’s Cross around his neck—a trail mark of love meant to guide him home from the abyss.

The Tenth Trail Mark is a blazing tale of mountain warfare, where love and friendship are forged in the crucible of combat, and courage is the only compass. Inspired by the true events of WWII, it is a testament to the sparks of innovation that light the darkest ascents and a powerful story of the unbreakable resilience of the human spirit.