Forcemen -- "Where you from, soldier?" -- "Germany first" -- The plough project -- "Push ahead with all possible speed" -- "Frederick, you are now in charge" -- 1-2 company -- "Everybody fought somebody" -- Waling and glass -- "Suspend effort on present line" -- "They blew up bridges, culverts, and everything" -- "A very special force" -- "The battle of the slabs" -- "Their chance will come" -- "We had a crazy bunch of guys" -- "The objective now was perfection" -- "We want to take as many prisoners as possible" -- Kiska -- "Picked men of first-class physique" -- "We had a swell 3 decker cake" -- "This excellent and specially trained force" -- The empress of scotland -- "There was utter destruction" -- The winter line -- "Met at every turn by rifle and machine-gun fire" -- A "herculean" task -- "Difensa or bust" -- The defenders -- "A wet and forbidding mountain" -- The climb -- "All hell broke loose" -- "Medic! medic!" -- "Five yards! five yards!" -- "I don't know how we did it" -- "Kia, return to sender" -- "The best god-damned fighters in the world" -- "They were best friends for the rest of their lives"

Hailed as "a monumental achievement!" (Douglas Brinkley) <i>The Force <i>tells the riveting, true story of the group of elite U.S. and Canadian soldiers--mountain men, lumberjacks, hunters, and explorers--who sacrificed everything to accomplish a crucial but nearly impossible World War II mission.I mission