D-Series: Bombarded by Extreme Conditions

D-Series: Bombarded by Extreme Conditions. Camp Hale. , 1944 March-April , “The first week of the maneuvers was held in the Tennessee Pass area at well over ten thousand feet… snow and more snow fell… With fatigue a constant effect and cold an enveloping tormentor… , , Harris Dusenbery, 86th Infantry, Ski the High Trail , “It was obvious to me now that we were heading up the south ridge of Resolution and Pearl Creek toward a summit on the map called Pearl Hill and probably on beyond that to the Continental Divide… the ridge started to rise… sharper as it extended up… We heard nothing and saw nothing until an umpire… skied down the ridge toward us… word spread… that the enemy had two machine guns and nine BARS [Browning Automatic Rifles] on the rocks ahead and they had annihilated us.” , , Harris Dusenbery, 86th Infantry, Ski the High Trail , “Where's my damn rifle...? ‘You won't need it, brother...’ After traveling up Shrine Mountain [in a Weasel]... we came to the enemy bivouac area. We pulled up to a tent and the driver jumped out calling, ‘Prisoner.’” , , Harris Dusenbery, 86th Infantry, Ski the High Trail , “I walked on a three-man patrol across a huge open side of the mountain... We could see 100 miles in all directions... Mt Elbert, Mt. Massive, Mt. Homestake... poked their huge selves into the sky... every once in a while a cloud passed beneath us...” , , John Parker Compton, 86th Infantry , “I did see men by the hundreds pouring across the divide at Sugarloaf. It was beautiful to see them in long files cut across the snow fields. Our outposts have probably had to pull back to our main line of defense.” , , Harris Dusenbery, 86th Infantry, Ski the High Trail , , , , , . Frostbite occurs in as little as thirty minutes at temperatures of 20 degrees below zero. Fingers, toes, and noses are vulnerable as blood stays in the core of your body to keep your vital organs working. The 10th soldiers endured three weeks of subzero temperatures in mock battles , war maneuvers , between Tennessee Pass and Resolution Mountain testing the entire division's preparedness for combat. , Twelve thousand 10th Mountain soldiers skied and snowshoed out of Camp Hale's southern gates in bitter cold temperatures carrying full packs of gear and weapons. Mule formations, heavily loaded with artillery, ammunition, and supplies, followed. Designed to test the combat readiness of the Division, the D-Series, pitted squads against one another in tactical “attack and defense” operations. , “War” broke out on the ridges and ravines above Camp Hale. At 13,000 feet with temperatures as low as 35 degrees below zero, men kick turned and traversed in exhausting repetition across mountain terrain for up to eighteen hours, surviving blizzards and nights with no tents in hastily dug snow trenches. By the end of D-Series, 8,673 soldiers completed the exercise, proving the Division's battle-readiness. , [photo captions] , . 10th Mountain Division soldiers enacting a capture scene during the filming of “Mountain Fighters.” , . Snowshoe maneuvers , . Field Artillery Battalion training with packed mule