Description

Bob Drury and Tom Clavins The Last Hill is the incredible untold story of one Ranger battalions heroism and courage in World War II

They were known as Rudders Rangers the most elite and experienced attack unit in the United States Army In December 1944 Lt Col James Rudders 2nd Battalion would form the spearhead into Germany taking the war into Hitlers homeland at last In the process Rudder was given two objectives Take Hill 400 and hold the hill by any means possible To the last man if necessary The battlehardened battalion had no idea that several Wehrmacht regiments who greatly outnumbered the Rangers had been given the exact same orders The clash of the two determined forces was one of the bloodiest and most costly encounters of World War II

Castle Hill the imposing 1320foot minimountain the American Rangers simply called Hill 400 was the gateway to a desperate Nazi Germany Several entire American divisions had already been repulsed by the last hills dugin defenders asunknown to the Alliesthe height was the key to Adolf Hitlers lastminute plans for a massive counterattack to smash through the American lines in what would become known to history as the Battle of the Bulge

Thus the stalemate surrounding Hill 400 could not continue For Supreme Allied Commander Gen Dwight Eisenhower there was only one solution Call in Rudders Rangers Of the 130 special operators who stormed captured and held the hill that December day only 16 remained to stagger back down its frozen slopes The Last Hill is replete with unforgettable action and charactersa rich and detailed saga of what the survivors of the 2nd Ranger Battalion would remember as our longest day

A Macmillan Audio production from St Martins Press