EVERY STORY HAS A BEGINNING
THIS ONE DIDN’T.
THE TENTH COMMAND · HOW WE GOT HERE
I — THE STORIES WERE ALWAYS ONE
The Tenth Series began with a son trying to understand his father.
When Jim Looby returned from World War II, he carried home memories of the mountains of northern Italy—of Riva Ridge, Mount Belvedere, and the men of the 10th Mountain Division who climbed beside him. Wounded in battle, he rarely spoke of those days.
After he was gone, I set out to understand the story he had rarely told, hoping one day to pass it on to the grandchildren he never had the chance to meet.
That journey became The Tenth Trail Mark.
But while researching that novel, another question refused to let go.
Who was the commander my father and so many of those men remembered with such respect?
How did George Price Hays become the leader who could ask men to climb impossible mountains—and have them follow?
Following Hays back to France eventually led me to Italy again.
But this time, I was looking at the final campaign from another direction.
There was Colonel William O. Darby, the legendary founder of the U.S. Army Rangers, carrying the weight of what happened at Cisterna and searching for a way back to the men in the field.
And there was Annie—the woman who knew the man beneath the legend, and who gave Darby’s story its heart.
Their path was leading toward Hays, the 10th Mountain Division, and the final campaign on Italy’s Forgotten Front.
That story became The Tenth Command.
The search for that answer carried me back to the fire-swept fields of World War I, where young Lieutenant George Price Hays rode on after seven horses were shot from beneath him—an act of courage that helped hold the line along the Marne River, earned him the Medal of Honor, and changed the course of his life.
I realized the story could not begin in Italy.
IT HAD TO BEGIN IN FRANCE.
That story became The Tenth Station.
And somewhere along the way, I understood something I hadn’t known when I started.
These were never three separate stories.
THEY WERE ALWAYS ONE.
THE WORLD BEHIND
THE TENTH COMMAND
PHOTOGRAPHS
The people and places behind the final novel of The Tenth Series.
The Rangers
Cisterna
The Mountain Soldiers
The Final Drive
Lake Garda
MAPS
A NOTE BEFORE YOU CONTINUE
The maps below reveal major events from The Tenth Command.
If you haven’t finished the novel, this is a good place to stop.
CONTINUE TO THE MAPS ↓JANUARY 1944
Cisterna
1945
The Black March
FEBRUARY 1945
Operation Encore
A SYMPHONY OF NATIONS
APRIL 1945
THE FINAL SPRINT
THE BRENNER PASS
THE GATE
The Tenth Command
THE STORY OF THE MEN WHO LED THEM.
Inspired by true events, The Tenth Command completes The Tenth Series on Italy’s Forgotten Front.
READ THE BOOKPhotographs, maps and presentation artwork are drawn from Joe Looby’s existing The Tenth Series companion materials. Original artwork and printed source labels are retained. The Blizzard is a retrospective newspaper presentation dated May 22, 1945.
SEE YOU AT THE TOP.
LAKE GARDA