Ep 240: Lance R. Blyth on Mountain Warfare

School of War

Lance R. Blyth, command historian at the North American Aerospace Defense Command and author of ⁠Ski, Climb, Fight: The 10th Mountain Division and the Rise of Mountain Warfare⁠, joins the show to discuss the history and tactics of fighting at altitude.    

Lance R. Blyth, command historian at the North American Aerospace Defense Command and author of <a href="https://a.co/d/0AaAvYK">Ski, Climb, Fight: The 10th Mountain Division and the Rise of Mountain Warfare</a>, joins the show to discuss the history and tactics of fighting at altitude.       
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Times
    •      01:31 Introduction
    •      01:41 Marine
    •      04:55 L.A. riots         
    •      07:22 From horses to skis
    •      10:13 Antecedents         
    •      13:56 Advantage            
    •      15:40 The Germans    
    •      17:55 The Winter War          
    •      22:51 French surrender
    •      25:58 Specialized divisions
    •      31:37 Volunteers 
    •      33:49 Training
    •      36:50 Delay and Italy          
    •      42:16 No doctrine 
    •      45:29 The Gothic Line
    •      52:00 Success
    •      55:35 Afghanistan
 
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This podcast seeks to learn what war teaches. There has been a steady decline in the study of military history and its associated theoretical discipline, strategy.This podcast seeks to fill that gap through in-depth interviews on military and diplomatic history.&nbsp;Our guests have included former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the Cold War historian John Lewis Gaddis, and former China Select Committee chairman Mike Gallagher. We discuss the battlefield commanders, diplomats, strategists, policymakers, and statesmen who have had to make wartime decisions in the ancient and modern eras. The subject of an episode may be an historical battle, campaign, or conflict; the conduct of policy in the course of a major international incident; the work of a famous strategist; the nature of a famous weapon; or the legacy of an important military commander or political leader.&nbsp;&nbsp; Aaron MacLean is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. He has worked as a foreign policy advisor and legislative director to Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and spent seven years in the U.S. Marine Corps. <a href="https://schoolofwar.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Visit our Substack for episode transcripts</a><a href="https://www.instagram.com/school.of.war/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Follow along on Instagram</a>