What I miss
in German Armybook is a special entry for Gebirgsjägers – one of the elite
formations of Wehrmacht during the second world war. The other one – the Fallschirmjäger – received unique rules as veteran
units and have splendid figures – both metal and plastic. French mountain and
colonial troops may use special rule – mountaineers and even got mule teams for
carrying their guns and equipment. But the famous for their war deeds Gebirgsjägers
got neither any specific rules nor figures. As great Bolt Action fans we’ve
decided to fulfil this gap.
One can see that the main distinctive element of their outlook was a
badge called Edelweiss on the left side of their mountain caps and on the right
sleeves of blouse. And of course… climbing ropes!
Gebirgsjägers used standard Wehrmacht M36/M43 uniforms
with mountain ankle boots (Bergschuhe) similar to Wehrmacht Schnürschuhe
and wear Bergmütze (identical in shape with M43 feldmütze). As I wanted to give
them unique look different from ordinary infantry I used hands, weapons and
equipment from different plastic sets. Gebirgsjägers had to carry almost all the equipment and weapons
on their shoulders, what affected on the type of weapons and the amount of taken
ammunition. Most of my Jägers have Mauser rifles (in fact Gebirgsjägers
used created especially for them Mauser-Kurz i.e. short) and semi-automatic rifle Gewehr 43. Because
they are veterans, I could not resist arming each team with two machine guns – both
MG (Maschinengewehr) 34 and 42. Gebirgsjägers often chose older version due to
a lower rate - the consumption of ammunition in the mountains was of exceptional importance. 
Although there
were such plans in the German high command to arm Gebirgsjägers (as
well as Jägers – the
“lowland” light infantry) in a great amount of automatic weapons [i], they never
completely succeeded. So in my platoon only the officers and NCO's have Sturmgewehr
44 (assault rifle) and additionally in each team one of the soldiers possess
MP40 (Machinenpistole). One
of them is changing the magazine and the other one is reloading.
When fighting in the high mountains Gebirgsjägers commonly used mountain backpacks (Gebirgrsrucksacke
31). I used the excellent backpacks from the set of the British plastic
commandos which are very similar in shape. On the main belts hangs standard
German bread-bags with canteens and water bottles. Some troopers have infantry shovels
and bayonets - all from different German sets.
I also added
climbing ropes made of twisted copper wire, which I formed into coils. One of
the soldiers leads a packed mule from the Chindits set. According to the table
of organization and equipment during the fighting in the mountains in each Gebirgsjägers platoon were 3 mules or horses carrying mainly ammunition for machine guns.
[i] Records of Headquarters, German Army High
Command, National Archives Microcopy No. T-78, Roll 391, American Historical
Association Committee for the Study of War Documents, Washington, DC., 1960
So, here U got the finished figures.
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