Although the Wehrmacht in the Second World War has been covered fairly well in recent military history, one subject that has not been given much attention is the role of German mountain troops in the conflict. In Osprey's Warrior #74, Gebirgsjäger, veteran author Gordon Williamson attempts to shed some light on this heretofore-neglected topic. Unfortunately, the results are a bit disappointing, although the volume does have some merit.
The author follows the normal format for this series, with sections on recruitment and training, daily life, battle, museums and resources, and bibliography. The color plates by Darko Pavlovic, covering typical Gebirgsjäger uniforms and equipment in 1939-45, are probably the best part of the volume. Although the author does a decent job outlining the development of German mountain troops and some aspects of their training, much of the material seems very reminiscent of earlier volumes on German infantry. While the author does detail some of the specific equipment used by German mountain troops and does provide a rough idea of unit organization, there is no real discussion of the composition of a Mountain Division or even a regiment. At the very least, a detailed look at company and platoon organization and weapons would have been useful.
It is in the section on battle that the author really slips and reveals how little fresh research effort went into this volume. On page 32, the author begins discussing how General Eduard Dietl led the 2nd Gebirgs Division in the assault on Narvik and he continues this for several pages. Unfortunately, Dietl was commander of the 3rd Gebirgs Division and that was the unit sent to Narvik, not the 2nd (which did dispatch a small amount of reinforcements later). It is hard to see how the author could have much such a factual mistake, given the fact that this information is readily available. The author's discussion of mountain infantry operations does improve, but it was hard getting over this early lapse in credibility. Finally, the author diverges onto the subject of SS Mountain infantry and spends 5 pages on these do-nothings, which were low-quality, late-war formations. The author should have remained focus on the elite army mountain units rather than spending considerable space discussing a subject better left to the Osprey volumes on the SS.
Overall, Gebirgsjäger is adequate but a bit disappointing in places. On the plus side, the photographs and color plates are quite good. However, the author's narrative is spotty, sometimes good and other times full of holes or veering off-track. The level of research standing behind this volume is modest, at best.
