Gebirgsjaeger

[ZackdeBlanc]

What exactly were the Gebirgsjaeger units? I know a little German and know that Gebirsjaeger literally means "mountain hunter", so would the Wehrmacht Gebirgsjaeger units be equivolent to the US Mountain Divisions? Did they perform military operations only in mountainous terrains?





-- Zachary White
[email protected]

[Greyfinn]

Hello,
Gebirgsjager its exactly the same with American Mountain Divisions.
They are to preform battles in difficult highlands and mountains mainly but not only.....

[K.Kocjancic]

You are right; the German word »Gebirgsjäger« means »muntain hunters«. I can only help you with W-SS Gebirgs-Einheiten (mountain units).

There were these »Gebirgs-Einheiten«:
a) 6. SS-Geb.Div. »Nord«
b) 13. Waffen-Geb.Div. d. SS »Handschar«
c) 21. Waffen-Geb.Div. »Skanderberg«,
d) 23. Waffen-Geb.Div. d. SS »Kama«,
e) 24. Waffen-Geb.Karstjäger-Div. d. SS,
f) Waffen-Geb.Brig. d. SS (tatarische Nr. 1),
g) II. SS-Frw.Geb.Kor.,
h) IX. Waffen-Geb.Kor. (Kroatisches),
i) V. SS-Frw.Geb.Kor.,...

You shoul see pages on SS-Geb.Einheiten on:
- http://www.feldgrau.com,
- http://www.skalman.nu/third-reich/SS-6.htm,
- http://www.wssob.com,...

The »Gebirgs-Einheiten« didn't fought only on moutains, but also in area, where were extreme temperature conditions.

Regards,
Kocjo

[Robert Rojas]

Greetings to both brother ZackdeBlanc and the community as a whole. In reference to your inquiry of Thursday - April 03, 2003 - 3:59am, yours truly would like to recommend the following work of literature which covers the Wehrmacht's Alpine Corps in detail. The work is entitled as HITLER'S LEGIONS: The German Army Order of Battle, World War II. The author is Samuel W. Mitcham, Junior and the publisher is Stein and Day of Briarcliff Manor, New York. The publishing year is 1985. The GEBIRGSJAEGER were the highly specialized mountain troops of the Wehrmacht. The Regular Army had ten such divisions and the Waffen S.S. had six such divisions (or what passed for divisions on paper). During the course of the Second World War, these formations fought in areas where one would naturally find them (Greece, Italy, Yugoslavia and the Caucasus mountain range in the Soviet Union). However, these formations also fought in Finland's arctic region and on the wide open spaces of the Ukraine. Yes, the mountain troops did fight in the conventional infantry role if the situation so demanded. In many ways, the same could also be said of the United States Army's first and only mountain division. The Tenth Mountain Division fought both as elite mountaineers and as old fashioned infantry in the European Theater of Operations. I hope my little blurb has addressed your inquiry. In anycase, I would like to bid you a wonderful day in that bastion of "progressive thought" better known as the University of California at Eugene.

Best Regards From The Peoples Republic of Eugene.
Uncle Bob 8)

[Harri]

The »Gebirgs-Einheiten« didn't fought only on moutains, but also in area, where were extreme temperature conditions.

The Regular Army had ten such divisions and the Waffen S.S. had six such divisions (or what passed for divisions on paper). During the course of the Second World War, these formations fought in areas where one would naturally find them (Greece, Italy, Yugoslavia and the Caucasus mountain range in the Soviet Union). However, these formations also fought in Finland's arctic region and on the wide open spaces of the Ukraine. Yes, the mountain troops did fight in the conventional infantry role if the situation so demanded.

That's correct. In Finland German mountain troops fought in conventional infantry role. These divisions had only two Gebirgsjäger regiments and their artillery was somewhat lighter compared to infantry divisions but their supply and support formations were bigger. Strength was between 14.500 and 17.000 men. SS-Geb.D "Nord" was a large division having only two regiments but still about 18.000 - 20.000 men.

In the summer 1941 there were a total of two German mountain divisions in the northrnmost Finland. Gebirgskorps "Norwegen" commanded initially by General d.Geb.Tr. Eduard Dietl (since 15.1.42 Gen.d.Geb.Tr. Ferdinand Schörner, since 15.5.44 Gen.d.Geb.Tr. Ferdinand Jodl) was composed of 2. and 3. Gebirgs-Division. These attacked towards Murmansk in a very demanding terrain and climate conditions. 6. Geb.D arrived in Finland during the autumn/fall 1941 and 3.Geb.D was partly moved away from Finland during winter and spring 1942. Gebirgskorps "Norwegen" became XIX Gebirgs-Armee-Korps on 10 November 1942 (1.10.43- Gen.d.Geb.Tr. Georg Ritter von Hengl).

New XVIII Gebirgs-Armee-Korps commanded by Generalleutnant Franz Böhme (since 10.12.43 Gen.d.Geb.Tr. Karl Eglseer, since 23.6.44 Gen.d.Geb.Tr. Friedrich Hochbaum) arrived in Finland during spring 1942 and took the command from the Finnish III AK on 21.6.1942. 7.Geb.D had arrived in Finland with it. SS-Division "Nord" (mot.) had been in Finland since summer 1941 and was too attached to XVIII Geb.-AK. Division was reorganized in autumn/fall 1942 as SS-Gebirgs-Division "Nord" and in 1943 as 6. SS-Gebirgs-Division "Nord". In spring 1944 a new smaller mountain formation called Divisions-Gruppe Kräutler or Div.Gr.K. was formed using separate Jäger and Gebirgsjäger units located in Finland.

Also third German army corps in Finland XXXVI AK (between the two mentioned above) commanded by Gen.d.Inf. Karl Weisenberger (since 10.8.44 Gen.Lt. Emil Vogel) became XXXVI Gebirgs-Armee-Korps in 1943 although it had only two infantry divisions (163.I.D. and 169.I.D.) which were equipped with special mountain gear.

The high command in Finland since 21.6.1942 was called 20. Gebirgs-Armee-Kommando commanded by Gen.Obst. Eduard Dietl, since 23.6.1944 Gen.Obst. Lothar Rendulic.

After Finnish-Russo truce in September 1944 Germans began drawing back to Norway from Finland. According to peace terms Finnish troops followed German troops but Allied Supervision Commission in Finland saw that Finns must advance faster. The so called Lapland War started at the end of September 1944. Soviet troops had started their offensive in the north and pushed Germans back to Norway. Finnish troops advanced slowly because SS-Geb.D "Nord", 7.Geb.D and Div.Gr.K. delayed effectively using lots of mines and "scorched earth" tactics. By the end of January 1945 most German troops were already in Norway or moved to Germany.

[Greyfinn]

.....and one www addres more :
http://www.gebirgsjaeger.4mg.com
best site in this theme maintained bt Peter Denniston and Patrick Kiser
Regards

[Harri]

I forgot that web site! Yes, its excellent and worth visiting.