German Mountain Troops 1942–45

Yves Béraud

• Publisher: Casemate
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781612009469
• eBook ISBN: 9781612009476
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

"The author does a terrific job of outlining the many campaigns and areas where the German Mountain troops fought throughout the war, and the unique challenges that some of these areas brought." — AMPS When World War II began, the Wehrmacht had fifteen mountain divisions and a multitude of small units, including some Austrian units that had been incorporated into the German army after the Anschluss. These mountain units would operate in hostile environments on all fronts during World War II. Due to their training, equipment and adaptability, the Gebirgstruppen would be deployed to fight in almost every theater. In the last years of the war they would see action in North Africa, Italy, the Balkans, Norway and Finland, and in the West as the Allies pushed German forces back toward Berlin. This book, the culmination of four decades of research and the support of many veterans and collectors, describes the uniform, equipment, and operations of these specialist units during the later years of World War II. The text is complemented by period photographs taken at the front, including many color photographs, and modern photographs of uniform details.

°e Balkans,

1942–45

Following the defeat of Greece and Yugoslavia in April/May 1941

(see chapter “°e Balkans, and Crete, 1941” in Volume 1), the Balkan

Peninsula was placed under a strict occupation regime relying on puppet

governments. Yugoslavia was thus dismembered and divided up.

Germany took Carinthia, High Carniole, and southern Styria; Italy took West Slovenia

(Ljubljana province), the coastal district of Dalmatia, and Montenegro (declared

“independent”); Albania took Kosovo, and the western portion of Macedonia; Hungary took

Voïvodina (districts of Prekmurje, Medjimurje, Baranjska, and Backa with large Hungarian

minorities); Bulgaria took eastern Serbia.

Besides, Croatia-Slavonia, Dalmatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina formed the independent

state of Croatia. Finally, Serbia, more or less within its 1912 borders, came directly under

German military administration, with a puppet government of “national salvation”

under General Milan Nedic. °e Banat, the

northernmost point of Serbia, to the north

of Pančevo, was, practically, administered by

Volkdeutsche

, who were well embedded in the

region (the

Donauschwaben

, Schwabs of the

Danube).

Greece suffered the same fate as Serbia.

°e Germans engaged in a merciless

struggle against the partisans in the Balkans,

using as far as possible local resources to

collaborate alongside or within the Wehrmacht

The first major mountain unit engaged

in the Balkans during occupation by the

Germans and Italians was the Freiwilligen-

Gebirgs-Division der Waffen-SS, from

October 1942. Its first commander was

SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der

Waffen-SS

Artur Phleps. He could not wear

the Odal rune on his collar so he wore that

of the Rasse-und Siedelungshauptamt

(Central Administration for Race and

Population) on his left-hand sleeve, using

the same symbols. (DR)

The 7. SS-Freiwilligen Gebirgs-Division Prinz

Eugen’s first engagement showed the

limits of deploying a major unit which had

not been properly formed. As with the

Div.

Stab

, a number of personnel still wore the

runic SS. (DR)

76

(Heer but also Luſtwaffe ground forces), the Waffen-SS, and Polizei. °e extent of the

territories they had to hold onto, or at least control and secure, the features of the terrain,

respecting the alliances, the part...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright
• Content
• Timeline of Events
• North Africa, 1942-43
• The Eastern Front, 1942-45
• Norway and Finland, 1942–45
• Italy, 1943–45
• The Balkans, 1942–45
• The Campaign in the West, 1944–45
• Afterword
• Sources