“…But there are no pictures of tanks, and not even one word about Tigers or Panthers…”

 …would be a fair reaction by many students of German WW II ground units.

 And it’s true. 

Osprey Publishing’s Elite 63, German Mountain and Ski Troops 1939-45 covers a little-known but important part of WW II history. On the peripheries of the great Panzer battles and air campaigns, were those nasty mountains, so much a part of European geography. And across the years and hundreds of thousands of square Km, much, much action took place where tanks could not go and aircraft could not land.  

 Author Gordon Williamson is a veteran Osprey writer and took on, once the number of fronts and units and years are unfolded, a surprisingly vast subject. As such, German Mountain And Ski Troops 1939-45 should be treated as a survey of a broad subject, rather than an authoritative work. Sadly, there is no bibliography.

 Due to Alpiner being almost exclusively infantry (Heer, Waffen SS and foreign), photographs are divided between soldiers and badges. One gets from this book a good feeling for the calibre of superbly fit men who made up the Mountain units. Units and campaigns are briefly addressed, providing enough ‘stuff’ to whet the historian’s appetite for more. A couple of choice tidbits are included, a pay book (Soldbuch) and photo of an assault boat on a Yugoslav river.

 Illustrator Stephen Andrew prepared no less than thirty-six (36!) uniform plates on twelve pages, an impressive presentation of the subject. Williamson’s captions address each figure in detail and are provided in German and French, as well. Andrews uses the ‘black outline and tint’ style for his figures, particularly noticeable as many of the backgrounds are ‘snow.’ His command of human proportions is excellent, as is the artist’s level of detail in uniform plates and inset bits of insignia and decorations. A couple of generals, three guys in parade dress and a whole bunch of infantry in varied garb. This is a volume whose colour pages truly do more than their share to ‘make’ this book.   

 Modelers can find figures of German Mountain and Ski Troops are represented by several 1/35 DML / Dragon box sets, including such niceties as a pack donkey, skis and (probably Croat Muslims) fellars in Alpinjäger gear…with fezzes. There is also an old, but good Valiant 54mm. Happily, if one wants ‘more,’ conversion is within the abilities of most figure modelers. Dragon also offers a motorboat in its 1/35 lineup.

 Recommended for students of WW II ‘ground stuff’ and military historians interested in a trip into the mountains as a literary ‘vacation’ from the usual fare of Panzergrenadiers and FW 190s.   

 Review copy courtesy of the reviewer's chequebook, purchased from Prosek's Greenhouse and Military Model Shop, Winfield, IL, USA

 Reviewed by James Hood

August 2005

 (Site updated August, 2005)  see Scott Van Aken's m2 and other reviews of James Hood's novel Adventure--Into The Neverland, of exploring a parallel, Alternate world (concept based on the Superstring theory of physics) using WW II surplus ships, aircraft and vehicles at:)    <http://users3.ev1.net/~bjmonkeyandcj/James_Hood.htm>

Book can be ordered at <http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/SearchCatalog.aspx>  or from your local bookstore (ISBN 0-7596-9062-6 Hardbound or ISBN-0-7596-2646-4 Softcover

August 2005

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