Description
WWII GERMAN 2.GEBIRGS-DIVISION PHOTO ALBUM – GEB.JÄG.RGT. 137 + Jäger-Regiment 229 – SUDETENLAND, FRANCE & RUSSIA – COMBAT & WEAPONS
135 photos. Excellent original WWII German Gebirgsjäger photo album from 1. Kompanie, Geb.Jäg.Rgt. 137, part of the 2. Gebirgs-Division. Attractive green cloth-covered album featuring a large German Army eagle, unit designation, and original decorative cord. Excellent assortment of photographs documenting the regiment’s service in the Sudetenland, France, and Russia, including mountain troops in combat equipment, soldiers armed with MP 38/40 submachine guns, Karabiner 98k rifles and MG 34 machine guns, artillery crews, military bicycle columns with heavily equipped bicycles, horse-drawn transport, pack animals, field encampments, camouflaged positions, destroyed bridges, abandoned artillery, wrecked equipment, and scenes of wartime destruction. Particularly interesting are numerous captioned photographs documenting the German occupation of the Sudetenland in October 1938, including views of Schloss Frain at Vranov, Schloss Riegersburg, and Schlittern, with soldiers quartered at the castle, military formations, cheering civilians, and Sudeten German Freikorps. Captions include “Feldwache Tschechoslowakei im Okt. 1938” – field guard in Czechoslovakia, October 1938; “Abend im Schloss Riegersburg” – evening at Riegersburg Castle; and “Riegersburg 1938.” Other photographs show officers inside the elaborate rooms of Schloss Riegersburg, including company commander Hptm. Wendler, soldiers on horseback, military musicians, and numerous candid photographs of military life. Later wartime photographs include soldiers in winter conditions, mountain troops with packhorses, armed infantrymen, field positions, and scenes from France and Russia. Several interesting military grave photographs include the grave of Lt. Gustav Reimann, identified as Kp.-Führer with Feldpostnummer 27453 D, corresponding to 8. Kompanie, Jäger-Regiment 229, along with photographs of a military funeral and a large German military cemetery.
Geb.Jäg.Rgt. 137 was formed from former Austrian Army units in 1938 and served with the 2. Gebirgs-Division during the Polish Campaign, the Norwegian Campaign, and subsequent fighting in the Arctic regions of northern Russia, although the album’s photographs document the Sudetenland, France, and Russia rather than Norway. Excellent, partially captioned album with a clearly identified regiment, numerous named locations and officers, and a particularly desirable variety of weapons, military equipment, combat-related subjects, and mountain troop photographs.
