Jäger Regiment!

Heh, no probs Jeff - Anthony has them.

Hi Steiner,
I've decided to upgrade my loadout and I'm treating myself to a new set of field geys from Epic Militaria. I'm putting the order in tomorrow and just wanted to check I'm not missing anything out. I'm going for M40 jacket and trousers, toque & side cap. A tunic eagle, cap eagle, bullion cockade, jager shoulder boards (I'm getting white infantry with the jacket) and jager leaves. Are the leaves worn on the sleeve of the jacket and if so where? Also am I missing anything out?
Vielin Danke
Jimbo

Hi Jimbo, the Jäger cloth badge (first post of this thread) should be on the right upper sleeve. The metal oakleaves I have only seen worn on the M43 cap - but that is not to say it wasn't worn on the sidecap - I'm afraid my inexperience can't give you a definitive answer. Waffenfarbe (on shoulderboards or sidecap if applicable) should be mid-green colour.

P.S. A pleasure to welcome you onboard.

Jeff, not to confuse Gebirgsjäger (mountain troops) and Jäger (light infantry)! The only thing they had in common were the same colour Waffenfarbe - other insignia were different.

Jäger units were first created in 1942.

Ah, I understand.

Hallo Kameraden
I am 100% new to this. I know two chaps who do the British stuff and were rude enough not to tell me about all this until recently . I would love to join up as a Jäger (I actually fancied Gebirgsjäger but I'm damned if I can track down the kit. Wanted to go up Helvellyn in the gear in winter!). So if you accept raw recruits to airsoft then sign me up.
Considering my newbie status any advice on where to get kit from is very welcome.
Cheers
Sean

Hello Sean and welcome. Take a look at the Heer kit guide (menu bar at the top). I'm dashing off to work now, but feel free to PM me with any questions.

Cheers Steiner, I will probably bug you with stupid questions soon then.

Hello Mate, both Welsh and myself have a fair bit of Gebirgsjager kit , if you have any questions on sourcing it give us a shout , we'll do our best to help out.

Thanks chaps. My Jäger ski cap is ordered and on the way, a very exciting moment!
And yes, Stof and Welsh, do please share any information you've got on Gebirgsjäger kit. I tracked down some stuff in the states but it was pretty expensive, so I am going 'plain' Jäger to start with, but I will definately convert in time (and go mountaineering at some point ).
So, which Jäger unit are we? I want to do some reading. I vote 5th Division if no preference from others.

So, which Jäger unit are we? I want to do some reading. I vote 5th Division if no preference from others.

Well, good question mate. I have shied away from being specific at the moment, but I may look into it. Reason being that I initially was gunning for GD, until somebody pointed out that they were (99%) limited to eastern front only. Whilst it doesn't actually really matter for airsoft (some might say), I didn't want to fall into the same trap by specifying a particular unit again. (To be honest, most of it is in my own head - nobody would ever say that "because you're badged up as xyz unit you can't play this particular scenario, because you weren't there", but I guess I like to try and get it right!)

I also found it quite difficult to get any info from the net on Jäger units at all - try searching and you'll see what I mean!

I've had the good fortune to buy Sgt Heide's major Konig uniform and cap, what sold it for me is that he was Jager (how do you do the umlaut) Now I know this is too nice to skirmish in unless I really do manage to host a Stalingrad game, but I have a couple of questions. Would I have to get a pair of officers jodphurs to complement the m36 jacket? and also in the film Konig is wearing some kind of hooded jacket with a fur collar. Does anybody know of a post war alternative to this as I expect an exact copy would be too expensive.

I have an exact copy of the parka Ed Harris wore in the film! You're right, it's a custom made thing, based on a Swedish M1909 parka. It took me ages to find one and then ages to convert it to what he wears in the film. There aren't really any alternatives to this coat as far as the film costume is concerned. I also have a pair of Officers' riding breeches and riding boots (real German WW2 ones!) that were part of the outfit. If you're genuinely interested in completing the Major Konig loadout and need any help, just ask, as I did extensive research into it all.

I'm genuinely interested but like many others financially restrained. I was only able to bid on that tunic as I sold my Kart EBR about 2 hrs before I logged on! Stage one is see if it fits, I'm 43 and too many of them years have been supping ales so to speak
If the tunic fits and your not in a hurry to part with the overcoat I will be interested, but if you need funds or have a buyer then do the trade.
What I want and what I can afford are two different things.
Anybody want a Tanaka in an AICS stock, custom silencer? I know wrong place but will make more of an effort to part with other kit to raise funds

That's ok mate. I'm not bothered if I sell them or not and I'd only even consider selling them to the bloke who's got my equally well researched tunic and bergmutze!

Here's a photo of mine, showing the placement of the Jager patch on the right sleeve and the green waffenfabre.
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Strictly speaking, Jager troops should be wearing a Bergmutze, rather than an M43 cap as well (although M43's were worn later as well). Like so, note the shorter peak on the Bergmutze. There was also an "Austrian" style Bergmutze, with a buckle over front, rather than the 2 button front.
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If you're going to fit in with everyone else doing a Jager impression, I'd say you need the oakleaf Jager badge, not the ski jager badge in any of its' forms.

As for rank, here's my take on it. No matter what your age, you need to look at how many people are in the group (most will be of a similar age). A group of people all badged up as senior NCO's and officers would just look stupid. If you have 10 blokes all badged up as Feldwebel and above, it'll just look wrong. At most games and in many groups, there are far too many people badged up as NCO's and above. The idea of a "group" is to have some structure imho. There are far too few private soldiers out there.

Well with only 4 people who've actually got kit, I think talk of rank structure is a little premature.

My Jager loadout is ranked at Major, er it's the only one I've got
Having taken on board what's been said about the lack of junior ranks, I've kept my regular Heer loadout without rank, and that's what I usually wear. For me personally one of the main reasons I like WW2 airsoft is that for a change I'm (usually) not marshalling, I can just be a grunt, footslogging pongo, or whatever the Axis slang for that is

I somehow missed some of these earlier posts regarding rank / structure, but they are good points to discuss, so here's my take on it...

What do group members want from the group? If you want to go the whole hog and realistically portray a unit, then probably 80% of people won't have any rank markings at all. If someone does as Sgt Heide did with the Hohenstaufen group - organise training days, covering period tactics and basic fieldcraft, making the group a cohesive unit - then you might say they have the right to ask people to remove their bling - tresse, pips, chevrons, Iron Crosses, etc, etc. Right from the inception of the Hohenstaufen group, that was the aim - to be as realistic as possible.

At present, I do not have the time or inclination (yet) to organise any of the Landser groups to this degree. It takes a lot of effort for a group of guys to come from all corners of the UK together for an organised game, let alone a training day. However, I would encourage anybody who wanted to take on such a task.

As regards numbers, it's a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation: do you start an organised group with very few, hoping to encourage others to join, or do you wait until there are "enough" to make it viable before suggesting the idea? I tend towards the latter - and the numbers of those wishing to portray Heer Infanterie are building up nicely.