Italy was described as the soft underbelly of Europe, but it proved anything but such when the Allies invaded it in WWII. Allied troops made painstaking progress up the mountainous spine of Italy, foundering for some months on the Gustav Line, a series of fortifications including bunkers, machine-gun emplacements, barbed wire and minefields. This was Germany’s Winter Line, and it passed horizontally across Italy south of Rome. Defended by 15 German divisions, it took the Allies from mid-November through to late May 1944 to completely penetrate the Gustav Line.

Dragon’s newest 1/35 scale figure set depicts some German defenders of the Gustav Line. The set has four Gebirgsja"ger, or mountain infantrymen/soldiers. Gebirgsja"ger were specialist troops trained to operate in alpine areas. Their famous emblem is the edelweiss. These soldiers acquitted themselves well in Italy’s mountainous terrain, with the 5th Gebirgs-Division, for example, fighting in Italy from April 1943 through to the end of the war. Each of the mountain soldiers in the box is dressed in appropriate winter attire, and is vividly posed in a combat scenario. The set includes several unique pieces of equipment - one is newly tooled Mauser G41(M) semi-automatic rifle, while another is a brand new field telephone. For greater versatility, the signal gun held by one soldier can be shown being loaded with a flare cartridge. These four Gebirgsja"ger are engaged in desperate defense of the Gustav Line in Italy, but they can also be adapted to any action selected by the modeler!

A special feature of this set is a brand new sprue containing German gear such as ammo pouches, water bottles, bread bags plus standard weapons like the MP-40, Kar98K, MG34 and MG42. This new sprue sets a benchmark and standardizes what items will appear in other German figure sets from now on.