Dragon Fallschirmjäger 8 cm Mortar Team Italy 1944 (Item 6215)

by Cookie Sewell

111 parts in grey styrene; price about $8.95

Advantages: new figures and new mortar will be welcome; figures will have a good deal of flexibility
Disadvantages: poses pretty much limited to operating the mortar
Rating: Highly Recommended
Recommendation: for WWII German fans

German paratroopers started World War II with a splash, but after the heavy defenses encountered at Crete when roughly 1/3 of the forces committed became casualties, they seldom made combat jumps afterwards. But, like with all other armies, since paratroopers were elite forces, they were used where the fighting was heaviest and where skilled infantry was in demand.

This new team from DML consists of the traditional four figures, all dressed in jump smocks and with the short helment, equipped with an 8 cm mortar. The mortar is nicely done, consisting of 8 parts on its own, and comes complete with four ammo cases and 8 rounds of ammunition. Five more common weapons (two Kar 98, two MP40, and one Panzerfaust) from Kit No. 6025 complete the weapons.

The paratroopers themselves come with a wide variety of ammo pouches and kit, as well as six "potato masher" grenades. The figures are done to the usual DML standards, each consisting of six parts for the basic figure. The skirts of the jump smocks are nicely undercut, giving a good definition to them and making the figures "pop" just that much more.

Overall, this looks to be a very nice set and should come in handy for modelers using Fallschirmjaegers in any sort of mid-war setting.

Thanks to Freddie Leung for the review sample.