As the Allied forces captured Sicily and proceeded to invade Italy, the need was quickly seen for mountain-trained troops. With both the British and American Armies lacking any such trained units at this time (the famed US 10th Mountain Division was not authorized until the summer of 1943), the other Allied nations were called on to help fill this gap. The British relied on the units of the Indian Army, while the Americans turned to French.
For service along the mountainous northern rim of Africa, the French Colonial Army had recruited tribesman from Morocco. These tribesman were recruited into company-sized units named Goums (tribes or groups in Moroccan). The Goums were further organized into battalion-sized units called "Tabors," while the Tabors were placed in "Groupes." It has been pointed out that a literal translation of this would be a group of groups of groups.
The Goums were equipped with American weapons, and arrived in Italy in the summer of 1943. Their ability to cross mountainous terrain made them prized troops, though their lack of heavy weapons put them at a disadvantage against a strongly entrenched foe. The presence of the Gowns in a sector forced the Germans to fortify areas that they had ignored before. When withdrawn in July of 1944 to prepare for the invasion of Southern France, the loss of these units and the other mountain-trained units of the French Army was a severe blow to the Allied hopes for a continued advance in Italy.
The organization of the Goums was as follows:
GROUPE DE TABOR
Veteran; Morale: 8
Groupe Headquarters, with:
- 1 command stand
1 jeep
1 staff radio stand
1 light truck
1 81 mm mortar stand (ds)
1 MMG stand
1 light truck
1 gun crew stand
1 57L52 AT gun
2 support stands
6 pack mule stands
3 Tabors, each with:
- Tabor Headquarters, with:
- 1 command stand
1 81 mm mortar stand (ds)
2 MMG stands
1 recon cavalry stand
2 support stands
6 pack mule stands
3 Goums, each with:
- 1 command mountain infantry
stand
1 recon mountain infantry stand
2 mountain infantry stands
Notes
1. The Goums use the following firing data:
| Type | ROF | Effective Range |
|---|---|---|
| Mountain Inf | 1 | 8" |
| MMG | 2 | 15" |
| Dismounted Cav | 1 | 8" |
| Support, Gun Crew | 1 | 8" |
2. The following were the organizational numbers of the different formations that served in Italy:
1st Groupe de Tabor
- 2nd Tabor: 51st, 61st and 62nd Goums
3rd Tabor: 4th, 65th and 101st Goums
12th Tabor: 12th, 63rd and 64th Goums
3rd Groupe de Tabor
- 9th Tabor: 81st, 82nd, and 83rd, Goums
10th Tabor: 84th, 85th, and 86th Goums
17th Tabor: 14th, 18th and 22nd Goums
4th Groupe de Tabor
- 5th Tabor: 41st, 70th, and 71st, Goums
8th Tabor: 78th, 79th, and 80th Goums
11th Tabor: 88th, 89th and 93rd Gowns
Bibliography
Les Grandes Unites Franqaises, Vol 4, Campagnes de
Tunisie et D'Italle, Historiques Succincts, Paris 1970.
Bitter Victory, The Battle for Sicily, Carlo D'Este,
Collins London 1988
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© Copyright 1993 by Greg Novak.
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