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A series of compressive load relaxation experiments were conducted on germanium single crystals in the temperature range 400 to 885° C. The curvature of the logσ-log $$\dot \in $$ data obtained from load relaxation tests changes from concave upward to concave downward as the test temperature increases at fixed stress level, or as the strain level increases at fixed temperature. At intermediate temperatures, ∼600° C, the transition from concave upward to concave downward curvature happens on a single relaxation curve. These observations are consistent with the two-branch rheological model proposed by Hart to explain the deformation behaviour of metals and were analysed in terms of this model. The transition from concave upward to concave downward curvature could be moved to higher temperature by doping germanium with gallium, which decreases the dislocation glide velocity relative to that in pure germanium. The transition could be shifted to lower temperature by compressing samples along [1 $$\bar 1$$ 1] rather than [1 $$\bar 1$$ 0] because the [1 $$\bar 1$$ 1] orientation favours cross-slip while the [1 $$\bar 1$$ 0] orientation does not. Dislocation dipoles and straight dislocations dominated the microstructure of samples which had concave upward logσ-log $$\dot \in $$ curves, while well-developed dislocation cell structures dominated the microstructure of samples which yielded concave downward curves. The observed changes in the curvature of the load relaxation curves and the dislocation structure both indicate the increased importance of dislocation climb with increasing temperature. When compared through the Orowan equation, the load relaxation results are in good agreement with published stress-dislocation velocity data.