Schützen (military)


Schützen is a German plural noun used to designate a type of military unit of infantrymen, originally armed with a rifled musket and used in a light-infantry or skirmishing role - and hence similar to the Jäger. The individual infantrymen are termed Schütze. Prior to the introduction of firearms the word was used for 'archer', and is sometimes used in the form Bogenschütze.
The verb schützen is not related to this noun, but to "Schutz", and has the meaning 'to guard' or 'to protect'.

Translation and usage

The German word Schütze means 'one who shoots'; the most common English translations are 'rifleman' or 'marksman'.. Schuetze is the correct variant spelling without the umlaut. Schütze is not to be confused with the noun Schutz, meaning 'guard', 'protection' or 'defence'.
The rank of Schütze was used for 'Private' in the Imperial German Machine Gun Abteilungen and for the Saxon Schützen Regiment No 108. During the First World War the term became more widespread in the Imperial German Army, when it was applied to dismounted Cavalry Divisions, the '. The Imperial German Colonial Infantry were referred to as Schutztruppe, however this is translated as 'defence troops' and is not related to the Schützen.
The Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS, adopted the rank title Schütze for an infantry private, and therefore perhaps the best translation is 'rifleman' with the additional sense of 'sharpshooter' or 'marksman'. The French equivalent is Tirailleur.
When Germany first introduced Motorised Infantry in the 1930s those regiments that were the Infantry component of the Panzer Divisions, prior to being known as Panzer Grenadiers, were termed 'Schützen Regimenter'. Some were cavalry in origin, and carried on the designation used in the First World War - '. Sometimes these designations persisted after the official change to Panzer Grenadier.
In the modern German Bundeswehr the armored personnel carrier of the Panzer Grenadier units was, until 1971, the Schützenpanzer.

History in Germany

Schützen originated in the Prussian Army from 1787 as 10 hand-picked soldiers from each Company of each Line Regiment, each Grenadier Battalion and each Fusilier Battalion. For the line infantry and Grenadiers, the Schützen were drawn from the 'third rank' - men who were trained in skirmishing. The Fusiliers, a term in Germany that denoted Light Infantry, were all trained skirmishers. The skirmishers' role was to precede the main body in 'open order', forming a protective screen and firing at the enemy in a way designed to gall and disrupt - and also to form a defensive screen to counter the enemy's skirmishers. This inevitably led to the selection of men who were superior marksmen, to be armed with rifled weapons and charged specifically with the task of killing or disabling enemy officers or NCOs - thus undermining the cohesion and steadiness of the enemy ranks. The numbers may seem few, and in practice the Prussians found they had insufficient numbers, but even when used in large numbers the methodology was to have only a small proportion of them rotated so that they would not run out of ammunition, and so they could always fall back on the main body when threatened by cavalry. As Light Infantry the Fusiliers had greater flexibility, and methods that were appropriate for what was termed 'outpost warfare' - fighting in woodland and villages, covering the flanks or assaulting over broken terrain and defensive earthworks. This included 'Skirmish Attacks', in which the skirmish lines operated offensively, and in greater numbers. Two entire companies - half the strength of the Fusilier battalion - were utilized, with the remaining two available as supports or relief.
Over time, after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the Schützen developed many similarities with the Jäger and eventually began to be grouped together in companies and/or distinguished by special uniform features. One such feature endured in many of the German states, on through the Imperial German Army, the Wehrmacht and continuing right up until the present Bundeswehr. This is known as the :German Armed Forces Badge of Marksmanship|Schützenschnur - a braided 'lanyard' denoting a marksman and worn slung from the shoulder, across the breast and secured at a tunic button. Often it was green, and also embellished by being terminated with tassels, pompoms or 'acorns'.
Schützen companies were found, for example, in Bavaria, Mecklenburg, Anhalt and Nassau but as these States gradually entered the German Confederation under Prussia, and adopted the Prussian model, the Schützen disappeared or were absorbed by the Jäger. At the same time there was a tendency for the Jäger to be converted to the third Battalion of the Line Infantry Regiments. By 1870 only the Bavarian and Prussian armies contained Schützen; in Bavaria as integral companies, in Prussia as an independent battalion.
Schützen Battalions first appeared as part of the Prussian Army in 1808, and there were only ever a few such battalions in existence. Outside of Prussia only Hesse-Cassel, Saxony and Saxe-Meiningen ever raised Schützen Battalions. Hesse-Cassel formed two battalions in 1832 from their Garde-Jäger-Bataillon and the Fusilier Battalion of the 2nd Line Infantry Regiment. In 1834 these changed to a Jäger Battalion and a Schützen Battalion - the latter converting again in 1852 back to Fusiliers, and in 1856 briefly becoming 'Light Infantry' before again being known as Schützen. Both the Jäger and the Schützen were disbanded in 1867 - after Hesse-Cassel was defeated and annexed by Prussia - to be re-embodied in the newly raised Prussian 11th Jäger Battalion. The Saxon units had an equally chequered history. In 1793 each infantry regiment established Scharfschützen similar to the Prussians. In 1809 these were grouped together in two battalions, each of four Scharfschützen Abteilungen - within a few months they reorganised, firstly into a Jäger-Korps and then into two Light Infantry Regiments and a Jäger Battalion. In 1815, with the loss of territory to Prussia, many of the personnel transferred to the Prussian Army - leaving only two Light Battalions and the Jäger Battalion, with the Light Battalions being re-designated as Schützen Battalions. In 1821 the Jäger Battalion became the 3rd Schützen Battalion and in 1849 a fourth Battalion was raised for the creation of a 'Light Brigade', in line with the general reorganisation of the Saxon Army from regiments into Brigades. Finally in 1853 the Light Brigade became a Jäger Brigade of four Jäger Battalions, and in 1867 - as with the Hessians after being defeated by the Prussians - the Saxon Army was reorganized along Prussian lines, with two of the Jäger Battalions becoming the 12th and 13th in the Prussian sequence, and the other two forming a regiment that became the 108th Infantry Regiment in the Prussian sequence. In 1827 the former 'Musketeer Battalion' of the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen was reformed as a Shützen Battalion but again this was short-lived, becoming in 1853 a Fusilier Battailion.
The first Prussian Schützen Battalion was recruited from the province of Silesia. A second Battalion was raised in 1814 from the Swiss canton of the Principality of Neuchâtel, and in 1815 a third battalion was formed in the Rhineland. The Prussian Army from 1815 thus contained:
Although similar to the Jäger, the Schützen had a distinct character. Intended as fusilier-style skirmishers but with highly developed marksmanship, they were unable to operate with the same degree of independence and initiative as practised by the Jäger. In the Prussian Army the Schützen were phased out between 1821 and 1845, being converted to Jäger - leaving only the Garde-Schützen-Bataillon, which thus became the only unit in the Prussian Army with that designation; and although only titular, this unit preserved the tradition of the original Schützen. However those Jäger Battalions that had a Schützen origin also carried on the tradition in subtle ways, and it may be through their links with the mountainous regions of Switzerland, Bavaria and Silesia that the Jäger also adopted techniques and skills of mountaineering, culminating in the creation of the Gebirgsjäger. While the Jäger had links with woodlands and hunting, the Schützen had links with uplands and alpine pursuits.
In the Imperial German Army prior to World War I, there was only one Schützen Battalion, the Garde-Schützen-Battaillon, plus an infantry regiment from Saxony that, while designated 'Schützen', was a special case.

History in other countries

United States Sharpshooters
During the American Civil War two regiments of Sharpshooters were raised in 1861 by the Union Army. Commanded by Hiram Berdan, himself a noted marksman who had been actively involved in their recruitment - they were thus popularly known as Berdan’s Sharpshooters. Recruited from picked marksmen, employed as snipers and skirmishers - like the German Schützen they often bore their own personal weapons and were dressed in dark green.
Austrian Schützen
' later known as Kaiserschützen.
United Kingdom Sharpshooters
Yeomanry Regiment
French Tirailleurs'''