Royal Bavarian Gendarmerie Corps

Seal mark of the Royal Bavarian Gendarmerie Company of Upper Bavaria

The Royal Bavarian Gendarmerie Corps was entrusted with police duties in the Kingdom of Bavaria as a gendarmerie force .

history

The corps until 1863

As early as the middle of the 18th century, there were first efforts in the Electorate of Bavaria to build up a police force to maintain order and security. Under Elector Karl Theodor, for example, parts of the cavalry carried out police duties under the name “Military Cordon”.

In 1805, police stations organized by regional courts were set up throughout Bavaria , whose members were uniformly uniformed and called the police cordon. By a royal ordinance of 1809 these were subordinated to the Ministry of the Interior , but disciplinary supervision continued to be exercised by the district judges, and general district commissioners were established as the next higher department. However, these measures did not improve overall safety, due to a lack of staff.

Royal Bavarian gendarme on horseback around 1840, member of the gendarmerie company in the capital and residence of Munich. Green uniform, black shako.

In the constitution of 1808 , the establishment of a Gensd'armerie was established. Due to the precarious financial situation of the kingdom to its construction, which began in 1808 and on 11 October 1812 the unification of the delayed internal , war and Finance and the adoption of an edict by King Maximilian I has been completed. The model was, as with the Prussian Landgendarmerie , founded practically at the same time , the French Gendarmerie impériale .

The gendarmerie provided the 1st corps of the army , but due to the great influence of Maximilian von Montgelas until his dismissal in 1817, it was not subordinate to the war ministry, but to the secret ministerial office for gendarmerie items . In 1817, in addition to personnel matters and disciplinary law, the Ministry of War was given responsibility for managing and financing the gendarmerie. From then on, the costs for the gendarmerie were taken from the military budget. Before that, the funds had been raised by the district and pension offices .

The reforms of 1863 and 1867/68

It was not until 1863 that the community, which had previously been regarded as corporal , was given the designation of gendarme . Correspondingly, the NCOs were upgraded; the sergeants, now referred to as the Oberbrigadier, received the portepee that corresponded to the junker's observance, as well as, with restrictions, the equipment and uniform of the gendarmerie officers.

On April 1, 1867, gendarmerie schools were established in Upper Bavaria , the Palatinate , Upper Palatinate and Middle Franconia , but they were reduced to two (in Munich and Speyer ) in 1868 . Presumably these were the first police schools in Germany at all, as Prussia only established two gendarmerie schools in Einbeck and Wohlau in 1899 .

A decisive turning point in the relationship between the gendarmerie and the military and civil authorities came with the army reform of 1868 . Bavaria was thus apparently the last German state in which the gendarmerie was subordinated to the Ministry of the Interior and the subordinate civil authorities in daily operations . For example, the Saxon gendarmerie had never been part of the military since it was founded in 1809 and mixed forms existed in Oldenburg or Mecklenburg-Schwerin . In fact, it was completely outsourced from the military, but remained organized militarily. On July 24, 1868, King Ludwig II ordered the reorganization of the gendarmerie on this side of the Rhine with the exception of Munich. From this point on, the district offices were responsible for supervision and no longer for the officers, but they were still responsible for education and instruction. Now the gendarmerie was no longer part of the Royal Bavarian Army , but remained organized militarily. It was subject to military criminal jurisdiction , in terms of personnel and disciplinary still to the Ministry of War, in all other official matters to the Ministry of the Interior. The company division was retained. At each district office there was a gendarmerie station , which was led by a senior brigadier who was also in charge of the district brigade . The companies were commanded by either a captain or a major . A brigade was assigned to each city district in Munich.

During the Franco-Prussian War , two field gendarmerie departments of 67 men were set up from the gendarmerie and assigned to the two Bavarian army corps. A third division with 40 men served in the general stage inspection. Apparently there were no war losses.

On April 1, 1872, there were changes in the rank and position titles:

• Corps or company commander to chief;
• First Brigadier 1st class to Oberwachtmeister ;
• Senior Brigadier 2nd class to sergeant ;
• Brigadier to Sergeant .

The station commanders and gendarmes retained their designations and their rank as NCOs.

By the very highest regulation of September 6, 1873, the uniform was also decisively changed by introducing the Prussian helmet ( spiked hat ), as in the other German gendarmerie with the exception of Saxony and Mecklenburg-Strelitz . The tunic remained dark green. The pants color was black. A Werder carbine was introduced as armament .

Bicycles were introduced on a trial basis in 1895, and in 1896 a revolver instead of a saber for cycling officials ; in the same year all gendarmes in mountainous areas were given permission to wear snowshoes ( skis ); also a blouse in 1896 except in Munich; 1901 Gendarmerie revolver M / 99 and a gray coat in the style of an army coat.

A major change occurred in Munich in 1898, when the company there was dissolved on October 1, 1898 and replaced by a royal protection team as in Berlin and Dresden. She was given a blue uniform. The Civil Service Act, which came into force on January 1, 1909, also had an impact on the gendarmerie. The gendarmes were now state officials , but were still subject to the War Ministry in terms of discipline . The companies were renamed into departments and their bosses referred to as department commanders. The brigade was replaced by the district.

Gendarmes killed in service from 1814 to 1912

Up to 1912, 32 gendarmes were killed while on duty, including:

• from firearms: 15 (including two in 1900 by the robber Mathias Kneißl );
• by knife wounds: 12;
• slain: 2.

First World War, November Revolution 1918

Nothing is known about its use in the First World War . Obviously, the Bavarian military police were also set up by gendarmes and reinforced above all by light cavalry ( Chevauleger in Bavaria ). With the end of the First World War and the November Revolution, the name Königlich was deleted in 1918 and when the Bavarian Army was dissolved in 1919, the Gendarmerie Corps was converted into a civil institution, the highest service authority of which was the Ministry of the Interior.

structure

The gendarmerie corps was originally intended to include staff and officers , 1,332 infantrymen and 348 cavalrymen .

A gendarmerie corps command was established as the central command in Munich under the leadership of a general, to which three legions, each with one squadron of cavalry and four companies of infantry, were subordinate. The squadrons and companies were again divided into individual brigades . For Inn- , Isar and Salzach circle was I. Legion in Munich, for the Iller- , Oberdonau- and Rezatkreis the II. Legion in Augsburg and for the Main , rain and lower Danube Circle the III. Legion in Regensburg responsible.

See also

• Bavarian State Police
• Royal Hanoverian Land Dragon Corps
• Kk Gendarmerie

literature

• Major Schröder: The Kgl. Bayer. Gendarmerie Corps 1812–1912. Kastner and Callwey, Munich 1912.
• Colonel Fritz Beck: History of the Grand Ducal Hessian Gendarmerie Corps 1763–1905. H. Hohmann, Darmstadt 1905.
• Heinrich Ambros Eckert , Dietrich Monten : The German army. Based on the uniforms from 1835 to 1843, edited by Georg Ortenburg. Harenberg Verlag , Dortmund 1990, ISBN 3-611-00132-5 .
• Bernd Wirsing: The history of the gendarmerie corps and their predecessor organizations in Baden, Württemberg and Bavaria, 1750-1850 . University of Konstanz 1991 (dissertation).

swell

• Article from the Bavarian Main State Archives

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Tobias Friedrich Kroeger: Between sovereign sovereignty and Napoleonic imperialism: The Bavarian Officer Corps 1799-1815 , p. 167.
2. ^ Constitution of 1808
3. ^ Richard Bauer: Handbook of the Bavarian offices, municipalities and courts 1799–1980 , p. 50.
4. ^ Richard Bauer: Handbook of the Bavarian offices, municipalities and courts 1799–1980 , p. 51.