Schmidt volunteer police corps

The Voluntary Military Police Corps of Schmidt was in late autumn 1813 mainly from Heidelberger formed students after the to the Grand Duchy of Baden after the Battle of Leipzig had taken the side of the Allies. It was founded as a volunteer military police corps by Göckel on the initiative of a former Prussian officer , August v. Göckel, who was a secondary lieutenant in the Prussian Feldjäger Regiment until 1807 . In mid-November 1813, however, after an unfortunate fall from his horse, he had to say goodbye and handed over the command to the student Frohwalt von Schmidt, who came from the Lower Rhine and who was to give his name to the corps.

In contrast to the Baden volunteer hunter corps on horseback , the Schmidtschen Feldjäger , as they were also called, never received official recognition from the Grand Duke of Baden. Therefore the volunteers, who equipped and armed themselves at their own expense, also had to provide for themselves, which soon earned them the reputation of indiscipline looters. Her high morale, demonstrated in combat, and von Schmidts' diplomatic skills, however, repeatedly leveled out the differences with the higher commanders.

The Freikorps , grown to 43 volunteers, joined the voluntary hunter detachment of the Fusilier Battalion of the Prussian 1st Guard Regiment on December 17, 1813 , with which it took part in the winter campaign in France. Due to combat losses and illnesses only 22 men strong, the corps took part in the battle of Paris on March 30, 1814.

It was dissolved in mid-May 1814 and the volunteers returned to their homeland or to Heidelberg.

The members of the corps met for the last time on October 18, 1814, on the occasion of the inauguration of the memorial stone for the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig on the Königstuhl above Heidelberg.

Uniform and armament

The volunteers wore a dark green collar with a ponceau red collar and lapels and two rows of 8 buttons each on the chest. Particularly striking were the bleumourant-colored (pale blue) trousers, which were decorated in the Hungarian style with a bear paw pattern made of black cord. Plus black boots. The leather gear was black, the armament consisted of privately purchased rifles of various calibres. In December 1813, the Baden cockade was replaced by the Prussian one.

literature

Association of Friends of the Rastatt Military History Museum: Under the Griffin . Rastatt 1984
Carl von Reinhard: History of the Royal Prussian First Guard Regiment on foot . Potsdam 1858