Foot artillery
Foot artillery (cf. French artillerie à pied ) was a term used in the military . In addition to the mounted artillery (also called mobile artillery , especially in Austria ), it was originally part of the artillery . Both genera and their origins existed in the European armies at least since the beginning of the 18th century.
In the German army at the time of the German Empire , the artillery troops equipped with heavier artillery stood out from a technical and organizational point of view and ultimately formed an independent branch of arms in addition to the (lighter) field artillery in the First World War , in particular as the heavy artillery of the field army . This distinction was no longer made by the Reichswehr .
It was characteristic and eponymous that the operating teams of the foot artillery, unlike the mobile or mounted field artillery, were not mounted, but marched on foot. Only the gun and the carts for ammunition and material were covered. Only for quick movements on the battlefield did the crew sit on limber and gun (previously also on the horses' horses). Later limbs and artillery were constructed in such a way that the gunners could always sit up and the term foot artillery was retained from now on for reasons of historical tradition.
Fixed coastal or fortress artillery also belonged to the foot artillery .
The foot artillery was only hauled in case of war or during exercises. In the 18th century she covered 80 meters in one minute, 240 in three minutes and 1,860 meters in 22 minutes. She could move for up to ten minutes at a trot, with the team holding onto the horses and carriages and covering a distance of 1,800 meters.
The smallest independent unit was called the company , although this only referred to the gunners. During the mobilization the companies formed batteries with their guns . Towards the end of the 19th century, this name was also transferred to the demobile state. The batteries were combined into battalions , these became regiments and these became brigades . Depending on the assignment to the higher command levels, a distinction was made between divisional artillery and corps artillery or reserve artillery.
Uniformity
The Prussian artillery contributed to the accession of Friedrich Wilhelm II. 1786 blue skirts and three tip that the black in 1750 Füsiliermützen had succeeded, then cross-set, black Two top with a grenade dreiflammigen as a badge. Friedrich Wilhelm III. introduced black collars and lapels in 1798. From then until 1918 the gun color of the artillery remained black .
After the reorganization of the army in 1808, the Prussian artillerymen wore dark blue tunics like the infantry and shakos with the badge from 1786. On the spiked helmet , introduced in 1843, there had been a ball instead of the point since 1845.
Foot artillery on the march
Foot artillery when exercising
Prussian gunner 1808
Saxon foot artilleryman around 1900
See also
literature
- Georg Ortenburg, Weapons and the Use of Weapons in the Age of the Revolutionary Wars , Bernard & Graefe Verlag Koblenz, 1988, ISBN 3763758070
- Hein: The small book of the German army , reprint of the edition from 1901, Weltbild Verlag GmbH Augsburg, 1998, ISBN 3-8289-0271-5