Mountain Rifle Battalion 6
The Zürcher Gebirgsschützenbataillon 6 (Geb S Bat 6, coll. «Schützensächsi») was founded in 1874 and has been subordinate to the mountain troops since 1926 , from 1962 to the mountain division 12 , from 2003 to the mountain infantry brigade 12 and since 2017 to the territorial division 4. It is made with militiamen .
prehistory
The Swiss snipers originally joined associations they had chosen themselves and went to war with their own precision rifle . They were organized in shooting societies that already practiced the art of shooting in the 14th century. The first sniper companies were formed with the Federal Umbrella Organization of 1702. They were equipped with a rifled 17/18 mm Stutzer caliber, which enabled precise shooting at 300 meters.
In 1770, Salomon Landolt , who had attended the French military school in Metz , began to transform the heavy position infantry into mobile sniper companies (hunters). He thus became the founder of the “Zurich Sniper Corps”.
In 1851, the newly founded Swiss federal state was the first in Europe to introduce the small-caliber rifle with a caliber of 10.5 mm for snipers in the army. At the same time, the different colored cantonal uniforms were standardized in favor of the field gray, the shooters were only marked on collars and flaps.
With the federal decree of 1870 the sniper battalions were created. The four Zurich companies were used for the first time during the occupation of the border in 1870/71 on the Swiss border near Basel .
Military organization 1874
With the new military organization of 1874, the snipers were renamed to riflemen and were no longer a branch of service. The Zurich Rifle Battalion 6 received its number and was subordinated directly to the division command and in 1907 to the regimental association.
In 1912, the militiamen of a company of Rifle Battalion 6 were set up as an honor company during the maneuver visit of the German Emperor ( Imperial maneuver ) of the 3rd Army Corps . During the First World War , the “Schützensächsi”, now commonly known as the “Imperial Battalion”, was deployed, like all units of the Swiss Army, to occupy the border.
With the troop order of 1925 (TO 25), the mountain troops were strengthened. The 6th Rifle Battalion was assigned to the mountain troops in 1926 and subordinated to the newly formed Zurich Mountain Infantry Regiment 37. Each mountain infantry battalion now consisted of three mountain infantry companies and one mountain mitrailleur company , while the Lmg 25 light machine gun was introduced.
Second World War
During the Second World War , the battalion was deployed in the first army position in the Limmat position. As part of the 37 Zurich Mountain Infantry Regiment, it had to block the crossings from the Limmat Valley into the Reuss Valley between Baden and Oberrohrdorf in the right section of the 8th Division .
On June 15, 1940, the battalion marched to Birrhard to defend the Birrfeld airfield . The intelligence service had been informed that German acts of sabotage were planned at airfields on June 16, as a German reaction to the successful defensive battle of the Swiss Air Force against invading German airmen in the Ajoie .
On July 3, 1940 - 22 days before the Rütli report - the retreat began in stages as part of the 8th Division and the 2nd Army Corps with marches into the Reduit from Lucerne via Buochs , Giswil , Lungern and Sörenberg . On September 10th, the battalion arrived in its Reduit room in Schangnau in Emmental , where it remained with interruptions until October 1944.
After the Second World War, the 1955 rifle scope carbine was introduced.
Mission and operational area within the framework of the Army 61
With Army 61 , the battalion was assigned as part of Mountain Infantry Regiment 37 to the newly created Mountain Division 12 of Mountain Army Corps 3.
The mountain division 12 had to block the eastern flank of the Gotthard , maintain the connection to the fortress brigade 13 (Fest Br 13), protect the national road N13 (A13) ( San Bernardino axis ) and be ready as a reserve for a field division.
The operational area of the reinforced division stretched from the state border 120 km in the east-west axis and 70 km in the north-south axis and covered a large part of the canton of Graubünden .
The Zurich Mountain Infantry Regiment 37 of Mountain Division 12 was the first military unit to be entrusted with a subsidiary security mission based on a Federal Council resolution in October 1998 : in February 1999 it completed this with embassy guarding in Geneva.
With Army XXI , Mountain Division 12 was disbanded in 2003 and Mountain Rifle Battalion 6 was transferred to Mountain Infantry Brigade 12 (Geb Inf Br 12).
Structure of Mountain Rifle Battalion 6 today
- Headquarters company 6
- Mountain rifle companies 6/1, 6/2, 6/3
- Mountain Rifle Support Company 6/4.
Allegations
- 1875–1907 6th Army Division
- 1907–1925 5th Division, Inf Rgt 25
- 1926–1927 14th Inf Brigade, Geb Inf Rgt 37
- 1928–1937 15th Inf Brigade, Geb Inf Rgt 37
- 1938–1951 8th Division, Geb Inf Rgt 37
- 1952–1960 9th Division, Geb Inf Rgt 37
- 1961–1994 Geb Div 12, Geb Inf Rgt 37
- 1995-2003 Building AK 3, Building Inf Rgt 37
- 2004–2017 Geb Inf Br 12
- 2017- Territorial Division 4
literature
- Schwarzer: History of the Zurich Rifle Battalion No. 6 1874–1900 based on personal memories and impressions of an old rifle officer
- Information Group Staff Geb Div 12: Our Large Associations - The Mountain Division 12 . General Swiss military magazine ASMZ, issue 3, 1987.
- Valentino Crameri: The Mountain Division 12. History of the Mountain Division 12 from its foundation in 1962 to the turn of the millennium . Publisher Gasser, Chur 1999.
- Valentino Crameri: The last courier 12th illustrated book on the farewell of the mountain division 12 . Verlag Kommando Gebirgsdivision 12, Chur 2003
Web links
- Schützen 6er Blog - The oldest battalion in Switzerland
- Homepage of the Mountain Rifle Battalion 6
- Military Museum St. Luzisteig: The history of the large army units (Mountain and Border Brigade 12, Sargans Fortress and Fortress Brigade 13, Mountain Division 12, Territorial Zone and Territorial Brigade 23)
- ETH Library, ASMZ 06/2013: The Mountain Rifle Battalion 6 on Zurich's Lindenhof
Individual evidence
- ↑ Zurich Week of October 6, 1961: The "Imperial Battalion"
- ↑ Walter Lüem, Max Rudolf: Defense in close-up. Problems of the Limmat defense in 1939/40 in the Spreitenbach – Killwangen section. Self-published in 2003. Distribution by the Swiss Society for Military Study Trips GMS, Zurich
- ↑ ETH Library: The Mountain Division 12
- ↑ VBS: History of the Mountain Rifle Battalion 6 ( Memento from February 1, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ VBS: Gebirgsinfanteriebrigade 12 ( Memento from January 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive )