Ducal Anhalt Jäger Brigade

The Herzoglich Anhaltische Jägerbrigade formed the gendarmerie of the Duchy of Anhalt-Dessau from 1864 to probably 1918 . The brigade went back to a gendarmerie founded in 1810 as well as the gendarmerie and hunter corps of the principalities of Anhalt-Köthen and Anhalt-Bernburg .

Anhalt gendarmes and members of the Jägerbrigade 1810 to 1910

Snipers and gendarmes of the Principality of Anhalt-Köthen around 1840

Map of Anhalt (1747–1793)

history

The Anhalt-Dessau Gendarmerie from 1810 to 1833

The gendarmerie in Anhalt-Dessau was founded by regulations of August 12, 1810 and initially consisted of a sergeant , three senior officers and six gendarmes. The superior authority was the Rentkammer as the highest police authority in the principality. All gendarmes came from the principality's military hunter corps . They had to demonstrate impeccable leadership and health, and be proficient in reading and writing. All the gendarmes were mounted; The station was based in Dessau , commandos of two men each were quartered in Zerbst , Radegast and Sandersleben ; usually in inns.

The food consisted of three meals a day; breakfast consisting of a warm soup with bread and butter and a glass of brandy wine , lunch consisting of half a pound of meat with vegetables, “sufficient” bread and two liters of beer , dinner with sandwich and beer.

When the customs service had to be strengthened at the beginning of the 1820s due to disputes with the Kingdom of Prussia , the government decided, presumably for cost reasons, not to strengthen the gendarmerie, but instead supported them with five so-called "riding hunters" of the military hunter corps. In 1833 both organizations were united as "Reitende Jäger" and the term gendarmerie was abolished.

Riding hunters 1833 to 1864

In 1848 the first hunters were hired on foot. The workforce this year was 12 men. The judicial authorities were responsible for supervising the hunters . In two conferences in 1851 it was determined that the hunters department should be organized militarily but should be subordinate to the district directorates. Apparently the hunters had been a purely civilian institution up to this point.

In 1853, Anhalt-Dessau took over the administration of the Anhalt-Köthen area, whereupon the local (gendarmerie) hunters were integrated into the "riding hunters" by one sergeant and seven hunters. As a result, an ordinance and service instruction were issued on December 14, whereby the regulations for the Dessauers of November 1, 1810 and the Köthens ordinances of 1827, 1829, 1832 and 1836 were repealed. Seven more hunters were hired by 1858. The leader of the corps was Major von Holly in the 1850s , his successor Captain Adolf von Berenhorst (1820–1903).

Foundation of the Anhalt Jäger Brigade in 1864

After the unification of Anhalt-Dessau due to succession with the Anhalt-Bernburg , the Anhalt Jäger Brigade was founded under Major von Berenhorst (see above) by ordinance of July 26, 1864. Von Berenhorst was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1865 and to colonel in 1868 . In 1877 he was characterized as a general .

The Jäger Brigade was divided into five departments in Dessau, Koethen , Zerbst , Bernburg and Ballenstedt and was subordinate to the interior department of the ducal government, led by so-called departmental sergeants. In the future, the staff should be complemented by non - commissioned officers of the Anhalt military who had a six-month probationary period.

A significant change in the status of the brigade took place through the military convention with Prussia of June 28, 1867. As a result of the convention, the duchy lost its military independence and the present Anhalt contingent of the German Confederation was transferred to the Prussian army , where the Anhalt Infantry Regiment No. 93 formed. The State Ministry therefore decreed that the previous Anhalt military court system was no longer valid for the hunters. Nevertheless, the brigade had a military character until 1899, even if there was no longer an independent, permanent military (see below). However, at least until 1910, supervision was always exercised by the commander and not by the district authorities.

In 1892 General von Berenhorst retired; his successor was Major a. D. Schmidt. In 1895 two night patrols a week were ordered. Obviously there were problems with replenishing the workforce, as gendarmes and policemen from other German states could now also be employed. When Schmidt died in 1896, Colonel a. D. von Losch new brigade commander. By a law of March 6, 1899, the military character of the brigade was also formally abolished, making it a purely civil organization.

In 1908 the government sought to make the brigade more professional, since after a decree of June 16, candidates who had attended a gendarmerie or police school should be given preference. Apparently it was at this point in time that the district directorates began to train the officers in the manner of gendarmerie or police schools with the aim of systematically instructing them in laws and regulations.

On June 30, 1910, Commander von Losch retired. No information is available about his successor. At that time, the brigade, divided into 42 stations, had the following staff:

• commander
• Accounting officer : 1
• Oberwachtmeister zu Perde: 3
• Sergeant on foot: 2
• Riding hunters: 7
• Hunters on foot: 60

No information is available about the dissolution or restructuring of the Jäger Brigade, which was likely to have taken place in 1918 in the course of the November Revolution and the associated abdication of Prince Regent Aribert von Anhalt and the establishment of the Free State of Anhalt .

Uniforms and armaments

In 1810 the gendarmes had a dark blue uniform with red lugs and short white leather trousers or short gray cloth trousers with gauntlets, a hat with red feathers and a green cockade and a blue coat. The uniforms apparently largely corresponded to that of the French gendarmerie impériale . The gendarmes were armed with two pistols and a pallasch .

In 1816 the uniform of the Prussian Gendarmerie was adopted; a green, double-breasted tailcoat (Kollett), long gray trousers and a presumably black shako . In 1847 a light percussion rifle was introduced.

In 1854 a new uniform was introduced, which, however, was again very similar to the Prussian: a green tunic , dark gray long trousers, a gray coat, a green cap and a helmet ( spiked hat ). This uniform regulation was probably valid until the brigade was disbanded. In 1897 a loden cloak was introduced , in 1899 the more comfortable litewka was introduced in addition to the tunic .

In 1875 double-barreled breech-loading rifles were purchased for foot hunters, and revolvers for all hunters in the army in 1890 . Bicycles were purchased from 1897.

Culture of remembrance

In 1910, the “Memorandum of the Herzoglich Anhaltische Jägerbrigade 1810–1910” appeared, a historiographical work on the brigade, which was based on files from the Herzoglich Anhaltische Staatsarchiv , the government and the magistrate in Köthen. The author, the Ducal Chamber Council Colonel a. D. von Losch and former commander (see above), pointed out in the foreword that fires in the Bernburg town hall in 1850, in the castle in 1894 and in the Zerbst town hall in 1891 destroyed older files in particular.

literature

• Colonel a. D. Ferdinand von Losch: Memorandum of the Herzoglich Anhaltischen Jägerbrigade 1810–1910 , Dessau (Hofbuchdruckerei C. Dünnhaupt) 1910.
• Heinrich Ambros Eckert / Dietrich Monten: The German army. Based on the uniform work from the years 1835 to 1843 , Dortmund (Harenberg) 1990, p. 185. ISBN 3-611-00132-5
• Anhalt entry in: Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon , 1st volume, 6th edition Leipzig / Vienna (Bibliographisches Institut) 1904, pp. 527-531.
• Regulations for the Anhalt-Deßauische Gendarmerie , in: Collection of sovereign ordinances issued in the Duchy of Anhalt-Deßau. Second volume, containing the ordinances from April 27, 1784 to July 25, 1818 , pp. 184–193, Dessau (Ackermann) 1819, online version