Royal Württemberg Landjäger Corps

Royal Württemberg Landjäger (Gendarmerie) around 1840. Left a Landjäger, right a captain

The Royal Württemberg Landjäger Corps formed the gendarmerie of the Kingdom of Württemberg from 1807 to 1918 . The term Landjäger was also adopted by the Royal Prussian Land Gendarmerie after 1918 .

precursor

The Landreuterkorps (1808/09)

Due to a general ordinance of King Friedrich of September 11, 1807, the Landreuterkorps was set up to maintain public security . Its tasks consisted of monitoring strangers, vagabonds and beggars , reporting violations of the law, escorting the mail vans and protecting "people and things entrusted to them". Until the establishment of the corps, the local lower police authorities such as police officers and police officers , gate and night watchmen , customs, field and forest riflemen and the so-called hatchers were responsible for these tasks . In Upper Swabia, a kind of police mercenary group of Count Schenk von Castel in Oberdischingen, also known as Malefizschenk , performed these tasks .

Shortly after it was founded, the corps had a budgetary strength of

• 3 officers ,
• 1 quartermaster ,
• 12 NCOs ,
• 200 men,
• 212 horses.

The commanding officer was Major von Beulwitz, who was based in Stuttgart . Service began on January 1, 1808. The uniform consisted of a dark blue collar, a white vest, white trousers, high boots, a hat and a blue coat. The armament consisted of a saber , a carbine , two pistols and a cartridge pouch on a white bandolier worn crosswise.

Like numerous other German gendarmerie, the Landreuter were organizationally subordinate to the military authorities, but in the exercise of their service they were subordinate to the district chiefs in whose circle they served. The district chief decreed the division of the riders who were subordinate to the lower administrative authorities such as the senior and patrimonial officials.

Immediately after starting work, the district offices of the Black Forest demanded the use of unridden riders (i.e. foot gendarmes), as the use of cavalrymen did not seem sensible due to the topographical conditions. As early as January 29, 1808, the king ordered the hiring of 37 unmounted landowners. As early as the middle of the year, the force was informally referred to as the Land Dragon Corps .

The Land Dragon Corps (1809-1811)

On May 27, 1809, the Landreuterkorps was formally renamed Landdragonerkorps. The unmounted land dragons were given the designation land fusiliers . The strength was now:

• 1 commander ( major general ),
• 4 officers (two mounted, two unridden),
• 2 quartermasters,
• 28 NCOs (14 land dragons, 14 land fusiliers),
• 293 Dragoons and Fusiliers (130/163).

Small reserves were stationed in Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg . In 1809 the corps was used to monitor passing Austrian prisoners of war and French wounded in order to prevent excesses against the population.

The Gendarmerie Corps (1811–1823)

Apparently based on the model of the French gendarmerie impériale , the land dragon corps was completely restructured on the basis of a royal order of June 6, 1811 and was given the name Royal Gendarmerie . Strength:

• 1 commander ( colonel ),
• 8 officers ( lieutenants ),
• 1 constable ,
• 1 quartermaster,
• 12 corporals ,
• 140 common on horseback,
• 2 sergeants ,
• 1 quartermaster,
• 12 corporals,
• 200 common on foot.

The commander and the two quartermasters resided in Stuttgart; Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg were senior police departments. During the Wars of Liberation , the corps was significantly reinforced. Russian, Austrian and Bavarian troops were accompanied by the gendarmes on their passage through Württemberg and were also stationed locally to protect the residents, for example in the Gerabronn , Crailsheim and Blaufelden areas .

After the end of the coalition wars, the gendarmerie was reduced again. In 1817, like the army, she received a new uniform: a long dark blue skirt, long dark blue trousers and a felt shako . In 1819 an administrative reform took place with which the kingdom was divided into the capital and residence city of Stuttgart and 63 higher offices. This division still existed in 1907. In the course of this reform, the staff of the gendarmerie corps was completely renewed. Classification and strength from 1821:

• 1 commander (colonel),
• 4 district commanders,
• 1 quartermaster,
• 1 quartermaster,
• 64 station commanders (1 for Stuttgart and 63 for the higher offices),
• 225 Common.

With regard to its services, the corps was subject exclusively to the Ministry of the Interior, disciplinary to the military authorities, but in all other cases to civil jurisdiction. In 1822 there was a general increase in rank by one rank.

The Landjägerkorps (1823-1918)

Due to a royal decree of March 26, 1823, the Gendarmerie Corps was renamed Landjägerkorps. The background is unknown. The Landjägerdienst was evidently so unpopular that the personnel requirements had to be met not by volunteers but by delegations from the line military. By 1852 the workforce rose to 536 men. In 1842 a widows and orphans' fund was set up.

Due to the famine year of 1847 and the revolution of 1848/49 , the country hunters were increasingly deployed. In 1848 the first railway prisoner wagon was introduced and at the same time the escort of the mail wagons was discontinued. In 1854 a regulation was introduced that was still in use in 1907. In 1859 the dark blue trousers were replaced by dark gray ones, in 1864 the knapsacks were abolished and the corps was reduced by 50 men. In 1864 a new uniform was introduced: dark blue service cap, dark blue double-breasted tunic and dark gray trousers.

During the German War , Prussian troops entered Württemberg on August 1, 1866, after which the Landjäger withdrew to unoccupied territory. They were able to return to the occupied territories on August 9 and resume their service.

In 1872 a uniform based on the pattern of the Prussian gendarmerie , but with a double-breasted tunic, including the helmet ( spiked hat ) was introduced. In 1893, as in Prussia, the single-breasted tunic was introduced, in 1902 a field-gray litewka .

With the appointment of the station commanders and teams of the Landjäger as auxiliary officials of the public prosecutor by a royal decree of September 27, 1879, the field of activity of the corps was considerably expanded, which for the first time required specific legal training for the Landjäger. Since apparently no gendarmerie schools like those in Prussia or Bavaria were established in Württemberg until at least 1907, the Landjäger completed four-, six- and eight-week courses at the local level. A special service instruction was only introduced in October 1890. From 1899 onwards, the Oberjäger station commanders were specially trained in four-week courses, first by a government official, from 1907 by an official from the public prosecutor's office. In 1906, fortnightly courses were introduced every year for the station commanders to discuss important laws and official matters.

Starting in 1904, the Landjäger stations, starting from Stuttgart, were gradually connected to the telephone network. From 1902 bicycles were introduced, in conjunction with revolvers . However, the revolver was only intended for certain operations (by bicycle, house searches and transport of prisoners on the train).

In 1907 there were four officers and 601 Landjäger, who served in 65 main offices and 348 branches.

In 1918, King Wilhelm II abdicated due to the November Revolution . Although the term "royal" was dropped, the term "Landjägerkorps" was retained. Presumably, the corps was immediately, like Prussia , completely subordinated to the Ministry of the Interior.

See also

• Royal Hanoverian Land Dragon Corps

literature

• Lieutenant Colonel Wiest: History of the Kgl. Württ. Landjägerkorps as a commemorative publication for the 100th anniversary of the corps , Stuttgart (W. Kohlhammer) 1907.
• Walter Wannenwetsch: The Württemberg Landjägerkorps and the Reich German Gendarmerie in Württemberg with a review of the beginnings of the state police , Stuttgart 1986.