Lübeck Citizens Guard
The Bürgergarde was the militia of the Free City of Lübeck from 1813 to 1867 .
Origins
The forerunners of the citizen guard were the citizen companies , which went back to the medieval military bourgeoisie . They served exclusively to maintain internal order and defense. Theoretically, every male citizen had to be ready for service in the citizen companies; In the course of the 18th century, however, more and more citizens had withdrawn from duty, so that the citizen companies no longer even had the necessary staff for the daily guard duty. In the course of the incorporation of Lübeck into the French Empire , the citizen companies were also formally dissolved in February 1811.
history
After the French occupation troops had evacuated Lübeck on March 9, 1813, the civil guard was set up to safeguard inner-city order. The troops consisted of a total of three companies of infantry , a division of hunters and the small civil cavalry .
This militia force could not prevent Lübeck from being occupied by a 1,000-strong Danish corps for France on June 3, 1813 , to which a 5,000-strong French contingent was added by June 3. The civil guards were disarmed and disbanded.
After the final withdrawal of the French occupiers, the civil guard was set up again on December 15, 1813; The Swedish Crown Prince Karl Johann provided the city with 600 older British rifles of the Brown Bess India Pattern type as the basis for equipping them with weapons .
A Senate ordinance of September 21, 1814 gave the Civil Guard the structure that it was to maintain in all essentials until its end. The official duties of the citizens, the organization and strength of the militia were thus regulated.
In the decades that followed, the civil guard had only minor obligations to fulfill, such as supporting the regular military with order and guard duties. The commitment of the citizens of Lübeck who were compulsory for service decreased considerably over the course of time; The level of training and usefulness of the militia sank considerably, especially in the years after 1850, so that the civil guard was generally regarded as useless for serious operations and useless.
The conclusion of the military convention with Prussia in 1867 also brought the end of the civil guard, which was formally dissolved on November 1, 1867.
Organization and strength
According to the Senate Ordinance of September 21, 1814, the Citizens Guard consisted of four battalions , which in turn consisted of 14 companies of infantry with a total of around 1,680 men and two hunter companies, which together were about 240 men strong. The hunter units were disbanded after 1831.
A reorganization was established by the Senate Ordinance of October 21, 1827, which was implemented by 1830. Accordingly, the civil guard consisted from now on of an active battalion of four companies and a total of 780 men, as well as a reserve battalion of four companies with a total of 420 men.
In addition, there was a Landwehr contingent in the rural area that belonged to Lübeck, which was called Landsturm . Its nominal strength was 2,754 men in 15 companies, which in turn formed five battalions. The military value of the Landsturm was low, among other things because of the poor armament.
Uniformity
Although the Lübeck Citizens Guard was a pure militia formation , after 1814 it was consistently uniformed. In contrast to the regular military, who wore green, the basic color was blue. Only the hunters had green skirts. The infantry's collars and lapels were red. The originally tailcoat-like skirts were replaced by tunic skirts of the Prussian pattern around 1845 .
The headgear was originally a tall black shako ; the sappers wore fur hats according to the French pattern. After the tunic, the spiked bonnet was introduced based on the Prussian model.
photos
Infantrymen and sappers of the Lübeck Citizens Guard, 1831
Minstrels of the Lübeck Citizens Guard, 1831
Hunter of the Lübeck Civil Guard, 1831
The last officer corps of the active battalion before the dissolution of the Civil Guard in 1867
literature
- Peter Galperin: In defense and arms. Military citizens, mercenaries and soldiers in Oldenburg and the Hanseatic cities . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-87943-963-X .
- Georg Fink: Lübeck and its military. From the beginning until 1939 . Edited by Otto Wiehmann and Antjekathrin Graßmann . Schmidt-Römhild, Lübeck 2000, ISBN 3-7950-3115-X , ( small booklets on city history 16).
- W. Dahms (Ed.): The Lübeck Citizens Guard. Memories and anecdotes . Borchers Brothers, Lübeck 1932.
- Schlürmann, Jan : The military of the Free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck 1623-1867 , in: Handbuch zur Nordelbischen military history. Armies and wars in Schleswig, Holstein, Lauenburg, Eutin and Lübeck 1623-1663 / 67 , ed. by Eva S. Fiebig and Jan Schlürmann, Husum 2010, pp. 165–204.