Line infantry
The term "line infantry" describes a supplement to line tactics . The line infantry included the musketeers and grenadiers , initially also the fusiliers - with the change in combat tactics, these were later classified as light infantry . The light infantry emerged in the 18th century , when the line-up for battle began to place light, mobile troops in front of the infantry of the main meeting (Infanterie de ligne), which were massed in three lines . These were supposed to disturb the opposing front with targeted, irregular fire. Their cohesion should be broken in particular by targeted fire at officers and the piece teams of the infantry guns. The light infantry was therefore also known as skirmishers or voltigeurs .
After the Guards in the Napoleonic Wars had changed from special troops more or less entrusted with the protection of the sovereign to large regular combat units, it was obvious to introduce a different name.
The Imperial Guard, founded by Napoleon I on May 18, 1804, had expanded more and more and, with the Old Guard , the Middle Guard and the Young Guard, had almost two divisions by 1815 . This is why the terms "infantry of the line" and "infantry of the guard" prevailed. So the broad mass of the foot troops of the standing army was separated from the guard infantry on the one hand and the irregular light infantry units on the other.
This gave the term "line infantry" a completely different meaning.
Up until the army of the imperial era there were a large number of German guards, especially the guard corps of the Prussian army . The term line infantry, however, was rather uncommon and fell out of use after 1871.
Other monarchies also divided their troops into guards and lines. Countries like Austria-Hungary or Italy , which had no guards or no guards to speak of, had not used the term for a long time.
When, on the one hand, the light infantry became part of the line troops and, on the other hand, territorial units such as Landwehr , National Guard, etc. Ä. became part of the warfare, the term also served to distinguish it from these. With the end of the monarchies in Russia , Germany , Austria-Hungary and France , their imperial guards and their infantry also disappeared . The complete mobilization in World War I largely abolished the division between the old line troops and their territorial units. Today one speaks generally of the field army and the territorial army , but no longer uses the term line infantry for the infantry of the field army.
See also
literature
- Oskar Schlattmayer: The modern military and its origins , Trient 1910
