Feldjägerkorps on horseback
The Mounted Military Police Corps was a cavalry combined with special duties in the Prussian army . From 1740 it consisted of trained hunters and later mainly of forestry academics . Since 1798 all members had officer rank. It was dissolved in 1919.
assignment
His task as staff cavalry were reconnaissance and courier services , in the 19th century exclusively the latter. In the immediate vicinity of the king there were always several military police who received his letters and other messages and had to convey them immediately. The courier service also included the handling of diplomatic correspondence from the Foreign Office , especially the encrypted dispatches , to the embassies abroad and vice versa. The military police on duty left Berlin on the night express . He wore civilian clothes and was obliged to give life and limb for the programs .
The corps did not have special military police powers like today's Feldjäger , whose tasks in the old Prussian army in the area of criminal prosecution were performed by the regimental professionals , in the area of general security ( patrols around the garrisons, etc.) especially by the hussars .
Formation history
The Feldjägerkorps on horseback , set up on November 24, 1740 , became the Reitende Feldjägerkorps in 1756. Initially formed under the chief hunter Schenck in strength of a chief hunter, an assistant and twelve field hunters from forest and hunting officers, the strength grew in the course of the First Silesian War to a total of 110 men. At the end of the war, three Oberjäger and 60 military police officers reached the strength of peace. With the outbreak of the Second Silesian War in 1744, the troop grew to six Oberjäger, 167 military police and one military officer . The corps was divided into two squadrons, each with a Rittmeister, three Oberjägern and 84 Feldjäger; In 1791 both squadrons were merged, in 1808 the corps was downsized and in 1811 was given a nominal strength of three Oberjäger and 77 military police under the command of the chief. In 1798 the Oberjäger officially received officer rank, in 1808 officer portepees were awarded to all military police and from 1871 onwards only officers were hired.
Around 1900 it consisted of two Oberjäger (Oberleutnants) and 80 Feldjäger (Leutnants). The chief of the corps was the adjutant general of the king, the commander of the inspector of the hunters and riflemen.
Special features of replacement
From the early 19th century, the corps was recruited exclusively from forest assessors or graduates who had completed a degree in forest science . The entrance exam for the Feldjägerkorps was the so-called "Feldjägerexamen", which required knowledge of modern languages and riding skills. Admission to the Feldjägerkorps only took place through a vote of the active corps members with equal voting rights. In 1866 the Feldjägerkorps on horseback consisted mainly of middle-class members. The number of members of the nobility rose steadily in the following decades, so that in 1914 the members of bourgeois and noble origin each made up about half of the members of the Feldjägerkorps.
After the forest academies were founded, the field hunters who were not yet in the courier service were given leave of absence and sent to the Eberswalde forest academy or the Hann forest academy to study forest sciences . Münden detached. There the field hunters continued to live with military discipline and hierarchy in their own "command house". Often the police officers stayed in the corps until a position as chief forester became available for them .
garrison
In 1740 the garrison was Berlin , Potsdam , Charlottenburg and Köpenick . In 1746 Köpenick became the main garrison with military police commands in Berlin, Potsdam and Zehlendorf . In 1808 Köpenick became the sole location, in 1812 Berlin, and later finally Charlottenburg.
uniform
The uniform always followed the style of the Prussian dragoons , but with a siskin green, discount-free uniform skirt , red badge color , yellow buttons, black hat, pale-colored trousers and vest. The uniform followed the general development, in the wars of liberation dark blue-gray trousers with a red extension and the bicorn was introduced. In 1843 the hat gave way to the spiked bonnet. With the permanent assignment to the Guard Corps , Gardelitzen were also introduced.
Bosses
| Rank | Surname | Day of appointment |
|---|---|---|
| Major general | Hans Christoph Friedrich von Hacke | July 1, 1740 |
| Colonel | Johann von Buddenbrock | June 4, 1750 |
| Major general | Johann Ludwig von Ingersleben | December 1, 1754 |
| Major general | Moritz Franz Kasimir von Wobersnow | December 1, 1757 |
| Colonel | Hans-Friedrich von Krusemark | January 19, 1759 |
| Colonel | Heinrich Wilhelm of Anhalt | June 1, 1768 |
| Colonel | Friedrich Wilhelm von Götzen the Elder | July 5, 1781 |
| Colonel | Ernst Friedrich Carl von Hanstein | August 24, 1784 |
| Colonel | Levin von Geusau | November 1, 1787 |
| Colonel | Hans Rudolf von Bischoffwerder | August 28, 1790 |
| Colonel | Friedrich Wilhelm Christian von Zastrow | January 3, 1798 |
| Colonel | Karl Leopold von Köckritz | May 20, 1806 |
| Lieutenant General | Karl Friedrich von dem Knesebeck | February 17, 1822 |
| Lieutenant General | August Wilhelm von Neumann-Cosel | October 14, 1847 |
| unoccupied | May 20, 1865 to December 8, 1869 | |
| General of the Infantry | Adolf von Bonin | December 9, 1869 |
| General of the cavalry | Karl Friedrich von der Goltz | January 11, 1873 |
| Field Marshal General | Leonhard von Blumenthal | April 12, 1888 |
| General of the Infantry | Bernhard von Werder | January 18, 1901 |
| General of the Infantry | Hans von Plessen | September 18, 1907 |
tradition
The tradition of the corps has been preserved since 1919 by the Academic Association of Feldjäger .
literature
- Hans Bleckwenn : The Frederician uniforms. 1753-1786. Volume 4: Technical Troops, Rear Service, War Formations. License issue. Harenberg, Dortmund 1984, ISBN 3-88379-444-9 ( The bibliophile paperbacks 444).
- Otto Heym: The history of the Royal Prussian Reitenden Feldjägerkorps from 1740 to 1919. Berlin 1926.
- Leopold von Zedlitz-Neukirch : The state forces of the Prussian monarchy under Friedrich Wilhelm III. Volume 3, Maurer, Berlin 1830, p. 92 ff., Books.google.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wolfram G. Theilemann: Adel in the countryside Rock: noble Jägertum, large private forest ownership and the Prussian forestry officials from 1866 to 1914. Akademie Verlag, 2004, p. 21 ( Google Books )
- ↑ Wolfram G. Theilemann: Adel in the countryside Rock: noble Jägertum, large private forest ownership and the Prussian forestry officials from 1866 to 1914. Akademie Verlag, 2004, p. 362 ( Google Books )
- ↑ Wolfram G. Theilemann: Adel in the countryside Rock: noble Jägertum, large private forest ownership and the Prussian forestry officials from 1866 to 1914. Akademie Verlag, 2004, p. 362 ( Google Books )
- ↑ Wolfram G. Theilemann: Adel in the countryside Rock: noble Jägertum, large private forest ownership and the Prussian forestry officials from 1866 to 1914. Akademie Verlag, 2004, p. 531: Diagram: commoners and nobles in the Reitenden Feldjäger-Corps between 1866 and 1914.
- ↑ Feldjäger in: Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon , Volume 6. Leipzig 1906, p. 398.
- ↑ Dermot Bradley (Ed.), Günter Wegner: Occupation of the German Army 1815-1939. Volume 1: The higher command posts 1815–1939. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1990, ISBN 3-7648-1780-1 , p. 27 f.
