Jäger (infantry)

In German-speaking states during the early modern era, the term jäger came to denote light infantrymen whose civilian occupations (mostly hunters and foresters) made them well-suited to patrolling and skirmishing, on an individual and independent basis, rather than as part of a large-scale military unit or traditional line infantry.

It was not until the first half of the 18th century that the widespread recruitment began in various German states of gamekeepers, huntsmen and foresters employed on crown estates or those of noble landowners, for specialized units of riflemen and skirmishers.

While early long rifles took longer to load than the smoothbore musket of the line infantry, they had greater range and accuracy.

The Prussian Jäger corps of Frederick the Great dated back to a mounted detachment raised in November 1740 and quickly expanded to two squadrons.

Employed in wartime as guides and scouts, they eventually proved a useful frontier guard tasked with catching deserters and seizing contraband.

After 1744, they were joined by an infantry branch of foot Jägers, initially divided into independent companies and then brought together as a full regiment by 1784.

[6] For fighting at close quarters the Jäger carried a straight-bladed hunting dagger (Hirschfänger), a short sabre or a falchion.

While the English term "ranger" is older, emerging during the 17th century to describe highly-mobile ("ranging") foot and mounted infantry units in British North America, it became strongly associated with Jäger during the late 18th century, when German-speaking Hessian regiments served as part of the British Army in North America.

Initially soldiers were drawn directly from the line infantry to fight as skirmishers instead, but in time many German-speaking states adopted Jäger to fulfill this role.

Jäger were allowed to act with a certain amount of initiative on the battlefield, unlike line infantry who were rigidly drilled and kept under tight control by their officers.

Foreign mercenaries were removed, corporal punishment became rare (and was abolished for Jäger troops), and promotions were based on merit rather than nobility.

Continuing the earlier traditions, in Prussia these Jäger were patriotic volunteers, bearing the cost of their weapons and uniforms at their own expense or with the help of contributions from friends and neighbours, and often organizing themselves into clubs and leagues.

As one of the early adopters of skirmisher tactics, Yorck became inspector-general of the light infantry in Prussia and oversaw the increase and improvement of the new Jäger troops during the years of peace after the Treaty of Tilsit.

By the end of the Napoleonic Wars, many of the junior officers in the Germanic states' armies were former Jäger soldiers who had been promoted through the ranks.

[citation needed] By the early twentieth century, Jäger units were part of the Imperial German, Austro-Hungarian, Swedish, Dutch and Norwegian armies.

They corresponded to the rifles, light infantry, chasseurs à pied or bersaglieri units of the British, French, Italian and other armies.

While such units still enjoyed considerable prestige and high esprit de corps, their training, equipment and tactical roles had for the most part become aligned with those of the line infantry of their respective armies.

Other follows Gemeiner private ranks - Musketier (musketeer), Grenadier, Füsilier (fusilier), Infanterist (infantryman), Dragoner (en: dragoon), Husar (hussar), Ulan (uhlan), Kanonier, (gunner), Pionier (pioneer), Sanitäter (combat medic), Trainsoldat (trainman) Best known were the German Jäger units who were distinguished by their peace-time wear of dark green tunics and shakos (in contrast to the dark blue tunics and spiked helmets of most German infantry).

During the early stages of World War I, the German Jäger maintained their traditional role as skirmishers and scouts, often in conjunction with cavalry units.

With the advent of trench warfare, they were committed to an ordinary infantry role, integrated into divisions and lost their status as independent units.

Cyclist Jäger served in the Balkan and Russian theatres of war, while Württemberg and Bavaria raised Ski-Jäger during the winter of 1914–15.

After the First World War, the Jäger units of the Imperial German Army were disbanded, but their traditions were carried by infantry regiments of the 100,000-man Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic.

After the Nazis came to power in 1933 and the rearmament of Germany began, the new Wehrmacht revived the name Jäger for various types of units: Jäger (short: Jg; English: hunter) is the lowest soldier rank of enlisted men of the modern day's German Bundeswehr for soldiers belonging to the light infantry, paratroopers and mountain troops.

[11] Reflecting military tradition, in German speaking armed forces there are a number of OR1-rank descriptions – including "Jäger" – used as the lowest rank of an individual soldier.

On the other hand, Fallschirmjäger has become the most important infantry type, due to its versatility and the nature of modern-day peacekeeping missions abroad.

From then on until the late 1850s the Danish army had a number of jagercorps, battalion-sized light infantry units mainly armed with rifles.

In present-day Lithuania the Vytautas the Great Jäger Battalion (Lithianian: Vytauto Didžiojo jėgerių batalionas)[12] forms part of the Lithuanian Special Operations Force.

The rank pays homage to the role of the World War I era Jäger Movement in securing Finnish Independence.

Besides riflemen, specialists such as drivers, medics, military police and mortar squad members in the above-mentioned infantry formations usually hold the rank of jäger.

They use the green background of infantry/jägers on their unit insignia while the forward observers directing their fire, though viewed as part of infantry, use the red of artillery.