Schütze

Schütze in German means "rifleman" or "shooter",[1] or in older terms originally connoted "archer" before the advent of the rifle.

It was originally used for archers as they protected castle walls, and is the German equivalent to Sagittarius, the mythical form which held bow and arrow.

The equivalent of Schütze in the other branches of the German military was Jäger, Kanonier, Pionier, Kraftfahrer or Grenadier[2] in the army; Flieger in the Luftwaffe, Matrose in the Reichsmarine and Kriegsmarine, respectively.

[3] The present-day German military maintains Schütze as the lowest enlisted grade, with a NATO rank code of OR-1.

During various periods in German military history, a senior private rank known as Oberschütze existed between the grades of Schütze and Gefreiter.