Schützen (military)
Schützen (en:shooters but usually translated as "marksmen") is a German plural noun used to designate a type of military unit of infantrymen, originally armed with a rifled musket and used in a light-infantry or skirmishing role – and hence similar to the Jäger.
Schütze is not to be confused with the noun Schutz, meaning 'guard', 'protection' or 'defence' (as in the compounds Zivilschutz [de], 'Civil Defence', and Bundesgrenzschutz, 'Federal Border Protection' or 'Border Guard' or Schutzstaffel (SS) 'Guard Echelon').
[1] During the First World War the term became more widespread in the Imperial German Army, when it was applied to dismounted Cavalry Divisions, the Kavallerie-Schützen-Division [de].
The Wehrmacht (or more correctly Heer – the army of the Third Reich) and the Waffen-SS, adopted the rank title Schütze for an infantry private (still used in the present day Bundeswehr), and therefore perhaps the best translation is 'rifleman' (or for the plural noun, as in British military usage, 'Rifles', e.g. 'Queen Victoria’s Rifles') with the additional sense of 'sharpshooter' or 'marksman'.
As Light Infantry the Fusiliers had greater flexibility, and methods that were appropriate for what was termed 'outpost warfare' – fighting in woodland and villages, covering the flanks or assaulting over broken terrain and defensive earthworks.
Over time, after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the Schützen developed many similarities with the Jäger and eventually began to be grouped together in companies (although still integral within an Infantry battalion or regiment) and/or distinguished by special uniform features.
When Württemberg adopted the Minié Rifle for the entire infantry in 1855, these distinctions ceased, and the existing Schützen were used, in 1857, to create three Jäger Battalions.
An exception to this is the Jäger, who maintained their elite specialist status by adopting roles such as mountain warfare (the Alpenkorps created in 1915), which continued until the second world war with the Gebirgsjäger (1938), Skijäger (1943) and especially with the creation of the Fallschirmjäger (1935).
The use of rifled breech-loaders also meant that soldiers could reload their weapons while prone and, with the adoption of smokeless powder, the idea of a marksman who was able to remain concealed gradually evolved into the modern sniper.
From 1820 the 4 infantry regiments of the Grand Duchy of Hesse (Hesse-Darmstadt) each had 1 Schützen company, which in 1861 were grouped into a 'Provisional Shützen-Corps' (essentially a battalion except by name).
Intended as fusilier-style skirmishers but with highly developed marksmanship, they were unable to operate with the same degree of independence and initiative as practised by the Jäger.
In the Imperial German Army prior to World War I, there was only one Schützen Battalion, the Garde-Schützen-Battaillon, plus an infantry regiment from Saxony that, while designated 'Schützen', was a special case.
Recruited from picked marksmen, employed as snipers and skirmishers, like the German Schützen they often bore their own personal weapons and were dressed (uniquely for American regular military units) in dark green.
Austrian Schützen Tiroler Landesschützen [de] later known as Kaiserschützen United Kingdom Sharpshooters Yeomanry Regiment French Tirailleurs
