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94-808: Schützen may refer to: Schützen (military) , a 19th-century German infantryman armed with a rifled musket and used in a skirmishing role Panzergrenadier , a German term for motorized or mechanized infantry, as introduced during World War II Schützen am Gebirge , a municipality in Burgenland, Austria Deutsch Schützen-Eisenberg , a municipality in Burgenland, Austria See also [ edit ] Schuetzen Park (Iowa) in Davenport Schuetzen Park (New Jersey) in North Bergen All pages with titles beginning with Schützen Topics referred to by

188-836: A joint campaign with the Italian Army , and may be considered a separate theatre . More than 6,000,000 soldiers were wounded during the conflict, while more than 11,000,000 became prisoners. In all, approximately 5,318,000 soldiers from Germany and other nationalities fighting for the German armed forces—including the Waffen-SS , Volkssturm and foreign collaborationist units—are estimated to have been killed in action, died of wounds, died in custody or gone missing in World War II. Included in this number are 215,000 Soviet citizens conscripted by Germany. According to Frank Biess, German casualties took

282-480: A 'Fusilier Battalion' (and in 1855 a Fusilier Regiment of two battalions). 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). In 1866 this became a 'Scharfschützen Corps', and in 1871 was converted to 2 Jäger battalions. The first Prussian Schützen Battalion

376-527: A clandestine cadre of air force officers in the early 1920s. These officers saw the role of an air force as winning air superiority, strategic bombing, and close air support. That the Luftwaffe did not develop a strategic bombing force in the 1930s was not due to a lack of interest, but because of economic limitations. The leadership of the Navy led by Grand Admiral Erich Raeder , a close protégé of Alfred von Tirpitz ,

470-697: A distinct character. 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 Prussian Army the Schützen were phased out between 1821 and 1845, being converted to Jäger – leaving only the Garde-Schützen-Bataillon , which thus became the only unit in the Prussian Army with that designation; and although only titular, this unit preserved

564-565: A few months they reorganised, firstly into a Jäger-Korps and then into two Light Infantry Regiments and a Jäger Battalion. In 1815, with the loss of territory to Prussia (because Saxony had been unable to break from its alliance to Napoleonic France), many of the personnel transferred to the Prussian Army – leaving only two Light Battalions and the Jäger Battalion, with the Light Battalions being re-designated as Schützen Battalions. In 1821

658-408: A single Joint Chief of Staff, Hitler refused. Even after the defeat at Stalingrad, Hitler refused, stating that Göring as Reichsmarschall and Hitler's deputy, would not submit to someone else or see himself as an equal to other service commanders. However, a more likely reason was Hitler feared it would break his image of having the "Midas touch" concerning military strategy. With the creation of

752-740: A sudden jump with the defeat of the Sixth Army at Stalingrad in January 1943, when 180,310 soldiers were killed in one month. Among the 5.3 million Wehrmacht casualties during the Second World War, more than 80 per cent died during the last two years of the war. Approximately three-quarters of these losses occurred on the Eastern front (2.7 million) and during the final stages of the war between January and May 1945 (1.2 million). Jeffrey Herf wrote that: Whereas German deaths between 1941 and 1943 on

846-639: A time frame of 10 years for remilitarization, but soon shortened it to four years. With the remilitarization of the Rhineland and the Anschluss , the German Reich's territory increased significantly, providing a larger population pool for conscription. Recruitment for the Wehrmacht was accomplished through voluntary enlistment and conscription, with 1.3 million being drafted and 2.4 million volunteering in

940-534: Is Tirailleur . When Germany first introduced Motorised Infantry in the 1930s those regiments that were the Infantry component of the Panzer Divisions , prior to being known as Panzer Grenadiers (from 1942), were termed 'Schützen Regimenter' (organised into 'Schützen Brigaden'). Some were cavalry in origin (belonging to Divisions that had originally been ' Light Divisions  [ de ] '), and carried on

1034-406: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Sch%C3%BCtzen (military) The verb schützen (to protect) is not related to the plural noun Schützen, but to "Schutz" (protection). The German word Schütze means 'one who shoots'; the most common English translations are 'rifleman' or 'marksman'. (The word is related to schießen , 'shoot';

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1128-522: 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'). The rank of Schütze was used for 'Private' in the Imperial German Machine Gun Abteilungen (independent horse-drawn Machine Gun detachments) and for

1222-568: 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

1316-726: The Landesschützen  [ de ] or the Bavarian tradition of the Gebirgsschützen  [ de ] ). While the Jäger had links with woodlands and hunting, the Schützen had links with uplands and alpine pursuits. 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',

1410-726: The Polnische Wehrmacht ('Polish Wehrmacht', 'Polish Defense Force') in German. In January 1919, after World War I ended with the signing of the armistice of 11 November 1918 , the armed forces were dubbed Friedensheer (peace army). In March 1919, the national assembly passed a law founding a 420,000-strong preliminary army, the Vorläufige Reichswehr . The terms of the Treaty of Versailles were announced in May, and in June, Germany signed

1504-513: The Reichswehr , was established on 23 March 1921. General conscription was abolished under another mandate of the Versailles treaty. The Reichswehr was limited to 115,000 men, and thus the armed forces, under the leadership of Hans von Seeckt , retained only the most capable officers. The American historians Alan Millet and Williamson Murray wrote "In reducing the officers corps, Seeckt chose

1598-609: The SS and their Einsatzgruppen death squads, the German armed forces committed numerous war crimes (despite later denials and promotion of the myth of the clean Wehrmacht ). The majority of the war crimes took place in the Soviet Union, Poland, Yugoslavia, Greece, and Italy, as part of the war of annihilation against the Soviet Union, the Holocaust and Nazi security warfare . During World War II about 18 million men served in

1692-673: The Battle of Moscow , the Siege of Leningrad , Stalingrad , Tunis in North Africa , and the Battle of Kursk . The German Army was managed through mission-based tactics (rather than order-based tactics) which was intended to give commanders greater freedom to act on events and exploit opportunities. In public opinion, the German Army was, and sometimes still is, seen as a high-tech army. However, such modern equipment, while featured much in propaganda,

1786-505: The Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber. The planes cooperated closely with the ground forces. Overwhelming numbers of fighters assured air-supremacy, and the bombers would attack command- and supply-lines, depots, and other support targets close to the front. The Luftwaffe would also be used to transport paratroopers, as first used during Operation Weserübung . Due to the Army's sway with Hitler,

1880-475: The Luftwaffe was often subordinated to the Army, resulting in it being used as a tactical support role and losing its strategic capabilities. The Western Allies' strategic bombing campaign against German industrial targets (particularly the round-the-clock Combined Bomber Offensive ) and Germany's Defence of the Reich deliberately forced the Luftwaffe into a war of attrition. With German fighter force destroyed,

1974-538: The Nazi rise to power in 1933, one of Adolf Hitler 's most overt and bellicose moves was to establish the Wehrmacht , a modern offensively-capable armed force, fulfilling the Nazi regime's long-term goals of regaining lost territory as well as gaining new territory and dominating its neighbours. This required the reinstatement of conscription and massive investment and defence spending on the arms industry . The Wehrmacht formed

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2068-742: The OKH became the de facto Eastern Theatre higher-echelon command-organization for the Wehrmacht , excluding Waffen-SS except for operational and tactical combat purposes. The OKW conducted operations in the Western Theatre. The operations by the Kriegsmarine in the North and Mid-Atlantic can also be considered as separate theatres, considering the size of the area of operations and their remoteness from other theatres. The Wehrmacht fought on other fronts, sometimes three simultaneously; redeploying troops from

2162-543: The Prussian Army from 1787 as 10 hand-picked soldiers from each Company of each Line Regiment (8 companies), each Grenadier Battalion (4 companies) and each Fusilier Battalion (4 companies). For the line infantry and Grenadiers, the Schützen were drawn from the 'third rank' – men who were trained in skirmishing. The Fusiliers, a term in Germany that denoted Light Infantry , were all trained skirmishers. The skirmishers' role

2256-468: The SS and Wehrmacht , many SS officers were former army officers, which ensured continuity and understanding between the two. Throughout the war, army and SS soldiers worked together in various combat situations, creating bonds between the two groups. Guderian noted that every day the war continued the Army and the SS became closer together. Towards the end of the war, army units would even be placed under

2350-593: The SS was to be "procured from the Wehrmacht upon payment", however "in peacetime, no organizational connection with the Wehrmacht exists." The army was however allowed to check the budget of the SS and inspect the combat readiness of the SS troops. In the event of mobilization, the Waffen-SS field units could be placed under the operational control of the OKW or the OKH. All decisions regarding this would be at Hitler's personal discretion. Though there existed conflict between

2444-445: The SS were stepped up as well. Following the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943, fitness and physical health standards for Wehrmacht recruits were drastically lowered, with the regime going so far as to create "special diet" battalions for men with severe stomach ailments. Rear-echelon personnel were more often sent to front-line duty wherever possible, especially during the final two years of the war where, inspired by constant propaganda,

2538-694: The Soviet Union , including the Caucasian Muslim Legion , Turkestan Legion , Crimean Tatars, ethnic Ukrainians and Russians, Cossacks , and others who wished to fight against the Soviet regime or who were otherwise induced to join. Between 15,000 and 20,000 anti-communist White émigrés who had left Russia after the Russian Revolution joined the ranks of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS , with 1,500 acting as interpreters and more than 10,000 serving in

2632-483: The Spanish Civil War . The effectiveness of officer training and recruitment by the Wehrmacht has been identified as a major factor in its early victories as well as its ability to keep the war going as long as it did even as the war turned against Germany. As the Second World War intensified, Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe personnel were increasingly transferred to the army, and "voluntary" enlistments in

2726-715: The Wehrmacht . By the time the war ended in Europe in May 1945, German forces (consisting of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine , the Luftwaffe , the Waffen-SS , the Volkssturm , and foreign collaborator units ) had lost approximately 11,300,000 men, about 5,318,000 of whom were missing, killed or died in captivity. Only a few of the Wehrmacht ' s upper leadership went on trial for war crimes, despite evidence suggesting that more were involved in illegal actions. According to Ian Kershaw , most of

2820-517: The " battle of annihilation ", the Wehrmacht managed many lightning quick victories in the first year of World War II, prompting foreign journalists to create a new word for what they witnessed: Blitzkrieg . Germany's immediate military success on the field at the start of the Second World War coincides the favorable beginning they achieved during the First World War, a fact which some attribute to their superior officer corps. The Heer entered

2914-665: The "German Wehrmacht ", consisting of the Seemacht (sea force) and the Landmacht (land force). In 1919, the term Wehrmacht also appears in Article 47 of the Weimar Constitution , establishing that: "The Reich's President holds supreme command of all armed forces [i.e. the Wehrmacht ] of the Reich". From 1919, Germany's national defense force was known as the Reichswehr , a name that

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3008-896: The Armed Forces, retaining the position until his suicide on 30 April 1945. The title of Commander-in-Chief was given to the Minister of the Reichswehr Werner von Blomberg , who was simultaneously renamed the Reich Minister of War. Following the Blomberg-Fritsch Affair , Blomberg resigned and Hitler abolished the Ministry of War. As a replacement for the ministry, the Wehrmacht High Command Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW), under Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel ,

3102-670: The British. Karl Doenitz , the U-Boat Chief, began unrestricted submarine warfare which cost the Allies 22,898 men and 1,315 ships. The U-boat war remained costly for the Allies until early spring of 1943 when the Allies began to use countermeasures against U-Boats such as the use of Hunter-Killer groups, airborne radar, torpedoes and mines like the FIDO . The submarine war cost the Kriegsmarine 757 U-boats, with more than 30,000 U-boat crewmen killed. In

3196-661: The German Confederation under Prussia , and adopted the Prussian model (except Bavaria which remained a distinct entity), the Schützen disappeared or were absorbed by the Jäger. At the same time there was a tendency for the Jäger to be converted to the third (Fusilier) Battalion of the Line Infantry Regiments (the Jäger only remained as distinct entities in Prussia, Saxony, Mecklenburg and Bavaria). This trend coincided with

3290-534: 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 Wehrmacht The Wehrmacht ( German pronunciation: [ˈveːɐ̯maxt] , lit.   ' defence force ' ) were

3384-474: The German armed forces prior to 1941. With the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the government's positions changed. German propagandists wanted to present the war not as a purely German concern, but as a multi-national crusade against the so-called Jewish Bolshevism . Hence, the Wehrmacht and the SS began to seek out recruits from occupied and neutral countries across Europe: the Germanic populations of

3478-470: The German army's early success. In the strategies of the Blitzkrieg , the Wehrmacht combined the mobility of light tanks with airborne assault to quickly progress through weak enemy lines, enabling the German army to quickly take over Poland and France. These tanks were used to break through enemy lines, isolating regiments from the main force so that the infantry behind the tanks could quickly kill or capture

3572-724: The German states, on through the Imperial German Army , the Wehrmacht and continuing right up until the present Bundeswehr . This is known as the Schützenschnur (lit. 'shooter-cord') – a braided 'lanyard' denoting a marksman and worn slung from the shoulder, across the breast and secured at a tunic button. Often it was green, and also embellished by being terminated with tassels, pompoms or 'acorns'. Schützen companies were found, for example, in Bavaria , Mecklenburg , Anhalt , Hesse-Darmstadt and Nassau but as these States gradually entered

3666-586: The Grand-Duchy of Berg ). The Prussian Army from 1815 thus contained: While Schützen originally wore the uniform of the unit they belonged to, with the addition of the Schützenschnur, the Schützen Battalions, as units in their own right, adopted the green uniform of the Jäger but with the traditional red facings of the Jäger changed to black with red piping. Although similar to the Jäger, the Schützen had

3760-422: The Jews serving in the Reichswehr given an automatic and immediate dishonorable discharge . Again, on his own initiative Blomberg had the armed forces adopt Nazi symbols into their uniforms in May 1934. In August of the same year, on Blomberg's initiative and that of the Ministeramt chief General Walther von Reichenau , the entire military took the Hitler oath , an oath of personal loyalty to Hitler. Hitler

3854-415: The Jäger Battalion became the 3rd Schützen Battalion and in 1849 a fourth Battalion was raised for the creation of a 'Light Brigade', in line with the general reorganisation of the Saxon Army from regiments (of two battalions each) into Brigades (of four Battalions each). Finally in 1853 the Light Brigade became a Jäger Brigade of four Jäger Battalions, and in 1867 – as with the Hessians after being defeated by

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3948-471: The Jäger and the Schützen were disbanded in 1867 – after Hesse-Cassel was defeated and annexed by Prussia – to be re-embodied in the newly raised Prussian 11th Jäger Battalion (Hessian). The Saxon units had an equally chequered history. In 1793 each infantry regiment established Scharfschützen (Sharpshooters) similar to the Prussians. In 1809 these were grouped together in two battalions, each of four Scharfschützen-Abteilungen (Sharpshooter Detachments). Within

4042-441: The Netherlands and Norway were recruited largely into the SS , while "non-Germanic" people were recruited into the Wehrmacht . The "voluntary" nature of such recruitment was often dubious, especially in the later years of the war when even Poles living in the Polish Corridor were declared "ethnic Germans" and drafted. After Germany's defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad , the Wehrmacht also made substantial use of personnel from

4136-920: The OKW, Hitler solidified his control over the Wehrmacht . Showing restraint at the beginning of the war, Hitler also became increasingly involved in military operations at every scale. Additionally, there was a clear lack of cohesion between the three High Commands and the OKW, as senior generals were unaware of the needs, capabilities and limitations of the other branches. With Hitler serving as Supreme Commander, branch commands were often forced to fight for influence with Hitler. However, influence with Hitler not only came from rank and merit but also who Hitler perceived as loyal, leading to inter-service rivalry, rather than cohesion between his military advisers. The German Army furthered concepts pioneered during World War I , combining ground ( Heer ) and air force ( Luftwaffe ) assets into combined arms teams. Coupled with traditional war fighting methods such as encirclements and

4230-429: The Prussians – the Saxon Army was reorganized along Prussian lines, with two of the Jäger Battalions becoming the 12th and 13th in the Prussian sequence, and the other two forming a regiment that became the 108th Infantry Regiment in the Prussian sequence. In 1827 the former 'Musketeer Battalion' (3 Companies) of the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen was reformed as a Shützen Battalion but again this was short-lived, becoming in 1853

4324-468: The Saxon Schützen (Fusilier) Regiment No 108. 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 Imperial German Colonial Infantry were referred to as Schutztruppe , however this is translated as 'defence troops' and is not related to the Schützen. The Wehrmacht (or more correctly Heer –

4418-436: The Western Allies had air supremacy over the battlefield, denying support to German forces on the ground and using its own fighter-bombers to attack and disrupt. Following the losses in Operation Bodenplatte in 1945, the Luftwaffe was no longer an effective force. The Treaty of Versailles disallowed submarines, while limiting the size of the Reichsmarine to six battleships, six cruisers, and twelve destroyers. Following

4512-464: The adoption of smokeless powder, the idea of a marksman who was able to remain concealed gradually evolved into the modern sniper . By 1870 only the Bavarian and Prussian armies contained Schützen; in Bavaria as integral companies, in Prussia as an independent battalion. Schützen Battalions first appeared as part of the Prussian Army in 1808, and there were only ever a few such battalions in existence. Outside of Prussia only Hesse-Cassel (until 1926

4606-399: 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 '. The French equivalent

4700-446: The army that existed in World War I. In the 1920s, Seeckt and his officers developed new doctrines that emphasized speed, aggression, combined arms and initiative on the part of lower officers to take advantage of momentary opportunities. Though Seeckt retired in 1926, his influence on the army was still apparent when it went to war in 1939. Germany was forbidden to have an air force by the Versailles treaty; nonetheless, Seeckt created

4794-410: The beginning, there was friction between the SS and the army, as the army feared the SS would attempt to become a legitimate part of the armed forces of Nazi Germany, partly due to the fighting between the limited armaments, and the perceived fanaticism towards Nazism. However, on 17 August 1938, Hitler codified the role of the SS and the army in order to end the feud between the two. The arming of

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4888-407: The beginnings of industrialised warfare and the general introduction of rifled weapons, eventually being breech-loading. For example, in the Kingdom of Württemberg from 1842 each infantry company had, in wartime, 10 Scharfschützen, 50 Schützen and 220 musketeers (this can be interpreted as 10 sharpshooters or marksmen, 50 riflemen and 220 infantrymen). When Württemberg adopted the Minié Rifle for

4982-430: The coast of Norway, which had been occupied since 1940, convoys from North America to the Soviet port of Murmansk could be intercepted though the Tirpitz spent most of her career as fleet in being . After the appointment of Karl Dönitz as Grand Admiral of the Kriegsmarine (in the aftermath of the Battle of the Barents Sea ), Germany stopped constructing battleships and cruisers in favor of U-boats. Though by 1941,

5076-403: The command of the SS , in Italy and the Netherlands. The relationship between the Wehrmacht and the SS improved; however, the Waffen-SS was never considered "the fourth branch of the Wehrmacht ." The Wehrmacht directed combat operations during World War II (from 1 September 1939 – 8 May 1945) as the German Reich 's armed forces umbrella command-organization. After 1941

5170-410: The compound Scharfschütze means sharpshooter or sniper ; Schützengraben means a trench from which infantrymen shoot; other related words are Geschütz , a piece of artillery, and its compounds, such as Sturmgeschütz , 'assault gun' (a type of tank used as self-propelled artillery and originally intended for infantry support). Schuetze is the correct variant spelling without the umlaut. Schütze

5264-418: The creation of the Wehrmacht , the navy was renamed the Kriegsmarine . With the signing of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement , Germany was allowed to increase its navy's size to be 35:100 tonnage of the Royal Navy, and allowed for the construction of U-boats. This was partly done to appease Germany, and because Britain believed the Kriegsmarine would not be able to reach the 35% limit until 1942. The navy

5358-409: The designation used in the First World War – Kavallerie-Schützen-Regiment  [ de ] . Sometimes these designations persisted after the official change to Panzer Grenadier. In the modern German Bundeswehr the infantry fighting vehicle of the Panzer Grenadier units was, until 1971, the Schützenpanzer HS30 (Infantry fighting vehicle HS30 – verbatim: riflemen tank). Schützen originated in

5452-452: The early stage of Operation Barbarossa in the Soviet Union (June 1941). After Hitler declared war on the United States in December 1941, the Axis powers found themselves engaged in campaigns against several major industrial powers while Germany was still in transition to a war economy. German units were then overextended, undersupplied, outmaneuvered, outnumbered and defeated by its enemies in decisive battles during 1941, 1942, and 1943 at

5546-436: The enemy troops. Originally outlawed by the Treaty of Versailles, the Luftwaffe was officially established in 1935, under the leadership of Hermann Göring . First gaining experience in the Spanish Civil War , it was a key element in the early Blitzkrieg campaigns (Poland, France 1940, USSR 1941). The Luftwaffe concentrated production on fighters and (small) tactical bombers, like the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter and

5640-511: The entire infantry in 1855, these distinctions ceased, and the existing Schützen were used, in 1857, to create three Jäger Battalions. This meant that small groups of specialised infantries trained to use rifles were redundant, as all infantrymen were now riflemen, and their training and tactics were the same, regardless of what they were called. These old specialist names became honorific or denoted an historic elite status (e.g. Fusiliers , Grenadiers , Light Infantry etc.). An exception to this

5734-549: The guard force of the Russian Protective Corps . In the beginning, women in Nazi Germany were not involved in the Wehrmacht , as Hitler ideologically opposed conscription for women, stating that Germany would " not form any section of women grenade throwers or any corps of women elite snipers. " However, with many men going to the front, women were placed in auxiliary positions within the Wehrmacht , called Wehrmachtshelferinnen ( lit.   ' Female Wehrmacht Helper ' ), participating in tasks as: They were placed under

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5828-406: The heart of Germany's politico-military power. In the early part of the Second World War , the Wehrmacht employed combined arms tactics (close-cover air-support, tanks and infantry) to devastating effect in what became known as Blitzkrieg (lightning war). Its campaigns in France (1940) , the Soviet Union (1941) and North Africa (1941/42) are regarded by historians as acts of boldness. At

5922-425: The intensifying theatre in the East to the West after the Normandy landings caused tensions between the General Staffs of both the OKW and the OKH – as Germany lacked sufficient materiel and manpower for a two-front war of such magnitude. Major campaigns and battles in Eastern and Central Europe included: For a time, the Axis Mediterranean Theatre and the North African Campaign were conducted as

6016-423: The main body when threatened by cavalry. 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. This included 'Skirmish Attacks', in which the skirmish lines operated offensively, and in greater numbers. Two entire companies – half

6110-412: The name " Wehrmacht "; the Reichswehr was officially renamed the Wehrmacht on 21 May 1935. Hitler's proclamation of the Wehrmacht ' s existence included a total of no less than 36 divisions in its original projection, contravening the Treaty of Versailles in grandiose fashion. In December 1935, General Ludwig Beck added 48 tank battalions to the planned rearmament program. Hitler originally set

6204-411: The navy had already lost a number of its large surface ships, which could not be replenished during the war. The Kriegsmarine ' s most significant contribution to the German war effort was the deployment of its nearly 1,000 U-boats to strike at Allied convoys. The German naval strategy was to attack the convoys in an attempt to prevent the United States from interfering in Europe and to starve out

6298-403: The new leadership from the best men of the general staff with ruthless disregard for other constituencies, such as war heroes and the nobility." Seeckt's determination that the Reichswehr be an elite cadre force that would serve as the nucleus of an expanded military when the chance for restoring conscription came essentially led to the creation of a new army, based upon, but very different from,

6392-453: The next decade until the Germans finally left in September 1933. However, the arms buildup was done in secrecy, until Hitler came to power and it received broad political support. After the death of President Paul von Hindenburg on 2 August 1934, Adolf Hitler assumed the office of President of Germany , and thus became commander in chief. In February 1934, the Defence Minister Werner von Blomberg , acting on his own initiative, had all of

6486-491: The official spelling of ' Kassel ' was 'Cassel'), Saxony and Saxe-Meiningen ever raised Schützen Battalions. Hesse-Cassel formed two battalions in 1832 from their Garde-Jäger-Bataillon and the Fusilier Battalion of the 2nd Line Infantry Regiment. In 1834 these changed to a Jäger Battalion and a Schützen Battalion – the latter converting again in 1852 back to Fusiliers, and in 1856 briefly becoming 'Light Infantry' ( Leichte Infanterie ) before again being known as Schützen. Both

6580-507: The oldest and youngest were being recruited and driven by instilled fear and fanaticism to serve on the fronts and, often, to fight to the death, whether judged to be cannon fodder or elite troops. Prior to World War II, the Wehrmacht strove to remain a purely ethnic German force; as such, minorities within and outside of Germany, such as the Czechs in annexed Czechoslovakia , were exempted from military service after Hitler's takeover in 1938. Foreign volunteers were generally not accepted in

6674-436: The opening year of the war. No aircraft carrier was operational, as German leadership lost interest in the Graf Zeppelin which had been launched in 1938. Following the loss of the German battleship  Bismarck in 1941, with Allied air-superiority threatening the remaining battle-cruisers in French Atlantic harbors, the ships were ordered to make the Channel Dash back to German ports. Operating from fjords along

6768-455: The other half performed obligatory services connected to the war effort ( German : Kriegshilfsdienst ). Legally, the commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht was Adolf Hitler in his capacity as Germany's head of state, a position he gained after the death of President Paul von Hindenburg in August 1934. With the creation of the Wehrmacht in 1935, Hitler elevated himself to Supreme Commander of

6862-586: The period 1935–1939. The total number of soldiers who served in the Wehrmacht during its existence from 1935 to 1945 is believed to have approached 18.2 million. The German military leadership originally aimed at a homogeneous military, possessing traditional Prussian military values. However, with Hitler's constant wishes to increase the Wehrmacht ' s size, the Army was forced to accept citizens of lower class and education, decreasing internal cohesion and appointing officers who lacked real-war experience from previous conflicts, especially World War I and

6956-630: The same authority as ( Hiwis ), auxiliary personnel of the army ( German : Behelfspersonal ) and they were assigned to duties within the Reich, and to a lesser extent, in the occupied territories, for example in the general government of occupied Poland , in France , and later in Yugoslavia , in Greece and in Romania . By 1945, 500,000 women were serving as Wehrmachtshelferinnen , half of whom were volunteers, while

7050-412: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Schützen . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Schützen&oldid=776299210 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

7144-472: The same time, the extent of advances strained the Wehrmacht's capacity to the breaking point, culminating in its first major defeat in the Battle of Moscow (1941); by late 1942, Germany was losing the initiative in all theatres. The German operational art proved no match to that of the Allied coalition , making the Wehrmacht's weaknesses in strategy, doctrine, and logistics apparent. Closely cooperating with

7238-686: The strength of the Fusilier battalion – were utilized, with the remaining two available as supports or relief. 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. One such feature (often also worn by Jäger and in Austria also) endured in many of

7332-592: The task of killing or disabling enemy officers or NCOs – thus undermining the cohesion and steadiness of the enemy ranks. The numbers may seem few, and in practice the Prussians found they had insufficient numbers (even though the Fusilier Schützen had been increased from 10 to 22 in 1798), but even when used in large numbers the methodology was to have only a small proportion of them rotated so that they would not run out of ammunition, and so they could always fall back on

7426-502: The terms. Germany helped the Soviet Union with industrialization and Soviet officers were to be trained in Germany. German tank and air-force specialists could exercise in the Soviet Union and German chemical weapons research and manufacture would be carried out there along with other projects. In 1924 a fighter-pilot school was established at Lipetsk , where several hundred German air force personnel received instruction in operational maintenance, navigation, and aerial combat training over

7520-470: The three million Wehrmacht soldiers who invaded the USSR participated in war crimes. The German term "Wehrmacht " stems from the compound word of German : wehren , "to defend" and Macht , "power, force". It has been used to describe any nation's armed forces; for example, Britische Wehrmacht meaning "British Armed Forces". The Frankfurt Constitution of 1849 designated all German military forces as

7614-485: The tradition of the original Schützen (including retaining the black facings with red piping). However those Jäger Battalions that had a Schützen origin (Battalions 5–8) also carried on the tradition in subtle ways, and it may be through their links with the mountainous regions of Switzerland, Bavaria and Silesia that the Jäger also adopted techniques and skills of mountaineering (cf. the Austrian Mountain Troops,

7708-412: The treaty that, among other terms, imposed severe constraints on the size of Germany's armed forces. The army was limited to one hundred thousand men with an additional fifteen thousand in the navy. The fleet was to consist of at most six battleships , six cruisers , and twelve destroyers . Submarines , tanks and heavy artillery were forbidden and the air-force was dissolved. A new post-war military,

7802-557: The unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer (army), the Kriegsmarine (navy) and the Luftwaffe (air force). The designation " Wehrmacht " replaced the previously used term Reichswehr ( Reich Defence ) and was the manifestation of the Nazi regime's efforts to rearm Germany to a greater extent than the Treaty of Versailles permitted. After

7896-480: The war with a minority of its formations motorized ; infantry remained approximately 90% foot-borne throughout the war, and artillery was primarily horse-drawn . The motorized formations received much attention in the world press in the opening years of the war, and were cited as the reason for the success of the invasions of Poland (September 1939), Denmark and Norway (April 1940), Belgium, France, and Netherlands (May 1940), Yugoslavia and Greece (April 1941) and

7990-512: Was a special case. United States Sharpshooters During the American Civil War two regiments of Sharpshooters were raised in 1861 by the Union Army . Commanded by Hiram Berdan , himself a noted marksman who had been actively involved in their recruitment – they were thus popularly known as Berdan’s Sharpshooters . Recruited from picked marksmen, employed as snipers and skirmishers, like

8084-641: Was also prioritized last in the German rearmament scheme, making it the smallest of the branches. In the Battle of the Atlantic , the initially successful German U-boat fleet arm was eventually defeated due to Allied technological innovations like sonar , radar , and the breaking of the Enigma code. Large surface vessels were few in number due to construction limitations by international treaties prior to 1935. The "pocket battleships" Admiral Graf Spee and Admiral Scheer were important as commerce raiders only in

8178-422: Was dedicated to the idea of reviving Tirpitz's High Seas Fleet. Officers who believed in submarine warfare led by Admiral Karl Dönitz were in a minority before 1939. By 1922, Germany had begun covertly circumventing the conditions of the Versailles treaty. A secret collaboration with the Soviet Union began after the Treaty of Rapallo . Major-General Otto Hasse traveled to Moscow in 1923 to further negotiate

8272-477: Was dropped in favor of Wehrmacht on 21 May 1935. While the term Wehrmacht has been associated, both in the German and English languages, with the German armed forces of 1935–45 since the Second World War, before 1945 the term was used in the German language in a more general sense for a national defense force. For instance, the German-aligned formations of Poles raised during the First World War were known as

8366-461: Was most surprised at the offer; the popular view that Hitler imposed the oath on the military is false. The oath read: "I swear by God this sacred oath that to the Leader of the German empire and people, Adolf Hitler, supreme commander of the armed forces, I shall render unconditional obedience and that as a brave soldier I shall at all times be prepared to give my life for this oath". By 1935, Germany

8460-582: Was often only available in relatively small numbers. Only 40% to 60% of all units in the Eastern Front were motorized, baggage trains often relied on horse-drawn trailers due to poor roads and weather conditions in the Soviet Union, and for the same reasons many soldiers marched on foot or used bicycles as bicycle infantry . As the fortunes of war turned against them, the Germans were in constant retreat from 1943 and onward. The Panzer divisions were vital to

8554-605: Was openly flouting the military restrictions set forth in the Versailles Treaty: German rearmament was announced on 16 March with the "Edict for the Buildup of the Wehrmacht " ( German : Gesetz für den Aufbau der Wehrmacht ) and the reintroduction of conscription. While the size of the standing army was to remain at about the 100,000-man mark decreed by the treaty, a new group of conscripts equal to this size would receive training each year. The conscription law introduced

8648-431: Was put in its place. Placed under the OKW were the three branch High Commands: Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH), Oberkommando der Marine (OKM), and Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (OKL). The OKW was intended to serve as a joint command and coordinate all military activities, with Hitler at the top. Though many senior officers, such as von Manstein , had advocated for a real tri-service Joint Command, or appointment of

8742-697: Was recruited from the province of Silesia . A second Battalion (the Guards Rifles Battalion , Garde-Schützen-Bataillon ) was raised in 1814 from the Swiss canton of the Principality of Neuchâtel (which from 1707 to 1800 and from 1814 to 1848 was ruled in personal union by the Berlin Hohenzollern), and in 1815 a third battalion was formed in the Rhineland (from Schützen personnel in the territories newly acquired by Prussia after Napoleon's downfall – e.g.

8836-409: Was to precede the main body in 'open order', forming a protective screen and firing at the enemy in a way designed to gall and disrupt – and also to form a defensive screen to counter the enemy's skirmishers. This inevitably led to the selection of men who were superior marksmen, to be armed with rifled weapons (shorter than a musket and sometimes referred to as ' carbines ') and charged specifically with

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