![]() In Portugal, 1797, companies of Caçadores (Hunters) were created in the Portuguese Army, and in 1808 led to the formation of independent "Caçador" battalions that became known for their ability to perform precision shooting at long distances. They were gradually absorbed into the line infantry becoming a hybrid type that proved successful against the French, to the extent that Napoleon recruited several units of Austrian army Grenzer to his own army after victory over Austria in 1809 compelled the Austrians to cede territories from which they were traditionally recruited. The Austrian army had Grenzer regiments from the middle of the 18th century, who originally served as irregular militia skirmishers recruited from frontier areas. ![]() In France, during the Napoleonic Wars, light infantry were called voltigeurs and chasseurs and the sharpshooters tirailleurs. These became designated as rifle regiments in Britain and Jäger and Schützen (sharpshooter) regiments in German-speaking Europe. Light infantry sometimes carried lighter muskets than ordinary infantrymen while others carried rifles and wore rifle green uniforms. They were expected to avoid melee engagements unless necessary and would fight ahead of the mainline to harass the enemy before falling back to the main position.ĭuring the period 1777–1781, the Continental Army of the United States adopted the British Army practice of seasonally drafting light infantry regiments as temporary units during active field operations, by combining existing light infantry companies detached from their parent regiments.įrench light infantry in the woods during the Napoleonic era, by Victor Huen. They did not usually fight in disciplined ranks as did the ordinary infantry but often in widely dispersed groups, necessitating an understanding of skirmish warfare. Its members were often smaller, more agile men with high shooting ability and capability of using initiative. In the 18th and 19th centuries most infantry regiments or battalions had a light company as an integral part of its composition. In the 17th century, dragoons were sometimes employed as the skirmishers of their day – mounted infantrymen who rode into battle but dismounted to fight, giving them a mobility lacking to regular foot soldiers. In particular, the French Army employed detachments of German and Balkan mercenaries to serve as patrols in the rough country until a permanent corps of Mountain Fusiliers ( Fusiliers des Montagnes) was raised in the 1740s. Modern history Įarly regular armies of the modern era frequently relied on irregulars to perform the duties of light infantry skirmishers. It was the fact that peltasts fought in open order as skirmishers that made them light infantry and that hoplites fought in the battle line in a phalanx formation that made them heavy infantry. Peltast equipment, for example, grew steadily heavier at the same time as hoplite equipment grew lighter. As with the so-called "light infantry" of later periods, the term more adequately describes the role of such infantry rather than the actual weight of their equipment. The concept of a skirmishing screen is a very old one and was already well-established in Ancient Greece and Roman times in the form, for example, of the Greek peltast and psiloi, and the Roman velites. ![]() History Ancient history Agrianian peltast, c. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |