The emperor was in Friedland.
1. The meaning of light infantry.
The so-called light infantry (light infantry) has existed since ancient times, the Roman hastati, the javelin light infantry of Gaul and Dacia, and the famous Greek light shield infantry (peltast), all belong to the category of light infantry, and the main function of light infantry is to cover the advance of the main armyLight infantry can be equipped with bows, javelins, and slings to shoot at the enemy's main forces in loose formationsorConfrontation with enemy skirmishers to protect the main force from possible long-range strikesThe social status of the light infantry has not been high, in Greece and Rome, the so-called light soldiers are often poor people who cannot afford to buy equipment, and can only ensure their status in the army by playing and running, and in modern warfare, the stragglers began to use muskets, and they used loose formations to attack the enemy's line with accurate firepower, PrussiaPhilipTrich(frederick the great), because of the constant harassment of Austrian elite stragglers, which seriously threatened supply lines, and the all-round development of light infantry began to flourish during the period from the War of the Austrian Succession to the Seven Years' War.
One colorLacey light infantry, you can see what a skirmisher should look like, lightly armed, long-range, and loose formation
1.French and British skirmishers.
The systematic development of the French and British stragglers was during the Seven Years' War in the vast lands of North AmericaPlatoon shooting often became a live target, and due to the long marching distances, both sides used skirmish tactics on the battlefields of North AmericaThe French had a good relationship with the local Indians, so they also borrowed from the harassment and assault tactics of many local aborigines, so that the war scales were once tilted in favor of France, and in the Napoleonic era, they were more sophisticated. British skirmishers developed more slowly, during the American Revolutionary WarThe irregular tactics of the militia of the thirteen states gave the British army a headacheAt the end of the Revolutionary War, although Britain suffered the loss of the United States, it soon forgot about the relevant light infantry tactics, until the outbreak of the French Revolution, the British skirmisher tactics rose again, and later caught up, especially in the Peninsular WarMoore(moor)The Green Jacket Corps, led by the General, served inyard away, killing a French general.
The French and the local Indians were friendly with each other because of their fursCompared to the British's land grabbingDuring the war, the Indians often assisted the French
2.Skirmishers in Austria.
In the evolutionary history of skirmishers, Austria was the leader, with a complex ethnic composition and a varied terrain in the mountainous region of Austria, Austria's regular troops lacked the discipline and bravery of its neighbors, but Austria was able to extract the elite from the vast territory to fight for itself, and the hunter (j ger) was the first to become a formal military rank in Austria, in Croatia, due to the long-term infestation of the Ottoman Empire, the localCroatiaThe Bosnians, along with the Bosnians, developed a set of hit-and-run bandit tacticsAs early as the Normans invaded Byzantine territory, the Greek klepht, who fled from the Byzantine heavy tax oppression, played the role of the "Belt and Road Party", joined the Normans in raiding the city, and they played a great role as stragglers in the fight against the Ottoman invasion, such as assisting Albania in the anti-Turkish war.
Greek bandits
All in all, compared with Prussia, Austria is quite enthusiastic about the study of skirmishers, Austrian chasseurs have constantly harassed the Prussians in the Seven Years' War, and Prussia, which has little experience in skirmishers, is helpless in the face of Austrian skirmishers and cavalry, and Berlin is even captured by Austrian lightly armed troops, which is inevitably one of the ironclad proofs of Austria's powerful skirmishers. In addition to tactics, Austria is also quite advanced in the research and development of skirmishers, such as the Austrian oneWind Spearwindbüchse, the use of compressed air magazines, that is, air canisters, to fire bullets, due to the lack of gunpowder ** sound, this gun is almost invisible, but the technical threshold is too high and too expensive, so that there are many ethnic groups, the administrative system is weak, and Austria, which is about to be unable to collect taxes, is about to die of poverty, so there is no large-scale installation.
Austrian skirmishers had a good reputation, companyPhilipThe Great had a headache
3.Skirmishers in Prussia:
As a large private country, Prussia was a slower skirmisher
During the Seven Years' War, in view of the frenzied harassment of Austrian skirmishers and light cavalry, Prussian generals, who once thought that stragglers were a rabble, began to seriously consider the importance of stragglersIn fact, serious problems of discipline had arisen, and Prussia relied on the cruelty and severity of its officers to oppress its soldiersoneBut by forming these soldiers into loose formations, they will have a chance to escapeFrederick had no choice, since he could not throw regular soldiers into the straggler array, he could only recruit from among the volunteers, and this group was divided into two types, the free militia (freikorps), and the chasseurs recruited from skilled hunters, who were most likely not in military service, but by a groupEnthusiastic volunteers are made up of mountain hunters and rangers, as a skirmisher, but Prussia's strength over its neighbors was still its elite line infantry.
2. French skirmishers during the Napoleonic Wars.
1.Peculiarities of the French skirmishers.
As mentioned above, if the quality of the skirmishers can not be as rigorous and disciplined as the first line of combat, then the value of the skirmishers is really just a rabble, in history, the status of the skirmishers has always been very low, morale is low and there is a lack of corresponding training, but in the Napoleonic period, the combat system of the skirmishers has completely changedSkirmishersIt is literally regarded as a combat unit, and at the same time in the armyIn the system, skirmishers and privates fight together and work togetherWhen marching, the two basically maintain the same battle formation, and when they reach the enemy, the first platoon of the skirmishers will advance with the enemy while exchanging fire until the cover of the private is at ** distance.
The formation of the two is exactly the same
The most different thing between the French army and the skirmishers of other countries is that the roles of the private and the skirmish can be exchanged, and the two adopt the same marching template, the same Type 1777 rifle, the sameYesBulkOfficers pass instructions and command the companyTherefore, when the private is at a disadvantage, he can directly turn into a skirmisher, and when necessary, such as a cavalry assault, he can also turn into a private to maintain the line (of course, if it is a skirmish formation with a large distance between them, it will be difficult), which is the uniqueness of the French skirmishers.
2.Skirmishers' formation.
According to the law ** family,Colin(j. colin)Author of "Tactics and Discipline".(latactiqueet la discipline)During the Revolutionary War, untrained skirmishers were not essentially different from skirmishers, but at that time the old thinking still believed that the importance of stragglers was still greater than that of skirmishers, and Colin further discussed the deployment of skirmishersHe believed that the importance of skirmishers depended on who the enemy was, and that the Austrians were large and well-trained, and that they would undoubtedly be defeated against them, but that if they were well-armed Prussians, skirmishers could achieve unexpected results.
This diagram shows a list of countries where skirmishers have separate formations, formations within brigades, and line infantry
Generally speaking, there are three types of stragglers, generally three arrays, circular defensive formations, and skirmishers.
1.Generally three arrays.
The general three-column formation is basically no different from the general private, but it is worth noting that in the process of converting soldiers from private soldiers to skirmishers, they basically fan forward and maintain a distance between each other, while skirmishersThe process of converting to a private formation is more difficult, so the skirmishers have the same officer composition as privates, so that the organization of scheduling will not produce a fault.
2.Circular defensive array.
Unlike the phalanx, when the private is transformed into a phalanx, it is composed of war drums and orderly steps, and the thickness of the phalanx is basically the thickness of three soldiers on each side, while the stragglers are often in a loose formation in the face of cavalry assaultsTherefore, it is a fast and relatively undifficult circular defenseArray becomesis preferredAt the same time, the circular defensive array itself is thinner, and the effectiveness of resisting cavalry is not as good as that of the phalanx, and many stragglers often do not have bayonets when shooting, such as the British green jacket is dominated by rifles without bayonets.
Circular array
3.Skirmishers.
The skirmish formation is the formation in which the skirmishers can play their greatest function, and they are so loose that they are difficult to hit and can effectively cover the rear troopsInterval approximatelyfeetApproxmeterswhile moving forward with **.
The process of turning from a line to a straggler
4.The expansion of the stragglers' circle.
The voltigeur was a light infantry member of Napoleon's army, named after the fact that they often jumped on horseback during scout and skirmisher missions. Napoleon ordered one for each light infantry battalionLeaping Soldier CompanyIn the year, these stragglers were also added to the line barracks。They were the shortest soldiers in the army, with an average height of only about 150 centimeters.
Third, the tactics of stragglers have been carried forward.
1.Battle of Auerstedt in 1806
After Prussia declared war on France in 1806, Napoleon's Grande Army had rapidly moved north from South Germany to outflank the Prussian army, but Napoleon's Prussian army at Jena was only the vanguard, not the main force, and his two marshals, Bernadotte and Davout, originally wanted to go north to stop the vanguard, but Davout encountered the main Prussian army, led by the Prince of BrunswickDavout's infantry saw that Prussia was far more than the French army, so they turned into skirmishers, quickly hid in the forest, houses, and farmhouses, and faced the Prussian army from all directions**, the Duke of Braunschweig, who had to destroy Paris, was shot in both eyes and died soon after, and the king who took over the command was frightened, and the lack of coordination and the old Prussian army was defeated.
2.Battle of Friedland, 1807
After the Battle of Eylau, Napoleon pursued the Russian general Benningessen (Count von Bennigsen) to Friedland in eastern Prussia, the emperor's vanguard and close friend Marshal Jean Lannes (Jean Lannes) was the first to arrive in Friedland, Benningersen saw that Lana was alone, so he crossed the river and attacked, but Lana's private directly turned into stragglers, and dragged the Russian army, which was several times his size, until the evening. Benningessen let the Russian army cross the river in the process, so that the Russian army fought against the water, and the arrival of Napoleon made him realize that he had no way to retreat (he was caught by the emperor), and the creator of this opportunity was the outstanding French skirmish system, the Russian army suffered 30,000 casualties in this battle, and the stragglers made great contributions.
The real Nala