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Concept
Schützen (military)
Summary
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. The individual infantrymen are termed Schütze. Prior to the introduction of firearms the word was used for 'archer', and is sometimes used in the form Bogenschütze (bowman – lit. 'bow shooter').
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'; 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 is not to be confused with the noun Schutz, meaning 'guard', 'protection' or 'defence' (as in the compounds Zivilschutz, '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 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. 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 – 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.
Official source
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