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Concept
Landsturm
Summary
In German-speaking countries, the term Landsturm was historically used to refer to militia or military units composed of troops of inferior quality. It is particularly associated with Prussia, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Sweden and the Netherlands.
The Austro-Hungarian Landsturm was a reserve force that consisted of men aged 34 to 55. It was intended to provide replacements for the front line units and provide a militia for local defense. It was divided into the Austrian Imperial (Kaiserlich) Landsturm and the Hungarian Royal (Königlich) Népfelkelés.
During the First World War, the Austrian Landsturm formed 40 regiments totaling 136 battalions in Austria and the Hungarian Landsturm formed 32 regiments totaling 97 battalions. They provided 20 Brigades who took to the field with the rest of the army.
In Prussia after the de of 21 April 1813 all the male population from ages 15 to 60 who were capable of military service, who were not in the standing army or the Landwehr, had to respond to the orders of the Landsturm. It effectively formed the last national military reserve.
King Frederick William III of Prussia established the Prussian Landsturm as irregular military forces on 21 April 1813 by royal edict – the decree appeared in the (German: Prussian Code of Law) (pp. 79–89). The 1813 edict called for heroic resistance by any means against the Napoleonic invasion. As a model and an explicit example, it took the Spanish Reglamento de Partidas y Cuadrillas of 28 December 1808 and the decree of 17 April 1809, known as Corso Terrestre, during the Peninsula War against Napoleonic troops (ref. the introduction, §8, §52).
According to this edict, all Prussian citizens were obliged to oppose the invasion by the enemy using any weapons available, like axes, pitchforks, scythes or shotguns (§43). All Prussians were further encouraged to not obey orders by the enemy, but rather to make themselves a nuisance to the Napoleonic troops however possible.
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