Infantry Types?

[Tha_Field_Marshall]

I'm sure one of you grogs with way to much time on their hands can answer this for me. What is the difference between,

Fussilers

Jager

Akfulings sp

ect.

I'm at work and don't have the game so excuse my poor spelling (Yes,I should have it at work)

[Sailor Malan]

Originally posted by Tha_Field_Marshall:

I'm sure one of you grogs with way to much time on their hands can answer this for me. What is the difference between,

Fussilers

Jager

Akfulings sp

ect.

I'm at work and don't have the game so excuse my poor spelling (Yes,I should have it at work)

Quick answer - not a lot, or possibly 'depends'. Generally speaking, all these terms (and more) arose because of raising new type of troops historically. However, there is a great tendancy for all to become blurred over time. I am not completely familiar with GE army, but in UK, Fusileers were troops with a Fusil, or rifle (when not everyone did), but had no real meaning by WW2. Jager (hunters?) were light troops raised (orginally by Prussia but possibly other Ge states as well), from gamekeepers and so forth (hence name) as skirmishers (Napoleonic). Again, no real meaning by WW2. Although on reflection, I mislead slightly, all the 'named' troops (Grenadiers, Fusileers, Jager etc) had a habit of thinking themselves (and actually being) just a little bit better than the line infantry. Classic example of this 'mutation' of troops was Ge FJ (paras). At the start of the war they WERE para trained, by the end, they just tended to be tough infantry. (Hitler learnt the opposite lession from Crete that the Allies did - he de-emphesised paratroops, Allies went in big time!)

Can't help on the last one (Wehrmacht expert anyone!)

[ October 28, 2002, 01:32 PM: Message edited by: Sailor Malan ]

[Vergeltungswaffe]

Aufklaerung's refers to Recon troops.

[Tha_Field_Marshall]

So What types of units would a jager battalion be assigned to as opposed to a standard rifle battalion?

Thanks Sailor

[ October 28, 2002, 02:22 PM: Message edited by: Tha_Field_Marshall ]

[Silvio Manuel]

Is it ahistoric to frequently use Aukfl, Jaeger, Fusiliers etc. b/c they were uncommon compared to standard infantry?

[Zakalwe]

Originally posted by Silvio Manuel:

Is it ahistoric to frequently use Aukfl, Jaeger, Fusiliers etc. b/c they were uncommon compared to standard infantry?

Not at all - on the contrary, particularly if you are the attacker. IIRC, the fusilier battalions (or companies) of infantry division were often used as assault troops.

Similarly, an Aufklaerungs Abteilung (a recon troop) would often be involved in a CMBB scale battle. These units performed aggressive reconnaissance, and were heavily armed with automatic weapons.

Jäger units were, at least in the early part of the CMBB timeframe, crack troops (not in CMBB terms, of course), and saw more than their fair share of fighting.

Zak

[Bone_Vulture]

Did I understand correctly - Fusiliers were rifle troops? Isn't "Fusil" French?

[Coffin 'Enry]

Sailor Malan mentioned the Fusiliers in the UK – well, sorry, but I now have to be boring.

In the English Army (I have no idea what the Scots got up to and the Welsh regiments are a mystery to anyone from outside the Principality) the Fusilier Regiments were originally formed to guard the artillery, but quite quickly became infantry of the line.

The English Army used to have four Fusilier Regiments:

The Royal Fusiliers (7th of Foot – The City of London Regiment) Founded 1685

The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers (5th of Foot ) Founded 1674

The Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers (6th of Foot) Founded 1674

The Lancashire Fusiliers (12th of Foot) Founded 1688

They were indeed armed entirely with the Fusil, a type of Musket (presumably, given the period, a matchlock) – rifles were not invented till much later – whereas all other infantry regiments of the time had a proportion of the men armed with pikes.

On 23rd April 1968 the original four were amalgamated into the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, which still survives though it has now been reduced to two battalions from the original four.

Fusiliers in the English army have always been distinguished by the hackle work behind the badge in the headdress. The modern hackle is red over white and is in fact the one worn by the old Northumberland types since their victory over the French on St. Lucia in 1778.

The Lancashire Fusiliers have claimed a place in the history books after men from their first battalion won six Victoria Crosses before breakfast at the Gallipoli Landings in 1915. For the Americans amongst us, imagine six people from a unit of 800 or so winning the Congressional Medal of Honour in one action during a few hours early one morning.

As a fine point of interest, Montgomery was originally from the Warwickshire Fusiliers and commanded a battalion of them in India in the thirties; which is why his old command tank used to stand outside the Regimental Training Depot.

My apologies one and all. This has been a mathematician’s post, completely accurate and of no practical benefit whatsoever, but I couldn’t help myself. I’ll go and lie down in a dark room with a large scotch.

{edited because I can't spell worth a damn}

[ October 28, 2002, 05:44 PM: Message edited by: Coffin 'Enry ]

[ParaBellum]

According to www.feldgrau.com

"Fusilier: An historic German term often used to refer to heavy infantry units, original refering to the type of weapon carried of the same name. During WWII used to name infantry formations with some recon abilities that replaced an infantry division's recon battalion mid-war when the Germans reduced the number of standard infantry battalions in their divisions from 9 to 6. See also Grenadier."

"Jäger: If used in conjunction with other unit types it indicated the infantry component of that general type, such as Fallschirmjäger, Gebirgsjäger or Skijäger. When used in its hunting sense jäger did not necessarily imply infantry. Thus Panzerjäger meant anti-tank or tank hunter and not armored infantry. Also refers to a term put into use in 1942 to help boost the morale of light infantry units. See also Grenadier."

"Grenadier: An historic German term often used to refer to heavy infantry units, originally refering to the task and type of weapon carried, in this case hand thrown explosives (now known as grenades). Early in WWII used to refer to certain units to signify their elite status. On 15th October 1942 all German regular infantry regiments were renamed as Grenadier-Regimenter in the hopes of increasing their morale by establishing links to their elite counter-part units of the past. Grenadier was also used later in WWII to refer to the basic level of German soldier in an infantry unit. Instead of simply being a Gefreiter one became a Grenadier"

BTW in today's german army we still have several of these 'old' designations. The modern 'mechanized' heavy infantry is called 'Panzergrenadier', the light infantry 'Jäger' (including Gebirgsjäger/mountain troops and Fallschirmjäger/airborne). 'Jäger' is usually the description for light, higly mobile infantry. The Jäger units (served in one in 93/94) are specially trained to fight in difficult terrain/urban areas.

[ October 28, 2002, 06:25 PM: Message edited by: ParaBellum ]

[bboyle]

Originally posted by Coffin 'Enry:

Sailor Malan mentioned the Fusiliers in the UK – well, sorry, but I now have to be boring.

They were indeed armed entirely with the Fusil, a type of Musket (presumably, given the period, a matchlock) – rifles were not invented till much later – whereas all other infantry regiments of the time had a proportion of the men armed with pikes.

Weren't fusil's a rifled musket? My impression was that the term 'fusil' is the same root word that you seein 'fusilli' (yes, I mean the pasta). The corkscrew referring in the case of the musket to the grooves inside the barrel. Anybody have any idea if that's accurate?

[ October 28, 2002, 07:57 PM: Message edited by: bboyle ]