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Schützen (En:Shooters) 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'). When used as a verb ''Schützen'' has the meaning 'guard' or 'protect'. ==Translation and history== The English translation of the German word ''Schütze'' is 'shooter' (from ''Schuss''-'shot' or ''schießen''-'shooting'), as in ''Scharfschütze'' = sharpshooter or sniper, or ''Schützengraben'' = a firing trench and by extension ''Geschütz'' = 'gun' -- in the sense of artillery as in ''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). The noun ''Schutz'' (which never has an umlaut or variant spelling, and thus has a different pronunciation) means 'guard', 'protection' or 'defence' (as in ''Zivilschutz'' = 'Civil Defence', or ''Grenzschutz'' = 'Border Protection' or 'Border Guard'). 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.〔The Saxon Schützen (Fusilier) Regiment No 108, while being designated as Schützen, also had the secondary title 'Fusilier', to denote its origin as a regiment formed in 1867 by merging 2 Saxon Jäger Battalions that had periodically been designated 'Schützen', or 'Light Infantry' (Fusilier).〕 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-Divisionen''.〔Possibly this was in reference to being armed with the shorter cavalry carbine - the ''Karabiner 98a'' - rather than an infantry rifle - the ''Gewehr 98''. As mentioned in the text, the rifled musket the Schützen were originally armed with was sometimes referred to as a 'carbine'.〕 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 German Army of the Third Reich), and also the ''Waffen-SS'',〔the 'Armed-SS' or military wing of the SS - itself derived from ''Schutzstaffel'' - lit. 'defence echelon'〕 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.g. 'Queen Victoria’s Rifles') with the additional sense of 'sharpshooter' or 'marksman'. The French equivalent is ''Tirailleur''. When Germany first introduced Motorised Infantry in the 1930s those regiments that were the Infantry component of the Panzer Divisions, prior to being known as Panzer Grenadiers (from 1942 - see also the German Wikipedia entry), were termed 'Schützen Regimenter' (organised into 'Schützen Brigaden'). Some were cavalry in origin (belonging to Divisions that had originally been 'Light Divisions'), and carried on the designation used in the First World War - ''Kavallerie-Schützen-Regiment''. Sometimes these designations persisted after the official change to Panzer Grenadier. In the modern German Bundeswehr the armored personnel carrier of the Panzer Grenadier units was, until 1971, the Schützenpanzer (Infantry fighting vehicle - verbatim: infantrymen tank). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Schützen (military)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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