Francs-tireurs
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The Francs-tireurs or free-shooters were irregular French troops (almost exclusively infantry) in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871).
Francs-tireurs were an outgrowth of rifle clubs or unofficial military societies formed in the east of France at the time of the Luxembourg crisis of 1867 (for which, see History of Luxembourg). The members were chiefly concerned with the practice of rifle-shooting, and were expected in war to act as light troops. They wore no uniforms, were armed with the best existing rifles, and elected their own officers.
In the words of the 1911 Encyclopędia Britannica, they "were at once a valuable asset to the armed strength of France and a possible menace to internal order under military discipline." The societies strenuously and effectively resisted all efforts to bring them under normal military discipline; as a result, the Germans were within the laws of war in executing captured francs-tireurs as irresponsible non-combatants found with arms in their hands.
As with any irregular or guerilla force, the character of at least some of the francs-tireurs has, at times, been disparaged. Nonetheless, it is hard to question at least the courage of people who, rather than join a regular army, fought in a manner where they know that to fall into enemy hands was to be sentenced to death or worse.
In July 1870, at the outbreak of the war, the societies were brought under the control of the minister of war and organized for field service, but it was not until November 4 — by which time the levee en masse (universal conscription) was in force — that they were placed under the orders of the generals in the field. After that they were sometimes organized in large bodies and incorporated in the mass of the armies, but more usually they continued to work in small bands, blowing up culverts on the invaders' lines of communication, cutting off small reconnoitering parties, surprising small posts, etc.
The 1911 Encyclopędia Britannica describes it as "now acknowledged, even by the Germans," that the francs-tireurs, by these relatively unconventional tactics, "paralysed large detachments of the enemy, contested every step of his advance (as in the Loire campaign), and prevented him from gaining information, and that their soldierly qualities improved with experience."
Francs-tireurs blew up of the Moselle railway bridge at Fontenoy, January 22, 1871. The defense of Chateaudun (October 18, 1870) was conducted by francs-tireurs of Cannes and Nantes, along with Lipowski's Paris corps.
The francs-tireurs were often vilified by the German armies and popular press as murderers and highwaymen and seemed to the Germans to have an unerring sense of the most vulnerable parts of the German armies in France. However, the francs-tireurs caused fewer than 1000 German deaths and ultimately played only a minor part of the Franco-Prussian War. Despite this, an ambush by francs-tireurs often resulted in violent German reprisals against the nearest village or town. Whole regiments or divisions often took part in "pacifying actions" in areas with significant franc-tireur activity and bred a lasting emnity and hatred between the occupying German soldiers and French civilians.
The experiences of French guerilla attacks and of asymmetric warfare in general during the War had a profound effect on the German General Staff, resulting in the unusually harsh and severe occupation of areas conquered by Germany during World War I.
References
- The 1911 EB references Les Chasseurs des Vosges by Lt. Colonel St. Etienne, Toul, 1906, about the blowing up of the Moselle railway bridge.
The term "francs-tireurs" is sometimes used to refer more generally to guerrilla fighters. The term has also been used by some shooting clubs and was embraced by a group of communist resistance fighters during World War II. For this last, see [1] (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FRpartisans.htm).