100 years of Kaiserschützen

Tyrol’s status changed several times in the Austrian Empire in the 18th and 19th centuries. Bonaparte Napoleon separated away the province from Austria for a while and annexed him to Bavaria. The name and classification of the rifle regiment organized in Tyrol therefore also changed many times. Although the first regular unit was set up here as early as 1703, it was not until Napoleon’s fall that the Tyrolean troops could be re-organized in the Austrian army. This took place during the reign of Francis I. He called the Tyrolean shooters “Kaiserschützen” (snipers of the emperor). At that time a regiment of four battalions was set up with Tyrolean crew in 1816.

In the period before the Great War, Tyrol’s military organization was also transformed according to general organizational principles of the Monarchy. The role of the regular regiments was performed by the Kaiserschützen regiments. Their number was raised to four in 1895. However, their crew was no longer exclusively Tyrolean residents.

The badge presented in the post was made for the 100th anniversary of the formation of the special unit, the emperor’s snipers. In the middle are the portraits of the founder Franz I and Franz Joseph I. On two sides we can see the figures of the rifleman of the previous and modern times. In the wear photo, in addition to the anniversary badge, we see the badge of the 3rd Kaiserjäger Regiment on the major’s field cap. This badge was already listed in a previous post.