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Skirmishers are light infantry or light cavalry soldiers deployed as a vanguard, flank guard or rearguard to screen a tactical position or a larger body of friendly troops from enemy advances. They are usually deployed in a skirmish line , an irregular open formation that is much more spread out in depth and in breadth than a traditional line ...
Although the original concept of skirmishers using cavalry to transport them during battle quickly proved unworkable in any large scale, voltigeurs did on occasion ride with French dragoons to battle, as recalled by a British officer on the harrowing retreat of John Moore's army prior to the Battle of Corunna.
Early regular armies of the modern era frequently relied on irregulars to perform the duties of light infantry skirmishers. In particular, the French Army employed detachments of German and Balkan mercenaries to serve as patrols in the rough country until a permanent corps of Mountain Fusiliers (Fusiliers des Montagnes) was raised in the 1740s. [1]
Mongol soldier on horseback, preparing a mounted archery shot. Several types of light cavalry were developed and used in medieval armies. Hobelar: Originally Irish, later popular in English and Scottish armies of the 14th and 15th centuries.
Persian Immortals, detail from the archers' frieze in Darius' palace in Susa. 510 BC.. Infantry was the primary combat arm of the Classical period.Examples of infantry units of the period are the Immortals of the Persian Empire, the hoplites of ancient Greece and the legions of Imperial Rome and Auxiliaries (Roman military) troops.
The High Medieval period also saw the expansion of mercenary forces, unbound to any medieval lord. Routiers , such as Brabançons and Aragones , were supplemented in the later Middle Ages by Swiss pikeman, the German Landsknecht , and the Italian Condottiere - to provide the three best-known examples of these bands of fighting men.
Ancient or medieval formations include shield walls (skjaldborg in Old Norse), phalanxes (lines of battle in close order), testudo formations, and skirmish lines. List of tactical formations [ edit ]
According to James Lydon, "There can be little doubt that the hobelar as a type of soldier originated in Ireland ... between the fully armoured knight on the 'equus coopertus' and the lightly armoured archer on the 'equus discoopertus' there was an intermediate stage.