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Line infantry mainly used three formations in its battles: the line, the square, and the column. With the universal adoption of small arms (firearms that could be carried by hand, as opposed to cannon) in infantry units from the mid-17th century, the battlefield was dominated by linear tactics, according to which the infantry was aligned into long thin lines, shoulder to shoulder, and fired ...
The line formation was very successfully first used with combined arms in the Thirty Years War by the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus the Great, at the Battle of Breitenfeld. [2] An infantry battalion would form "in line" by placing troops in several ranks, ranging in number from two to five, with three ranks being the most common arrangement ...
In the Prussian Army of 1870, Infantry Regiments 33 to 40 plus Regiments 73 , 80 (Hesse-Kassel) and 86 (Schleswig-Holstein) were all designated as fusiliers, as was the Guard Fusilier Regiment. In addition, the third battalions of all guard, grenadier and line infantry
Infantry could be described as line infantry, guards, grenadiers, light infantry or skirmishers, but the roles and arms employed often overlapped between these. Line infantry Infantry of the line were so named for the dominant line combat formation used to deliver a volume of musket fire. Forming the bulk of the Napoleonic armies it was the ...
Line infantry was armed with smooth-bore muskets with bayonets. Prussian line infantry attack at the 1745 Battle of Hohenfriedberg. In the 18th century light infantry appeared. A skirmish force screening the main body of infantry became so important to any army in the field that eventually all the major European powers developed specialised ...
When light infantry, that hitherto had been organised in small units like the free battalions (Freibataillone), became part of the line troops, and the Landwehr, national guards and the like became part of the warfighting army, the term "line regiment" was used to distinguish the standing, active, regular units from the rest.
French Army infantry in a line formation performing a bayonet charge in 1913. To maximise their firepower, musketeer infantry were trained to fight in wide lines facing the enemy, creating line infantry. These fulfilled the central battlefield role of earlier heavy infantry, using ranged weapons instead of melee weapons.
The line infantry was the best-known and most valuable infantry branch within the Imperial Army. The line infantry also had the most regiments throughout the war, with the following an abbreviated list of all regiments: 1st–113th Line Infantry Regiments existing prior to 1803