During the Franco-Prussian war that ended in 1871, the German army ran afoul of a swarm of what became known as francs-tireurs – from the French word for “free shooters,” irregular military formations sometimes called guerilla fighters. In today’s parlance they would be known as partisans. One semi-doctrinal issue that the Germans faced was what to do with irregulars and civilians known as francs-tireurs. Who exactly were francs-tireurs? One army corps deputy commander tried to define them as any citizen of a combatant nation not in a uniform, who in any way disrupted German operations communications or supply. They had been a major concern to the Germans in the Franco-Prussian War. The French considered them partisans and the Germans regarded them as terrorists. If caught by German troops, the franc-tireurs could be shot out of hand if in the act or provided a one-officer court-martial that had the power of handing out death sentences. Residents of Alsace-Lorraine found with weapons could be shot and those suspected of being a franc-tireurs would be handed over to a formal court-martial.
This “francs-tireurs doctrine” really dealt with the application of the rules of war and has been the food for atrocity discussions for decades. There certainly were atrocities and standing orders to shoot civilians who were resisting. In the wake of the Franco-Prussian War, there were many stories of francs-tireurs. For four decades, stories abounded and were embellished about how francs-tireurs had ambushed, mutilated, and poisoned German forces during that war. The advancing armies in 1914 expected to encounter francs-tireurs whether they were there or not.
This book deals with the operational impact of dealing with the partisans. I have been told repeatedly by German authors that this had no operational impact. We disagree. When you send two cavalry brigades to do a reprisal for a day, they are not doing reconnaissance.
