Официри Банатске земаљске милиције 1757. године
Officers of the 1757 Banat Land Militia

Summary/Abstract: From the abolishment of the Tisa-Moriš Military Frontier (1751), up until the setting up of the Banat Military Frontier (1764), the Banat Land Militia (Bannatische Land Miliz) was responsible for all ground military defence. Members of the Militia, mainly men relocated from the demilitarised Tisa-Moriš Military Frontier, were organized in eight companies. Six of these companies were known as The Upper companies (located in the vilages: Velika Kikinda, Vranjevo, Botosh, Idvor, Mokrin and Milenci), and the other two were called The Lower Companies (in Potok and Okruglica). The documentation hereby enclosed, testifies of the Banat Land Milition’s single war confrontation – the one against the Prussian army in Silesia (Germany and Bohemia), in 1757 and 1758 respеctively (Third Silesian War or Seven Year’s War). This report about the reorganisation of companies and the systematisation of officers, was compiled on July 5th 1757, after the companies already marched out into the war zone, on June 15th and 27th. The data in this report allow for an insight into the process of reorganisation, the constitution and aptitude of the companies, as well as background knowledge of certain officers, half of whom served in the Tisa-Moriš Military Frontier ten years before. The officers and the menpower to fight in the war, were extracted from the eight existing companies and allocated into nine newfound companies. The following increase of number of companies to seventeen in total, led to a lack of officers. So as to increase the number of officers, the following procedure was adopted: firstly, the officers with appropriate ranks were given posts; secondly, posts went to those who were given promotion, or to those whose status was changed from ,,aggregirt‘’ to the ,,würkliche‘’; and finally, posts were given to the two newly-appointed officers. Due to the lack of available officers, Banat was mainly left with officers unfit for warfare due to age and health reasons. In the end, 30 officers were sent with the nine companies to the warzone, while the remaining eight companies stayed in Banat, with two thirds of the manpower and 26 officers. According to the report, two lines of soldiers marching out from Banat held 1156 men: 705 men allocated in the infantry company, and 437 in the cavalry.

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