| rdfs:comment | - A franctireur (more commonly spelled franc-tireur in English) is a type of "irregular military" fighter equipped as light infantry which engages in guerrilla tactics and is classified as an illegal combatant. "Irregular military" entails any non-standard military (forces that are not organized into units). They are not usually used in conventional battles, instead being used in skirmishes, forays, scouting missions, raids, or small hit & run battles. Francs-tireurs are specifically one type of irregular military (others include paramilitary, guerrillas, terrorists, insurgents, freedom fighters).
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| abstract | - A franctireur (more commonly spelled franc-tireur in English) is a type of "irregular military" fighter equipped as light infantry which engages in guerrilla tactics and is classified as an illegal combatant. "Irregular military" entails any non-standard military (forces that are not organized into units). They are not usually used in conventional battles, instead being used in skirmishes, forays, scouting missions, raids, or small hit & run battles. Francs-tireurs are specifically one type of irregular military (others include paramilitary, guerrillas, terrorists, insurgents, freedom fighters). Francs-tireurs were specifically French irregular military fighters during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). Under international law, francs-tireur are considered unlawful combatants (classified as mercenaries) and are not entitled to prisoner-of-war status under such laws (for background, francs-tireur were the subject of debate at the 1st Hague Conference in 1899, the earliest codification of laws governing war, war crimes, and legal/illegal combatants, with the more powerful nations considering francs-tireur illegal combatants and the smaller nations considering them legitimate means of resistance against a more powerful army and they were formally classified as unlawful in the verdict in the 1947-1948 Hostages Trial, a part of the Nuremberg Trials). Francs-tireur is French for “light shooters”. In French & Spanish the term is also used to denote a sharpshooter (though based on the job of the mob, DRK, the primary definition is more applicable).
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