grenadier

grenadier, soldier particularly selected and trained to hurl grenades. The earliest grenadiers (late 16th century) were not organized in special units, but by the mid-17th century they formed special companies within battalions. Exceptional strength and courage were needed for hurling the grenade, and accidents were not uncommon. Grenadiers earned higher pay, received special privileges, and were distinguished by their height, dashing uniform, and tall, mitre-shaped headdress (shako). Armed with heavy hatchets for chopping through barricades and other obstructions, they were employed particularly in siege and trench warfare.

During the 18th century there was a gradual decline in the use of grenades, but grenadiers were retained as elite troops. The gradual adoption throughout Europe of the four-company battalion progressively encouraged the recruitment of separate grenadier formations, but their duties had come to differ little from those of the ordinary regiments of the line. Horse grenadiers made a brief appearance in the British and Belgian forces. In World War I, battalion subunits were trained both to throw hand grenades and to fire rifle grenades. The grenadier has since disappeared as a special type of infantryman, and the term has become obsolete save in historical names such as the Grenadier Guards.