Grenadier Guards

Grenadier Guards march from Buckingham Palace to St James's Palace

The Grenadier Guards ( German  Grenadier - Garde ) also known as 1st Foot Guards , are the second oldest regiment of the Guards Division of the British Army after the Coldstream Guards . They are among the five body regiments of the British monarch; currently this is Queen Elizabeth II.

history

Grenadier Guards around 1850

The Grenadier Guards were founded in Bruges in 1656 by Charles II . First they were called "First Guards", later "The First or Grenadier Regiment of Foot Guards". They were given this name after the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 when they defeated the grenadiers of Napoleon's Imperial Guard . In fact, the units of the British Guard did not encounter the grenadiers, but the hunters on foot ( Chasseurs à pied ) of the French Imperial Guard. So it can be speculated whether the naming is a mistake. After Waterloo, the "guards" were generally given the bearskin hat as headgear , which was previously the characteristic feature of the French grenadiers. Indeed, one of the main characteristics of the French guard hunters was a bearskin hat without a faceplate - like the British guards wear it today - whereas the French grenadiers wore a bearskin hat with a faceplate. It is also the only regiment in the British Army that got its name from participating in combat operations.

Since its inception, the regiment has fought in almost every war in the British Army. It fought in the American War of Independence (1775–1783), as well as the Napoleonic Wars ( Waterloo 1815), the Crimean War (1853–1856) and Tel-el-Kebir (1882). In July 1898, the 1st Battalion of the regiment, under Colonel Villiers Hatton, left Cairo to take part in the suppression of the Mahdi uprising in Sudan . There it fought in the Battle of Omdurman and returned to Cairo in September 1898. The regiment fought in the Boer War (1899–1902) and in both world wars .

During World War I (1914-18), the regiment's four battalions fought in all major battles on the Western Front , where they lost 12,000 men. During the Second World War , the regiment was reinforced to six battalions. The third, fifth and sixth fought in North Africa and Italy , while the first, second and fourth participated in the invasion of Normandy and the battle in north-western Europe.

Since World War II, the regiment has served in virtually every conflict in the world that Britain has been involved in. So in Palestine (1945–48), Malaya (1948–49), the Middle East (1948–56), Cyprus (1956–59) and the Second Gulf War (1990–91). Since 1969 there have also been many missions in Northern Ireland . The regiment also exercised its traditional privilege of protecting the monarch .

The Grenadier Guards today

The Grenadier Guards now fight as a mechanized , light infantry regiment. Prince Philip was Honorary Colonel of the Regiment from 1975 to 2017 when Prince Andrew succeeded him. It ranks first among the infantry in the official ranking of the British Army ( British Army Order of Precedence ).

The regimental march of the guards is The British Grenadiers , the motto of the regiment corresponds to that of the English Order of the Garter : Honi soit qui mal y pense

Identification mark

The various regiments can not be distinguished on foot from a distance . However, they can be recognized by certain characteristics.

• The Grenadier Guards wear a white feather on the left side of their bearskin hat .
• They wear the grenade fired proper , a firing grenade, on their collars .
• Eight buttons are evenly distributed across the belt.
• The soldiers wear a red ribbon on the hat of their normal service uniform.

Battle honors

The 1st Foot Guards have 79 Battle Honors (honorable mentions of battles in which it has participated), some of which are listed on the regimental flag:

• various missions on the Strait of Gibraltar
• War of the Spanish Succession , including the Battle of Oudenaarde
• War of the Austrian Succession
• Peninsular War
• Napoleonic Wars (including Waterloo 1815)
• Crimean War
• Suppression of the Urabi movement
• Suppression of the Mahdi uprising
• Boer Wars
• First World War (1914-18) ( Western Front )
• Second World War (North Africa, Italy, Northwest Europe)
• Second Gulf War (1990-91)
• Third Gulf War
• War in Afghanistan since 2001

See also

• List of British infantry regiments of the early modern period
• The same name is also used with the Household Regiment of the Governor General of Canada, the Governor General's Grenadier Guards .

Individual evidence

1. ^ The Household Division

Web links

Commons : Grenadier Guards  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website
• Battle honors