Guards Division

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The Guards Division ( German  Gardedivision ) is still an active formation of the British Army today . At present the Guards Division has five regiments of the Guards Infantry and the Household Cavalry, as well as one territorial battalion .

Historical tradition

The Coldstream Guards are the oldest regiment in the British Army and entered service on 23 August 1650 as “Monck's Regiment of Foot”. A Grenadier Guards Regiment was founded a little later in 1656. 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 . After Waterloo, the "guards" were generally given the bearskin hat as headgear, which was previously the characteristic feature of the French grenadiers. The Guard fought in almost every war the British Army fought. From 1856 the Guard formed the size of a brigade and fought as an independent brigade in the Crimean War (1853-1856) and during the occupation of Egypt (1882). In July 1898, the 1st Battalion of the Grenadier Guards, 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. Guard troops also fought in the Boer War (1899–1902) and were organized into four brigades after the beginning of the First World War . In July 1915, King George V approved the formation of his own guard division , which took place near St. Omer in August 1915 and was demobilized in April 1919 after the end of the war. In the course of the Second World War, a Guard Panzer Division under Major-General Allan HS Adair was set up on September 12, 1942 . After this was dissolved after the end of the war, a new Guard Division was formed as a garrison in Germany to continue the tradition of the Guard between June 12, 1945 and December 1946. In 1968 the then existing Guard Brigade was converted into today's Guards Division.

present

The Guards Division (Household Division) is currently assigned five regiments of the Guards Infantry and the Household Cavalry, as well as a territorial battalion . The Guard Cavalry consists of two regiments, the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals . It forms its own corps within the British Army.

  • Regular units
    • Grenadier Guards
      • 1st Battalion
      • 2nd Battalion (of which only the Nijmegen Company is currently active as part of the cadre troops)
    • Coldstream Guards
      • 1st Battalion
      • 2nd Battalion (of which only the No 7 Company is currently active as part of the cadre troops)
    • Scots Guards
      • 1st Battalion
      • 2nd Battalion (of which only the F Company is currently active as a cadre unit)
    • Irish Guards
      • 1st Battalion
    • Welsh Guards
      • 1st Battalion

Web links

See also