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Guards (Russian: гвардия) or Guards units (Template:Lang-ru) were and are elite military units in Imperial Russia, Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. The exact meaning of the term "Guards" varied over the time.
Imperial Russia
In Russia, Russian Imperial Guard units ("Leib-Guards", Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) derived from German 'life-guards', and intended to provide for security of the sovereign were created by Peter the Great in 1690s from the Prussian practice. At the beginning of the twentieth century it consisted of 13 infantry, 4 rifle and 14 cavalry regiments and some other units. They were abolished in 1918.
The final composition of the Imperial Russian Guard at the beginning of 1914 was:
Guards Corps (Gvardeyskiy Korpus). St. Petersburg District. Headquarters, St. Petersburg, Millionaya. (Guards units not part of the Guards Corps were the Guards Replacement Cavalry Regiment and Guards Field Gendarme Squadron.)
- 1st Guards Infantry Division
- 2nd Guards Infantry Division
- Guards Rifle Brigade
- 1st Guards Cavalry Division
- 2nd Guards Cavalry Division
- Separate Guards Cavalry Brigade (see 23rd Army Corps)
- Life-Guards 1st Artillery Brigade
- Life-Guards 2nd Artillery Brigade
- Life-Guards Horse Artillery
- Guards Howitzer Artillery Battalion
- Life-Guards Sapper Battalion
- Guards Aviation Company
23rd Army Corps (23-i Armeyskiy Korpus). Warsaw Military District. Headquarters, Warsaw.
- 3rd Guards Infantry Division
- 2nd Infantry Division
- Separate Guards Cavalry Brigade
- 3rd Battery of Life-Guards Horse Artillery
- 23rd Howitzer Artillery Battalion
- 9th Sapper Battalion
1st Guards Infantry Division (1-ya Gvardeyskaya Pekhotnaya Diviziya). Guards Corps. Headquarters, St. Petersburg, Fontanka.
- 1st Brigade: Life-Guards Preobrazhenskiy Regiment, Life-Guards Semenovskiy Regiment.
- 2nd Brigade: Life-Guards Izmailovskiy Regiment, Life-Guards Jäger Regiment.
- 1st Life-Guards Artillery Brigade.
2nd Guards Infantry Division (2-ya Gvardeyskaya Pekhotnaya Diviziya). Guards Corps. Headquarters, St. Petersburg, Fontanka.
- 1st Brigade: Life-Guards Moscow Regiment, Life-Guards Grenader Regiment.
- 2nd Brigade: Life-Guards Pavlovskii Regiment, Life-Guards Finland Regiment.
- 2nd Life-Guards Artillery Brigade
3rd Guards Infantry Division (3-ya Gvardeyskaya Pekhotnaya Diviziya). Guards Corps. Headquarters, Warsaw.
- 1st Brigade: Life-Guards Lithuania Regiment, Emperor of Austria's Life-Guards Kexholm Regiment.
- 2nd Brigade: King Frederick-William III's Life-Guards St.-Petersburg Regiment, Life-Guards Volhynia Regiment.
- 3rd Life-Guards Artillery Brigade.
1st Guards Cavalry Division (1-ya Gvardeyskaya Kavaleriyskaya Diviziya). Guards Corps. Headquarters, St. Petersburg, Fontanka.
- 1st Brigade: Her Sovereign Majesty Empress Maria Theodorovna's Chevalier Guards Regiment, Life-Guards Horse Regiment.
- 2nd Brigade: His Majesty's Life-Guards Cuirassier Regiment, Her Majesty Empress Maria Theodorovna's Life-Guards Cuirassier Regiment.
- 3rd Brigade: His Majesty's Life-Guards Cossack Regiment, HIS Imperial Highness the Sovereign Heir and Tsesarevich's Life-Guards Ataman Regiment, Life-Guards Combined Cossack Regiment, His Majesty's 1st Ural Sotnia, 2nd Orenburg Sotnia, 3rd Combined Sotnia, 4th Amur Sotnia.
- 1st Division of Life-Guards Horse-Artillery Brigade.
2nd Guards Cavalry Division (2-ya Gvardeyskaya Kavaleriyskaya Diviziya). Guards Corps. Headquarters, St. Petersburg, Fontanka.
- 1st Brigade: Life-Guards Horse-Grenadier Regiment, Her Sovereign Majesty Empress Maria Theodorovna's Life-Guards Lancer Regiment.
- 2nd Brigade: Life-Guards Dragoon Regiment, His Majesty's Life-Guards Hussar Regiment.
- 2nd Division of Life-Guards Horse-Artillery Brigade.
Russian Revolution
See Red Guards and White Guard main articles.
Soviet Union
Soviet Guards (Советская Гвардия in Russian, Sovetskaya Gvardiya), units and formations of the Soviet Army, which distinguished themselves in combat during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
The title of the Soviet Guards was first introduced on September 18, 1941 in accordance with the decision of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief (Ставка Верховного Главнокомандующего, or Stavka Verkhovnogo Glavnokomanduyuschego) and by the order №308 of the People's Commissar of Defense for the distinguished services during the Yelnya Offensive. The 100th, 127th, 153rd and 161st Rifle Divisions were renamed into the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Guards Divisions, respectively. The Soviet 316th Rifle Division was renamed to the 8th Guards Rifle Division on November 18, 1941, following the actions of the panfilovtsy. By 31 December 1941 the 107th, 120th, 64th, 316th, 78th, and 52nd Rifle Divisions had become the 5th through 10th Guards Rifle Divisions. Some twenty Guards Airborne Brigades were converted into 11th-16th Guards Rifle Divisions in December 1943.
The units and formations nominated for the Soviet Guard title received special Guards banner in accordance with the decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. On May 21, 1942, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR introduced Guards ranks and Guards badges to be worn of the right side of the chest. In June of 1943, they introduced the Guards Red Banners for the land forces and in February of 1944 - for the naval forces.
After the WWII a number of Guards troops were stationed in Eastern Europe, e.g., in the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany.
Russian Federation
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation has the following Guards units:
- Moscow Military District
- 20th Guards Combined Arms Army
- 4th "Kantemirovskaya" Guards Tank Division, (Cyrillic: гвардейская танковая Кантемировская дивизия)
- 2nd "Tamanskaya" Guards Motor Rifle Division, (Cyrillic: гвардейская мотострелковая Таманская дивизия)
- 10th "Uralsko-Lvovskaya" Guards Tank Division, (Cyrillic: гвардейская танковая Уральско-Львовская дивизия) (?)
- 22nd Combined Arms Army
- 3rd "Vislenskaya" Guards Motor Rifle Division, (Cyrillic: гвардейская мотострелковая Вислянская дивизия)
- 20th Guards Combined Arms Army
- Guards formations of the Air Force
- 14th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment (MiG-29) Kursk - Khalino
- 28th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment (MiG-29) Andreapol Air Base, Tver oblast
- 120th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, Domna, 27 km southwest of Chita (MiG-29)
- 42nd Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment (42 Gv BAP) (Su-24) (Verino - Pereyaslavka, Khabarovsk Kray) (to disband(?))
- Guards formations of the Airborne Troops (Cyrillic: гвардейские соединения воздушно-десантных войск):
- 7th Guards Airborne Division
- 76th Guards Air Assault Division
- 98th Guards Airborne Division
- 106th Guards Airborne Division
- 31st Guards Airborne Brigade
- 45th Guards Separate Reconnaissance Regiment
- Other units and Russian Navy ships
 | This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. |
See also
- Soviet & Russian Colours
- Ribbon of Saint George
- Russian Ground Forces
- Russian Air Force
- Russian Navy
References and sources
- David Glantz, Colossus Reborn: The Red Army at War 1941-43, University Press of Kansas, 2005, p.181
- Glantz, 2005, p.188