Imperial Russian Guard

Leib Guard ( _ru. Ле́йб-гва́рдия, from German "Leib", meaning "body"; cf Life Guards) were military units serving as personal guards of the Emperor of Russia. Peter the Great founded the first such units following the Prussian practice in the 1690s, to replace the politically-motivated Streltsy.

Organization

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.

Ranks

Every soldier and officer of the Guard had the style "of the Leib Guard" (Лейб-гвардии ...), for example: "Colonel of the Leib Guard" (Лейб-гвардии полковник). It is a misconception that the monarch himself functioned as the commander of the Leib Guard regiments, so only he and some members of royal family could hold a title of Colonel (Polkovnik) of the Guards, but in fact there were many guards officers in the rank of colonel.

Commissioned officers enjoyed a two-grade elevation in the Table of Ranks over regular army officers; this later changed to a one-grade elevation -- first for the "New Guards" then for the rest of the Leib Guard. Following the abolition of the rank of Major in 1884, most grades below VII shifted one position upwards, effectively returning to those of the "Old Guards".

References

See also

* Table of Ranks
* Russian military ranks
* [http://napoleonistyka.atspace.com/Russian_guard.htm Russian Imperial Guard During the Napoleonic Wars]