Uniforms and Equipment of the Old Army - Cavalry - Cuirassier Regiments - Regiment of the Gardes du Corps

The Regiment of the Gardes du Corps traces back to the eponymous unit established by Frederick the Great in the year 1740.

The garrison was always Potsdam, at times additionally Charlottenburg and Berlin.

The regiment's colonel-in-chief was regularly the Prussian king; the first regimental commander was Otto Friedrich von Blumenthal and the last regimental commander Peter Martin Count York of Wartenburg.

The formation, which belonged to the Prussian army from the aforementioned year of establishment until its dissolution on October 1, 1919, consequently had June 23, 1740 as its foundation day.

Initially only one squadron (178 men) strong, the unit was first increased to 3 (1756) and finally to 5 squadrons (1796).

At the reformation of the Prussian army in 1808 the Regiment of the Gardes du Corps was indeed retained, but at first numbered only 8 companies.

The formation only received the aforementioned name on April 24, 1855.

As of February 28, 1867, the unit again comprised 5 squadrons.

It was always an elite unit, which also served in the old Prussian army as a kind of model unit for the cavalry and was used in battle.

In the Seven Years' War it fought — not always in full strength — at Lowositz, at Prague, at Kolin, at Roßbach, at Spielberg, at Leuthen, at Hochkirch, at the siege of Dresden, at Burkerdorf and Reichenbach.

The formation was also involved in the Bavarian Succession War and in the campaign against Poland.

In the unfortunate year 1806 the unit fought at Auerstedt.

In the Wars of Liberation the Gardes du Corps were, e.g., engaged at Arcis sur Aube and in the capture of Paris, but they did not take part in the Battle of Waterloo.

In the war against Denmark the Regiment of the Garde du Corps was not directly involved.

In 1866 the unit fought, among others, in the Battle of Königgrätz and in the Franco-Prussian War, among others at St. Privat la Montagne, at Beaumont, at Sedan and at the siege of Paris, but did not have any actual combat engagements.

In the First World War the mobilized unit initially fought at the Marne and then operated in positional warfare in northern France.

Later it performed more police duties on the Belgian-Dutch border and then fought from mid-1915 on the Eastern Front. Here the formation was employed in positional warfare at Pinsk and Kowl until mid-1917.

This was followed by deployments in Galicia, Courland and Livonia and until early 1918 west of Lida (a town in western Belarus, near the border with Poland and Lithuania). Then police duties followed in the Ukraine.

On 12.11.1918 the regiment received the order to return and returned to Potsdam on 13./14.02.1919, where it was demobilized and finally disbanded on 01.10.1919.

The http://www.denkmalprojekt.org lists by name 107 killed in action, missing and deceased members of the Regiment of the Gardes du Corps in the First World War.

The koller made of white kirsey had a rounded collar and, on the Swedish cuffs, two white (old-Prussian) braids with red piping. These were embroidered in silver on the officers.

The (narrower) braids of the non-commissioned officers were patterned as with the Guard Infantry.

The white shoulder straps showed no name inscription, but had red piping.

Around the collar and the sleeve cuffs and down the front ran a red-white-red koller braid.

The collar was lowered in 1868. From 1893/95 it was almost closed at the front.

The buttons were white.

The Koller replaced the Kollet and was introduced by AKO of 23.10. and 08.12.1842.

It was closed with hooks and eyes (16), not with buttons.

The back seams and the skirt pockets had red piping.

The cut of the skirt was initially bell-shaped.

The armpit buttons on the Regiment of the Gardes du Corps displayed the company numbers.

With the Koller the metal helmet was also introduced (AKO of 22.02.1842 and 05.04.1843).

The helmet of the Regiment of the Gardes du Corps was made of Tombak and bore the silver, eight-pointed guard star as a helmet ornament at the front.

The eagle in the yellow-metal central shield was black enameled.

For officers the star was silver-plated and inlaid with enamel and gold.

On the officer's helmet the base of the spike was in four parts. It was fluted. The rosettes were star-shaped. The ventilation hole in the spike's neck had a cross shape.

For parade a nickel-silver eagle, poised to take flight, was screwed on.

This was silver-plated for the officers and had a golden crown.

The support remained the crossleaf.

Otherwise, the helmet followed the development of the cuirassier helmet.

The enlisted men's coat was - from 05.05.1894 - light gray.

The Regiment of the Gardes du Corps had a special breastplate.

This had a gilded central plate for non-commissioned officers.

For officers the central piece was red-enameled, the trophies were chased, and the rim was made of white metal.

The cuirass was covered with brass plates. For officers these were made of tombak.

The connecting straps had brass scales; among the enlisted men and non-commissioned officers they were brass chains.

Additionally, the regiment of the Gardes du Corps had cuirasses of black lacquered iron with edging of red wool or red silk for the spring parade in Potsdam.

The connecting straps were brass scales. For the officers these were gilded.

The dark blue tunic was standard issue. Collars and sleeve cuffs were ponceau red and showed guard braiding like on the koller.

It had red skirt lining for officers.

The officers' koller corresponded to that of the other ranks, but could be made of cloth.

The braiding consisted of silver embroidery.

The officers' epaulettes and shoulder pieces had silver panels or protruding elements.

As mentioned, the metal plates applied to the officers' cuirasses were made of tombac.

The scales were gilded.

The officers also had a red gala coat. Mila describes it (History of the Clothing and Equipment of the Royal Prussian Army 1808 - 1878, Berlin 1878 (reprint Krefeld 1970, p. 162)) as follows: "For the grand court gala the officers of the two guard regiments wore ponceau-red dress coats, as described in § 572, with silver buttons, Swedish cuffs, square-cut collars; on each cuff and each side of the collar two silver braids; epaulettes like on the koller; for the Regiment du Corps dark blue collars, cuffs and coat facings, for the Guard Cuirassier Regiment cornflower-blue collars and cuffs with white facing and white coat facings. With these coats, at large court ceremonies, white breeches and high cavalry boots with stiff shafts, cartridge pouch and pallasch were worn; at large court balls long white breeches of kasimir (= cloth made of cotton) with braid, no sashes and no cartridge pouch, and instead of the pallasch the dress sword was worn."

From the beginning of 1900 the officers of the Regiment of the Garde du Corps wore the supraweste, the cover for the saber pocket and the bandolier of red velvet.

The waistcoat, the pocket, the cartridge pouch and the bandolier were trimmed with silver patterned braid or embroidered in silver.

The Regiment of the Gardes du Corps had a special gala guard uniform.

Its conspicuous component was the so-called Supraweste.

This was a red wool vest with a continuous white braid and a (front) applied guard star with a hand-embroidered center in the rank-and-file style.

The vest had hooks on the sides for fastening.

Inside the vest was lined with linen.

In addition, beginning in 1883, a saber pouch was worn. This saber pouch was made of leather dyed juchten-red and had an edging in double Koller braid.

It also displayed the curved monogram FR and above it a crown made of white braid.

The saber pouch was attached to the belt with white straps.

The white trousers were made of wash leather.

The high black Kanonen boots were made of stiff glossy leather.

On the Koller and on the Waffenrock the trumpeters, as usual, wore swallow's nests.

These were trimmed with regimental braid. In the Guard the braids were patterned.

In addition, the sleeves of the Koller had a special braid trimming. The Koller had braid trimming on the sleeve seam and on the sleeves, set crosswise eleven times. The shoulder straps were also made of braid trimming. The swallow's nests were white and also trimmed with braid.

The latter were provided with fringes on the staff trumpeter. He also had 12 transverse braids.

Trumpeters never wore cuirasses.

For parade the eagle was also attached; previously the trumpeters had red hair plumes.

Incidentally, the trumpeters did not wear Suprawesten for the gala.

The cuirassiers received high, old-Brandenburg-style boots, which had already been trialed since the mid-1850s. These became mandatory for the ranks from 1867.

The shafts were pulled up. During foot duty they were pushed down.

Later (from 1886) gaiter boots came into use

The Garde du Corps wore white trousers of kirsey with white piping. The latter was later omitted. The white trousers were also trimmed with white riding leather.

There were also cloth breeches and stable trousers.

Attached spurs were used on the shoes and boots.

In addition, white gauntlet gloves were in use.

The cuirassiers' armament initially included the pallasch. From 1814 captured French pieces came into use. These were also to be retained by the Garde du Corps.

Regarding the pallasches there were then two variants, namely French and Russian. The former had three side bars, the latter two. The basket was made of brass.

The grip was made of twisted brass wire.

Officers wore so-called thrusting swords with the small-dress and off-duty uniforms.

The guard officers had the small silver guard star on the hilt of the pallasch and the sword.

From 1888 the cuirassiers had lances made of wood, from 1890 of cast iron. The carrying strap was white.

As firearms pistols and — from 1888 generally — carbines (M 1871) were in use. The former were replaced from 1883 by the Revolver 79.

The cartridge pouch had a lid fitting, namely a silvered star. For officers it was a silver-enamelled star.

The usual belt was white, as was the bandolier.

From 1883 the gala guard uniform included a white bandolier trimmed with red braid and a white belt likewise trimmed with red braid.

The cartridge pouch was then also made of white leather, adorned with koller braid and a silvered star.

The shabraques and the shabrunken were dark blue with white trim.

In the rear corners of the shabraques and on the shabruncken was the star of the Order of the Black Eagle.

Its orange-colored medallion showed the black eagle with yellow talons, crown, etc. The wreath was green and the crown above it was embroidered in light yellow.

For officers it was silver embroidery or silver braid.