Life Guard Horse Regiment


The Imperial Guards' Horse Regiment was a cavalry regiment of the Imperial guard of Russian Empire. The regiment was founded in the reign of Peter the Great on March 25, 1721 and this day became the regiment's feast.

History

Chief Officer and Reiter of the Life Guard Horse Regiment. 1731-1742
Headquarters officer and non-commissioned officer of the Life Guards Horse Regiment. 1814–1828
The uniform of the Imperial Guards' Horse Regiment in 1848
Formed on March 7, 1721 from the Dragoon Leib Squadron Prince Alexander Danilovich Menshikov, Domovoy Dragoon Company General Field Marshal Graf Sheremetev and the Dragoon Company of St. Petersburg Governorate called Kronshlodt Dragoon.
On December 21, 1725, modeled after the Swedish regiments, the regiment was reorganized into the Guards' regiment and was staffed exclusively by nobles. Unlike other dragoons, the regiment received a red color and camisoles with golden cords; equipment and weapons were the same with the guard; instead of one pistol, two, and there were no axes. The Guards Regiment was granted the timpani of the Swedish Horse Guards taken from them at the Battle of Poltava on July 8, 1709.
On December 31, 1730, the regiment was named the Horse Guards and was given all the rights of the guard - thus the beginning of the regular guards cavalry. The regiment consisted from 5 squadrons of 2 companies each, a total of 1,423 people, of which 1,111 were front-line officers. Empress Anna Ioannovna accepted the rank of colonel or chief of the regiment; then this title was worn by Peter III of Russia and Catherine the Great.
The casual uniform of the horse guards was similar to the dragoons, differing only in the jacket's red color and the pants. The parade uniform consisted of a tunic, undertail and pants made from buckskin leather, an iron half - sleeve with copper elements, a broadsword on the waist belt, a carbine without a bayonet with a sash and two pistols. Equipment and horse headgear were similar to the dragoons. Since the time of Empress Anna Ioannovna, the regiment was staffed mainly by the Ostsee Germans.
In 1737, the regiment for the first time took part in the hostilities: during the Russo-Turkish war its three companies out of ten fought for taking of Ochakov and in the Battle of Stavuchany.
Emperor Paul I of Russia made the regiment a part of his Gatchina troops and in year 1800 he appointed Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich of Russia as the chief of the regiment.
In 1801, Emperor Alexander I named the regiment of the Life Guards Equestrian. Regimental rulers were considered the chiefs of the regiment after the death of Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich of Russia.
In 1805, the regiment took part in the Austrian campaign against Great Army of Emperor Napoleon, and on November 20 it participated in the Battle of Austerlitz. All five squadrons of the regiment under the command of Major General Ivan Yankovich, along with the Imperial Guards' Hussars, attacked a battalion of French infantry. Privates of the 3rd platoon of the 2nd squadron Gavrilov, Omelchenko, Ushakov and Lazunov captured an honorary trophy - the French battalion "eagle" of the 4th linear regiment. For this distinction, the inscription “For the capture of the enemy banner under Austerlitz on November 20, 1805” was placed on the regiment standard.
In 1807, the Horse Guards participated in the battles of Heilsberg and Friedland. On July 2 at Friedland, the regiment attacked and overturned the French cavalry and then broke into the infantry regiments. The 4th squadron of the regiment under the command of the captain Duke I. M. Vadbolsky, at cost of heavy losses, saved the regiment from the counterattack of French cavalry. In the cavalry attack, 16 officers and 116 lower ranks of the regiment were killed.
The regiment distinguished itself in the battle of Borodino, together with the Cavalier Guard Regiment attacking the Cuirassier Lorges division from the Latour-Maubour corps at the Raevsky battery. For this fight, 32 officers, horse guards were awarded orders.
In April 1813, the regiment was awarded the St. George standard with the inscription "For distinction in the defeat and expulsion of the enemy from the limits of Russia in 1812."
In 1813, the regiment participated in the Foreign Campaign of Russian Army: on August 16–18, 1813 at Kulm, on October 4–6, 1813 at Leipzig and on March 13, 1814 at Fer-Champenoise. For the last battle the regiment received 22 St. George pipes with the inscription "For courage against the enemy at Fer-Champenoise on March 13, 1814." On March 19, 1814, the regiment entered Paris. For this campaign, the regiment was awarded with St. George standard.
On December 14, 1825, the regiment participated in the suppression of rebellion on Senate Square in Saint Petersburg. This day, private of 3rd squadron Pavel Panyuta was shot dead.
On August 25–26, 1831, two regiment battalions participated in the suppression of Polish rebellion and taking of Warsaw. From 1835 to 1846, many officers of the regiment volunteers participated in the Caucasian War. In 1849, the regiment participated in the suppression of the revolt in Hungary. During the Crimean War, the regiment carried the service of guarding the coast of the Gulf of Finland from Peterhof to St. Petersburg in case of an Anglo-French landing. In 1877 – 78 years, many officers of the regiment volunteers went to the Russian-Turkish war. In the Russo-Japanese War, the regiment did not participate in the battles, but several officers and 28 lower ranks of the regiment volunteered to the front.
In 1914, the regiment marched to the German front as part of the 1st Army, General Rennenkampf. On August 6, he participated in the battle of Kaushen, where the guards on foot, without lying down, attacked the German battery, covered with machine guns. The regiment suffered heavy losses. The outcome of the attack was decided by the cavalry attack of the Life Squadron under the command of the captain P. N. Wrangel, during which almost all the squadron officers were killed.
On July 28, 1917, the regiment was renamed Horse Guards. In December, the regiment began disbanding. On December 19, the first division was disbanded near Zhmerinka, and the second division disbanded. The officers and part of the lower ranks went home, and about 150 lower ranks returned to the barracks in Petrograd, where in February - March 1918 the regiment was finally disbanded.
From the lower ranks and non-commissioned officers of the guards who returned to Petrograd in January 1918, the Petrograd Soviet formed the 1st Mounted Regiment of the Red Army, and according to other data 23.
The regimental association in emigration by 1931 numbered 105, by 1951 - 50 people. In 1953 - 1967, she published the annual journal “Vesnik of the Horse Guards Association” on the rotator.

The Colonels of the Horse Guards and the regimental chefs

Chefs of the formation:
Nicholas I and Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich among officers of the Life Guards of the Horse Regiment.
Chief Officer and Trumpeter of Her Majesty and L. Guv. Equestrian regiments. 1845.
12/31/1730 - 12.15.1731 - General-in-Chief, Count Yaguzhinsky, Pavel Ivanovich
12.15.1731 - хх.05.1736 - Adjutant General, Lieutenant-General Prince Shakhovskoy, Alexey Ivanovich
hh.hh.1736 - 02.05.1738 - Major General von Trautfetter, Burchard Ernest
January 28, 1993 - November 9, 1740 - Crown Prince of Courland Count von Biron, Peter Ernst
November 10, 1740 - January 24, 1763 - Major General Liven, Yuri Grigorievich
09/05/1748 - 03/06/1762 - General-in-Chief Count Razumovsky, Alexei Grigorievich
06/28/1762 - 11/04/1780 - General-in-Chief Prince Volkonsky, Mikhail Nikitich
03/25/1764 - 13.04.1783 - Adjutant-General, Lieutenant-General Count Orlov, Grigory Grigorievich
21.11.1784 - 11.25.1796 - Field Marshal Count Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky, Petr Aleksandrovich
08.09.1790 - 11.17.1796 - Adjutant-General, Count-General, Count Saltykov, Ivan Petrovich

Regiment commanders

Emperor Nicholas I in the uniform of the Life Guards Equestrian Regiment. Portrait of Vladimir Sverchkov, Museum of the Guard, St. Petersburg
xx.xx.1731 - 02.05.1738 - junior lieutenant colonel of the guard and Major General von Trautfeter, Burchard Ernest
11/10/1740 - xh.xx.1744 - Lieutenant Colonel of the Guard and Major General Liven, Yuri Grigorievich
xx.xx.1744 - xx.xx.1761 - prime minister of the guard and major general Prince Cherkassky, Pyotr Borisovich
xx.xx.1761 - 07.24.1762 - Prime Minister of the Guard and Major General Berger Yakov
07/24/176262 - 01/01/1764 - Major Guard seconds and lieutenant-general Prince Cherkassky, Petr Petrovich
01/01/1764 - 10/09/1767 - captain Prince Golitsyn, Petr Yakovlevich
09/22/1767 - 03/05/1781 - Prime Minister of the Guard and Major General Davydov, Ivan Ivanovich
03.05.1781 - 02.06.1788 - Prime-Major of the Guard and Major-General Mikhelson, Ivan Ivanovich
06/02/1788 - 05/17/1978 - Prime Minister of the Guard Bobarykin, Petr Ivanovich
17.05.1789 - 06.06.1789 - second major of the guard and brigadier Rimsky-Korsakov, Alexander Mikhailovich
06/18/1979 - 3/5/1792 - Prime Major of the Guard Bobarykin, Petr Ivanovich
11.24.1792 - 01.28.1793 - Prime Minister of the Guard and Major General Sheremetev, Vasily Sergeevich
01.28.1793 - 09.10.1797 - Major Guard Seconds and Major General Vasilchikov, Grigory Alekseevich
September 10, 1997 - November 24, 1797 - Colonel Muravyov, Pyotr Semenovich
24.11.1797 - 02.03.1798 - Lieutenant-General Baron von der Palen, Petr Alekseevich
02.03.1798 - 03.03.1798 - Major General Muravyov, Pyotr Semenovich
03/18/1978 - 01/05/1800 - Lieutenant-General Prince Golitsyn, Boris Andreevich
January 26, 1800 - August 14, 1800 - Major General Karakulin, Mikhail Sergeevich
08/14/1800 - 10/04/1800 - Colonel Jankovic de Mirievo, Ivan Fedorovich
10/05/1800 - 12/08/1800 - Adjutant General, Major General Kozhin, Sergey Alekseevich
12/08/1800 - 01/26/1803 - Lieutenant General Tormasov, Alexander Petrovich
February 4, 1980 - February 13, 1811 - Jankovic de Mirievo, Ivan Fedorovich
The Most High Prince Vladimir Dmitrievich Golitsyn in the everyday uniform of the Life Guards of the Horse Regiment. 1865
06/06/1811 - 1/16/1819 - Colonel Arsenyev, Mikhail Andreevich
01/16/1819 - 04/21/1828 - Major General Orlov, Alexey Fedorovich
04/21/1828 - 05/27/1833 - Major General Baron Offenberg, Fedor Petrovich
05/27/1833 - 12/06/1837 - Major General Svita Baron Meyendorf, Yegor Fedorovich
December 6, 1837 - 05/09/1844 - Major General Essen, Anton Antonovich
05/09/1844 - 12/06/1885 - Major General Lanskoy, Petr Petrovich
December 6, 1853 - December 27, 1855 - Major General Svita Count Lambert, Karl Karlovich
12.28.1855 - 08.30.1864 - aide-lodge colonel the Most High Prince Golitsyn, Vladimir Dmitrievich
August 30, 1864 - May 23, 1869 - Major General Svity, Count von Grabbe, Nikolai Pavlovich
05/23/1869 - 01/16/1871 - Major General Svita Manvelov, Alexander Nikolaevich
01/16/1871 - 07/27/1875 - Major General Svita Count Protasov-Bakhmetev, Nikolay Alekseevich
July 27, 1875 - July 14, 1883 - Major General Svita Baron Frederiks, Vladimir Borisovich
July 14, 1883 - July 24, 1884 - aide-lodge, Colonel Prince Baryatinsky, Alexander Vladimirovich
08/18/1984 - 11/20/1890 - Major General Blok, Konstantin Aleksandrovich
11.20.1890 - 11.08.1896 - adjutant wing, Colonel Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich
August 11, 1896 - 05/25/1901 - Major General Prince Odoyevsky-Maslov, Nikolai Nikolayevich
05/25/1901 - 06/24/1904 - Major General Gerngross, Yevgeny Aleksandrovich
July 10, 1904 - July 4, 1906 - Major General Svita Prince Bagration-Mukhransky, Alexander Iraklievich
07/04/1906 - 04/15/1911 - Major General Svita Nakhichevan, Huseyn Khan
04/15/1911 - 10/03/1914 - the adjutant wing colonel Skoropadsky, Pavel Petrovich
03.10.1914 - 04.23.1917 - Major General Svita Gartman, Boris Egorovich
05/14/1917 - 08/09/1917 - Colonel Staroselsky, Vsevolod Dmitrievich
08/09/1917 - xx.12.1917 - Major General Alenich, Mikhail Evgrafovich

Appearance

The lower ranks of the regiment were completed from high burning brunettes with mustaches.
The general regimental suit of horses is black, and among trumpeters from 1737 the color of horses is gray .

Battle Differences

St. George's standard with St. Andrew’s jubilee ribbon and inscriptions: “For the capture of the enemy banner at Austerlitz and for the distinction of the defeat and expulsion of the enemy from the limits of Russia in 1812” and “1730-1830”.
22 St. George's pipe, with the words "Fere-Champenoise."
Silver timpani with the inscription: "Sub. Felicissimo, cersemine Potentissime Regissvecia Carolus XII cum. Polonis Saxon. Tart. Woloscis et noc formen icta globum, hostitis Clitzoviam in Pol. 1702 ". Belonged to the Swedish Mounted Guard, repulsed at the Perevolochny and granted to the Life-squadron of Prince Menshikov; after the formation of the Life Guards of the Horse Regiment, they were handed over to the arsenal, then they were kept in the Court Church in Strelna and on July 4, 1827, they were again issued to the regiment.
Regimental buildings
At the end of the reign of Catherine II, the building of the Horse Guards Regiment was transferred to the barracks of the Tauride Palace - the residence of Prince Potyomkin-Tauride, presented to him by the empress, and after his death in 1791, returned to the treasury. After the murder of Paul, the emperor Alexander I again included the building in the number of imperial residences. In exchange for the construction of barracks, stables and arena, a section was laid between Konnogvardeisky Boulevard and Admiralteyskaya Street, bounded by Senate Square on one side and Malaya Lugovaya Street - on the other.

Manege

Horse Guards Manege
Horse Guards Manege was erected in the years 1804-1807 by the architect Giacomo Quarenghi. The building in classical style, stretched between Konnogvardeisky Boulevard and Admiralteyskaya Street faces to Senatskaya Square and Aleksandrovsky Garden with its facade.
Between 1931 and 1934, the prisoner “ sharashka ”, architect N. Ye. Lancere, carried out the reconstruction of the arena under the OGPU garage: a second floor with leading ramps was built on it.
Since 1967, the building of the former Horse Guards Manege has been used as an exhibition hall.

Barracks

Horse Guards Barracks

At the same time with the arena the buildings of regimental stables and barracks were built:
No. 4 on Konnogvardeisky Boulevard. Since 2008, this building houses the Museum of Russian Vodka.
No. 6 on Konnogvardeisky Boulevard.
Church
In 1844-1849, near the barracks, on the Sea Meadow, a regimental temple was erected - the Church of the Annunciation. The building in the “ Russian style ”, designed by the architect Konstantin Ton, was demolished shortly after the church closed in 1929 under the pretext of “constraining the tram traffic”. The foundations, the cave church and the necropolis were destroyed in the mid-1990s during the construction of an underground shopping complex.
Famous horse guards
See Category: Horse Guards

Literature