# Your country's oldest regiment?



## Lucky13 (Dec 28, 2013)

​Sweden's, possibly the world's oldest, is Svea Livgarde, 1521-.... Their role is reconnaissance and ceremonial..
Their mottos are; Possunt nec Posse Videntur (They can what it seems they cannot or they do what seems impossible). Motto of the Guards Battalion; Attityd är allt (Attitude is everything), Gardet dör, men ger sig icke (The Guard dies, it does not surrender)... 

Battle Honours; Swedish War of Liberation (1521), Rain (1631), Lützen (1632), Oldendorf (1633), Wittstock (1636), Leipzig (1642), Warszawa (1656), Fredriksodde (1657), March across the Belts (1658.), Halmstad (1676), Lund (1676), Landskrona (1677), Narva (1700), Düna (1701), Kliszow (1702), Pultusk (1703), Holowczyn (1708.), Helsingborg (1710), Svensksund (1790)







Officer of the Swedish Lifeguards at the 2007 Bastille Day Military Parade in Paris.​
My own regiment was 358 years, when it lowered the Swedish flag for the last time 2004/12/31...

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## stona (Dec 28, 2013)

1537.....Honourable Artillery Company. I think they started out with Longbows 

Cheers

Steve


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## fubar57 (Dec 28, 2013)

The Royal Canadian Regiment - formed December, 1883. Keep in mind that Canada became a country in 1867.
Motto: Pro Patria - For Country
Currently four battalions
Battle Honors:The War of 1812: Detroit, Niagara, Defence of Canada – 1812–1815
:The North West Rebellion: Saskatchewan, North West Canada 1885
:South Africa: Paardeberg, South Africa 1899–1900
:The Great War: Ypres 1915, 1917, Gravenstafel, St Julien, Festubert, Mount Sorrel, Somme 1916, Pozières, Flers-Courcelette, Ancre Heights, Arras 1917, 1918, Scarpe 1917,1918,
:Hill 70, Passchendaele, Amiens, Drocourt-Queant, Hindenburg Line, Canal du Nord, Cambrai 1918, Pursuit To Mons, France and Flanders 1915–1918.
:The Second World War: Landing In Sicily, Agira, Regalbuto, Landing at Reggio, Campabasso, San Leonardo, Ortona, Gustav Line, Hitler Line, Lamone Crossing, Valguarnera, Adrano
:Sicily 1943, Motta Montecorvino, Torella, The Gully, Cassino II, Liri Valley, Gothic Line, Misano Ridge, Rimini Line, Pisciatello, Italy 1943–1945, North West Europe 1945
:San Martino-San Lorenzo, Fosso Vecchio, Apeldoorn 
:The Korean War: Korea 1951–1953 
(From Wikipedia)
Geo

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## Lucky13 (Dec 28, 2013)

Interesting stuff gentlemen!


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## Lucky13 (Dec 28, 2013)

My regiments campaigns;
The Thirty Years' War 1647–1649 
The Northern Wars 1655–1658
The Scanian War 1675–1679(?)
The Great Northern War 1700–1721
The Gustav III's Russian War 1788–1790
The Finnish War 1808–1809
The Campaign against Norway 1814

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## GrauGeist (Dec 28, 2013)

For the United States, it would be the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, United States Army. The regiment has been active since 1784 and they bear the nickname of "The Old Guard".


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## Marcel (Dec 28, 2013)

Regiment Johan Willem Friso, 1577.
80-year war, 10 days campaign, Grebbeberg and The Hague, Libanon, Bosnie, Afghanistan. Long history.

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## Lucky13 (Dec 28, 2013)




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## BikerBabe (Dec 28, 2013)

Sjællandske Livregiment, founded Nov. 16th, 1614 by king Christian IV.

Pic showing a musketeer from the regiment, founding year.

View attachment 250866

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## vikingBerserker (Dec 28, 2013)

Lucky13 said:


> ​Sweden's, possibly the world's oldest, is Svea Livgarde, 1521-.... Their role is reconnaissance and ceremonial..
> Their mottos are; Possunt nec Posse Videntur (They can what it seems they cannot or they do what seems impossible). Motto of the Guards Battalion; Attityd är allt (Attitude is everything), Gardet dör, men ger sig icke (The Guard dies, it does not surrender)...
> 
> Battle Honours; Swedish War of Liberation (1521), Rain (1631), Lützen (1632), Oldendorf (1633), Wittstock (1636), Leipzig (1642), Warszawa (1656), Fredriksodde (1657), March across the Belts (1658.), Halmstad (1676), Lund (1676), Landskrona (1677), Narva (1700), Düna (1701), Kliszow (1702), Pultusk (1703), Holowczyn (1708.), Helsingborg (1710), Svensksund (1790)
> ...




I would have guessed the Swiss Guard being the oldest, very impressive Jan.​


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## GrauGeist (Dec 28, 2013)

The Papal Swiss guards date back to 1506, the Yeoman Warders date to 1485, several U.S. state guard units date back to the 1600's (States such as Virginia are disqualified because of the civil war, breaking their continious service) and there's also the Imperial Guards of Edo, though I'm not sure if their service was officially interrupted at the close of WWII or not.


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## pbehn (Dec 28, 2013)

Lucky13 said:


> ​Sweden's, possibly the world's oldest, is Svea Livgarde, 1521-.... Their role is reconnaissance and ceremonial..
> Their mottos are; Possunt nec Posse Videntur (They can what it seems they cannot or they do what seems impossible). Motto of the Guards Battalion; Attityd är allt (Attitude is everything), Gardet dör, men ger sig icke (The Guard dies, it does not surrender)...
> 
> Battle Honours; Swedish War of Liberation (1521), Rain (1631), Lützen (1632), Oldendorf (1633), Wittstock (1636), Leipzig (1642), Warszawa (1656), Fredriksodde (1657), March across the Belts (1658.), Halmstad (1676), Lund (1676), Landskrona (1677), Narva (1700), Düna (1701), Kliszow (1702), Pultusk (1703), Holowczyn (1708.), Helsingborg (1710), Svensksund (1790)
> ...




dunno about the oldest regiment but the flag of St Cuthbert needs a mention he died in AD 687 and his colours were still being carried into battle against the Scots 600 yrs later

The inhabitants of the Palatinate became known as the haliwerfolc, which roughly translates as "people of the saint", and Cuthbert gained a reputation as being fiercely protective of his domain.[23] For example, there is a story that at the Battle of Neville's Cross in 1346, the Prior of the Abbey at Durham received a vision of Cuthbert, ordering him to take the corporax cloth of the saint and raise it on a spear point near the battlefield as a banner. Doing this, the Prior and his monks found themselves protected "by the mediation of holy St Cuthbert and the presence of the said holy Relic."[24] Whether the story of the vision is true or not, the banner of St Cuthbert was regularly carried in battle against the Scots until the Reformation,


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## Lucky13 (Dec 28, 2013)

GrauGeist said:


> The Papal Swiss guards date back to 1506, the Yeoman Warders date to 1485, several U.S. state guard units date back to the 1600's (States such as Virginia are disqualified because of the civil war, breaking their continious service) and there's also the Imperial Guards of Edo, though I'm not sure if their service was officially interrupted at the close of WWII or not.



Are those real regiments though, aren't they more like a lifeguard? Also, didn't the Swiss start out as mercenaries and weren't they disbanded as well?


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## Lucky13 (Dec 28, 2013)

As for the Yeoman Warders, the 'Beefeaters';

_The Beefeaters, are ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London. In principle they are responsible for looking after any prisoners in the Tower and safeguarding the British crown jewels, but in practice they act as tour guides and are a tourist attraction in their own right, a point the Yeoman Warders acknowledge....

Plus....

All warders are retired from the Armed Forces of Commonwealth realms and must be former senior non-commissioned officers with at least 22 years of service. They must also hold the Long Service and Good Conduct medal._


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## GrauGeist (Dec 28, 2013)

The Swiss Guards were real regiments who's service could be employed, including the courts of the French, Austrians, Prussians, Portugese and the Netherlands. The Swiss Diet determins who and where the Guards are sent to and a entity (city/state) or person (Monarch/Pope) can petition the Diet for Guards.

The Papal Swiss guards had been employed on and off between 1471 and 1503, but were once again employed by the Vatican and started thier march to work in September 1505, reaching the Vatican in January 1506 and have been on duty ever since.


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## Lucky13 (Dec 28, 2013)

So that's not a continuous (right word?) service then? Still refer to them starting out as mercenaries though...


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## GrauGeist (Dec 29, 2013)

Well, continuous from 1506 to date, which is quite a stretch, really. And as far as mercinaries go, they were but in a fully military sense. They were an official military unit of a standing army and it wasn't unusual for a military to "rent" or "loan" thier soldiers for additional income. The British even had German mercinary troops (Hessians) that were used in the American Revolution.

So while the Swiss Guard may be referred to as mercinaries, they were still full Swiss military on active duty.


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## Lucky13 (Dec 29, 2013)

Heard of those Hessians....
Then again, I thought that the mercenaries were looked down upon by, eerrrmmmm......what word am I looking for here.....oh cr*p.....anyway, that they were looked down upon by the 'normal' military as not being proper and nothing but a necessary evil.... 

I've also seen that 'By the mid 1540′s the climate seemed right to re-institute the Guard in the Vatican.' and 'By the time of Paul III’s death in 1549, the Swiss Guard under von Meggen was fully entrenched in the Vatican and had resumed its old authority.'

So at some point after 1506 the Swiss Guard were disbanded....

Need to look more into those Hessians....that's what you get when unwell and can't sleep! 

Pint?


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## stona (Dec 29, 2013)

You have to be careful defining the word mercenary. The modern use of the word in a sort of 'dogs of war' context is quite different from its original meaning. I've even heard the Gurkhas described as mercenaries.

If you want a long list of honours check out the Gloucestershire Regiment, now sadly 'merged'. I was involved in their tercentenary celebrations back in '94, an enormous piss up that was. The fantastically named Capt. Evelyn Bufton-Morriss with whom I was working, every other serving member of the regiment and every single old comrade was keen to tell me that they had more battle honours than any other line regiment of the British Army. I think they were worried that I might have missed this important point! Their 'Colours' are certainly quite crowded! Some even mentioned the Distinguished Unit Citation awarded by the US President during the Korean 'war', a unique award to a British regiment. There were a few old boys who had been on Hill 327 at the celebration.

Cheers

Steve


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## Lucky13 (Dec 29, 2013)

Quite a few Victoria Crosses as well!


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## stona (Dec 29, 2013)

Indeed. How the merging and downsizing of all these famous old county regiments can maintain their history and traditions I don't know. The Glosters first merged with the Berkshires and Wiltshires shortly after the tercentenary. They then merged with the Royal Green Jackets and the Devons and Dorsets to form a Light Infantry battalion in The Rifles.

In my opinion all those famous regiments (and I forgot the Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment involved in the first merge) have been diluted out of existence. This is not a good thing. If British soldiers fight for one thing it's the regiment.

Cheers

Steve


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## Lucky13 (Dec 29, 2013)

True mate!
Same as up here, if I remember correctly, they merged all the Scottish Regiments into one single regiment, no more Black Watch, Royal Scots etc., etc..


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## michaelmaltby (Dec 29, 2013)

Hessian (soldiers) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Many settled in Canada with land grants after the British defeat.

MM


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## yulzari (Dec 29, 2013)

The 'Hessians' of course refers to the soldiers of many German states within and without Hesse. They were termed ' foreign troops in British pay' as they remained in the armies of their home countries. Regiments within the British army were raised from foreign volunteers, such as the Royal Corsican Rangers, Sicilian Regiment or the Chasseurs Brittaniques. In all these cases they were not mercenaries in the sense of being a private army rented out to the highest bidder but merely composed of non British volunteers.

The most famous is probably the Kings German Legion who were, arguably, the best troops in the British Army in the Napoleonic Wars. Or at least comparable to the best.

Indeed a list of British Regiments recruited from foreigners would be quite long The Portugese Army in the Peninsula War was so well integrated into working with the British Army that they, effectively, became part of one force and their return to Portugal when Spain was liberated was a sore loss when the fighting moved into France. I gather no such sentiment was felt for the Spanish forces.

The Royal Navy was even blinder to nationality and it's seamen came from wherever they could get them (not usually pressed men despite the myth). Some of the sailors of Nelson at Trafalgar were French or Spanish and black sailors were common enough not to need comment.


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## stona (Dec 29, 2013)

A quick look at the Army's rugby team will usually reveal men from the Commonwealth, particularly nations like Fiji. We've still got the Nepalese (Gurkhas) too.
Cheers
Steve


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## Alex . (Dec 29, 2013)

So just like the French Foreign Legion nowadays?...I once said to my dad I wanted to head off to them. Glad I didn't now. 

Used to work with a Fijian chap, built like brick sh*t houses!


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## Lucky13 (Dec 29, 2013)

One of my platoon leaders was ex French Foreign Legion, he was.....well, unique!


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## stona (Dec 29, 2013)

Alex . said:


> Used to work with a Fijian chap, built like brick sh*t houses!



I've played rugby against a few 'islanders', luckily in pre-professional days, and can confirm your assessment 

Cheers

Steve


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## swampyankee (Jan 3, 2014)

Some of the US National Guard regiments claim histories that are longer than the 3rd Regiments (Old Guard), but they are not really active. Wikipedia claims the oldest is the 182nd Infantry Regiment (182nd Infantry Regiment (United States) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). Wikipedia also claims the [Connecticut] Governor's Foot Guard traces back to 1771 (Governor's Foot Guard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). I think that calling the latter a "military" unit is now _very_ shaky, as I do think it no longer undergoes any military training.


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## mikewint (Jan 3, 2014)

Dave, Swampy beat me to it, but to my knowledge the 182 Infantry was organized on Oct. 7, 1636. The regiment served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, with Union forces in the American Civil War, and as a federalized Massachusetts National Guard regiment with the U.S. Army during World War I and World War II. That's some 378 years


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## Totalize (Jan 3, 2014)

Great information guys,

Makes me proud of my European ancestry despite being a multi generational North American.


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## Lucky13 (Sep 15, 2017)

My old ranger regiment, had it still been around today, should have been 371 years old!
Suddenly, 48 isn't that bad! lol


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## swampyankee (Sep 15, 2017)

Massachusetts' 182nd Infantry was founded in 1636 and one battalion remains in service


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## Shortround6 (Sep 15, 2017)

swampyankee said:


> Some of the US National Guard regiments claim histories that are longer than the 3rd Regiments (Old Guard), but they are not really active. Wikipedia claims the oldest is the 182nd Infantry Regiment (182nd Infantry Regiment (United States) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). Wikipedia also claims the [Connecticut] Governor's Foot Guard traces back to 1771 (Governor's Foot Guard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). I think that calling the latter a "military" unit is now _very_ shaky, as I do think it no longer undergoes any military training.



I was a member of the 2nd Company GFG for many years. There is a 1st Company GFG and one company of Horse Guard (there were two in the 80s/early 90s).

Military training is sketchy at best, although they do "March" in parades. They do one week of summer camp although attendance is not mandatory. You can get "orders" excusing you from your job though  

Weapons, last I knew, were 1903 Springfields and Brown Bess muskets. 2nd Company also has some Krags owned by the "command" as are the Brown Besses. The 1903s are owned by the state of Connecticut. There are a few .45 1911s around. 

You _cannot _belong to the any of the Governor's Guards and the National Guard at the same time as your name shows up on two different "payroll" lists (not the Governor's Guard ever actually gets paid) and if the Governor goes completely crazy he can activate the Guards. 

Governor's Guard units have provided small details to cover Military funerals (firing squads and Buglers) and occasionally security details for crowd control (read line/queue control) during times of high personnel demand for regular National Guard units in the last 10/15 years. 

These have been _requests _for manpower vs "activating" the unit/s.


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## swampyankee (Sep 15, 2017)

The Governor's Foot Guards and Horse Guards haven't had a real military role for decades. However, the 182nd Infantry from Massachusetts has been used: National Guard troops go 'down under' to train with Australian soldiers in Talisman Saber 17


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## Shortround6 (Sep 15, 2017)

That is true.

There are a number of these old Military "units" in the states along the east coast.
They are known as the Centennial Legion 
http://www.centenniallegion.com/

when formed in 1876.


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## michaelmaltby (Sep 16, 2017)

Royal Canadian Regiment, 1863

The Royal Canadian Regiment - Wikipedia


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## swampyankee (Sep 16, 2017)

I remember reading there's a Spanish regiment which claims to have been continually serving since something like 1248.


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## Elmas (Sep 16, 2017)

Brigata meccanizzata "Granatieri di Sardegna" - Wikipedia

Until 2004, when in Italy was abolished National Service, to be admitted in this Regiment a guy was to be at least 190 cm tall, reduced to 180 cm afterwards.


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