This week, let’s look at the oldest German Infantry Regiment…
115th Life Guard Infantry Regiment (1st Grand Ducal Hessian)
The Leibgarde-Infanterie-Regiment (1. Großherzoglich Hessisches) Nr.115 was originally formed on 1 March 1621 as the Kompanie Dreßler. and therefore had the honour of being the oldest regiment in the German army. In 1630 they became the Fürstliche Leib-Kompanie.
The unit fought in almost every European war of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: the Thirty Years War, the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg, the War of Spanish Succession, the War of Polish Succession, the War of Austrian Succession, the Seven Years War, the American War of Independence at the Battle of Saratoga and the Siege of Charlestown and the French Revolutionary Wars.
Hesse-Darmstadt allied with France in the Confederation of the Rhine and the regiment fought against Prussia in 1806-07, against Austria in 1809, against Britain in the Peninsular Campaign 1809-12, against Russia in the Invasion of Russia in 1812 and against Prussia and the Sixth Coalition at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. After the Battle of Leipzig they fought against the French during the War of Liberation and the following allied invasion of France in 1814-15.
In 1848-49 the regiment was deployed to fight revolutionaries in Baden, while at the same time the IV Battalion fought against Denmark in the First Schleswig War. In the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, the regiment fought the Prussians at Frohnhofen and Gerchsheim. In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 the regiment fought at the Battles of Mars-la-Tour and Gravelotte-St. Privat.
In 1914 the regiment was garrisoned at Darmstadt as part of the 25th Hessian Division of the XVIII Army Corps. The 1st Company of the regiment served as the Grand Duke’s bodyguard and held the title Großherzogs Leib-Kompanie. During the First World War they served with the rest of the Hessian Division on the Western Front, seeing action at the Battles of the Marne, Verdun and the Somme.
Helmet Plate: From 1897 a white metal Hessian Lion with laurel and oak leaves on either side. A scroll above the lion bore the date of the regiment’s formation, 1621 and on the lion’s chest was the Star of the Order of Ludwig with the motto GOTT EHRE VATERLAND, or God, Honour (and) Fatherland. Officers had an enamelled centre to the star and a yellow metal ring around it. Prior to 1897 the same helmet plate and scroll but without the star had been worn in yellow metal.
State Cockade: Hessian (white/red/white) with a double red stripe on the Pickelhaube cockade
Parade Plume: Black
Tunic Buttons: White metal
Shoulder Straps: Red with a white crowned L monogram for Grand Duke Ludwig VI of Hessen was worn until 1909, then EL for Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig.
Collar: Red piped along the upper edge in dark blue with white single Litzen
Cuffs: Brandenburg style in red with white Litzen
Other Distinctions (I): The company number on the shoulder strap button for the 1st Company, the Leib-Kompanie was replaced by the letter L.
Other Distinctions (II): The belt buckles of officers and other ranks were entirely in white metal.
*Photos taken at the Fort de la Pompelle Museum. Text from ‘Traditions of the Imperial German Infantry Regiments’ available worldwide on Amazon.