PRUSSIAN GUARDS

Nelson Evening Mail, 7 September 1916, Page 1

PRUSSIAN GUARDS

YWhat is the [Prussian Guard?" I have been asked a score, of times (says the Dail Mail correspondent). Unlike our Guards, which in peace comprise Household OavaUry and Foot: Guards (in all about 10,000 men), the Guard of Prussia is an awny corps, which, takes the field as a separate unit, and is made up on a peace footing' of some 50,000 troops of all arms. / ?, ;:-:>. It .embraces 13 regiments of: infantry, eight regiments of cavalry, and four, regiments of field artillery. When we'sjpeak' of the "Prussian Guard," therefore; Aye' mean foot, rifles, uhlans, dragoons, cuirassiers', hussar®, andi even sappers.; In war the "Guard" ahay ibe augmented, so that even if 5000 have fallen the "Guard" is by no means "wiped out." ■''.."' The men of the corps are the supposed', super-troops of the Kaiser'si army,, hallow-, ed by legend with unconquerable prowess 1 . Their 'officers are exclusively noole," and the rank and file anust tbe at least sft" 10in and'' 12st. Unlike most Prussian ; regiments, 1 the Guard is .nob a territorial unit, recruited from the particular district in which it is raised or has its headquarters; but consists of men from all parts 'of the. kingdom. TV© qualifications are —flip physical standard mentioned and "betterclass" origin:. As a the Guards ■belong to the old'er farming stock' of the Prussian proyiiices I .' To' have, performed.his two; or three years of mil ; it.;),i'.V service with Guard regiments iii "Berliii or Potsdam, where they -are . exclusively quartered, is for every young Prussian a badge of distinction which serves him well in later life. ■ ' The 'First and. Second, Itegime.iits of the Infantnyi of the Guard' are the par-' ticullar pets of the Hohenzollerns. All Prussian Royal princes serve in them by tradition, formally entering their ranks on their tenth birthdays, as "the littlest ■Willie," the Crown Prince's eldest son, did the other day, completing what I heard someone call "three degenerations." The princelings 'go through the form o£ "earning" their promotion iby successive stages, beginning as subalterns and i graduating to a colonelcy. Napoleon once called his 'guard "a moving citadel wihacli protects the Fyiriperor wherever he may he." The Kaiser, on a spectacular occasion early in His •reign, stole the aphorism and applied.it to the [Prussian Guard. -