1st Guards Infantry Division

This peacetime Army unit was formed on 5th September 1818, it was one of the three Guards Divisions in existence at the start of World War One.

Home Station:  Berlin

Composition in August 1914

                                 

1st Guards Infantry Brigade 1st Foot Guards Regiment formed on 11th August 1688 Based in Potsdam  3rd Foot Guards Regiment formed on 5th May 1860 Based in Berlin Guards Jaeger Battalion	1st Foot Guards 3rd Foot Guards Guard Jaeger Bn
2nd Guards Infantry Brigade 2nd Foot Guards Regiment formed on 19th June 1813 Based in Berlin  4th Foot Guards Regiment formed on 5th May 1860 Based in Berlin The 2nd Guards Infantry Brigade was transferred to the 5th Guards Infantry Division on 26th January 1917.	2nd Foot Guards  4th Foot Guards
Guards Hussar Regiment
1st Guards Field Artillery Brigade
1st Company Guards Pioneer Battalion
1st and 3rd Section Guards Ambulance Company
1st Guards Division Engineers

The 1st Guards Division had seen action in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, at the Battle of Koniggratz, and in the Franco-Prussian War, as part of the II Army.  They saw action at the battles of  Gravelotte, Sedan, and the Siege of Paris.

In peacetime the 1st Guards Brigade consisted of the 1st and 3rd Foot Guards, and the Guards Jager Battalion.  The 2nd Guards Brigade consisted of the 2nd and 4th Foot Guards, and the Guards Fusiliers.

It also contained the 1st and 3rd Guards Field Artillery.

The Division entered Belgium in 1914, and in November it was in Flanders.  In March 1915 the Division saw action as part of the Guards Corps in Alsace.  In April 1915, the Division was sent to Russia.  But in September 1915 it was back in France at Artois.

In 1916 it releaved the battered 1st Bavarian Reserve Division on the Somme.  In August it lost 5,000 men alone, only 300 were prisoners.  The Division was withdrawn to quieter sectors of France to rest and recuperate and receive reinforcements.

In July 1917 it was sent to Russia and served distinction at Riga.  It returned to France in mid October 1917, and it remained on that front until the end of the war.