| Unit Name: | Guards Fusilier Regiment |
| Dates: | 30 March 1826 - 14 December 1918 |
| Country: | Prussia |
| Allegiance: | Prussian Army |
| Type: | Guards regiment |
| Role: | Infantry |
| Command Structure: | Guard Corps |
| Garrison Label: | Berlin |
| Nickname: | Maykäfer |
| Motto: | Es lebe hoch das Regiment, welches sich mit Stolz Maykäfer nennt! |
| Colors: | Blue coat, red collars, red Swedish sleeve markings, white lace, yellow epaulettes, silver Guards eagle |
| Commander1 Label: | Current commander |
| Commander2 Label: | Master of ceremonies |
| Commander3 Label: | Colonel of the Regiment |
The Guards Fusilier Regiment (German: Garde-Füsilier-Regiment) or Guards Fusiliers was an infantry unit of the Guards Corps of the Prussian Army garrisoned in Berlin. In keeping with the genteel nature of the unit, most of its officer corps were nobility. At the time of the German Empire it commanded soldiers guarding the Wache.
In 1826 the Guards Reserve Infantry (Landwehr) Regiment (Garde-Reserve-Infanterie (Landwehr) Regiment) was founded. In 1851 it was renamed the Guards Reserve Infantry Regiment (Garde-Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment) and, as part of the 1860 expansion of the army under Roonsch, given the name of Guards Fusilier Regiment (Garde-Füsilier-Regiment). The regimental staff and the Ist Battalion were initially based in Potsdam, whilst the IInd Battalion were stationed in Spandau. From 1851 to 1918 the whole regiment was moved to a garrison in Maykäfer Barracks in Berlin.
In 1866 it fought in the Austro-Prussian War at the Battle of Königinhof and Battle of Königgrätz.
In the 1870/71 war against France the regiment participated at Gravelotte and Sedan as well as the Siege of Paris.
At the onset of the First World War the regiment was mobilised and was assigned to the newly formed 6th Guards Infantry Brigade of the 3rd Guards Division. The unit remained in this formation for the course of the war. Initially the fusiliers took part in the invasion of neutral Belgium and were involved in the capture of Namur. They were then deployed to the Eastern Front and fought there in the Battle of the Masurian Lakes. After suffering heavy losses at Brzeziny the remaining members of the regiment had to be gathered into a battalion. On 1 December the unit was regrouped into 2 battalions of 3 companies each. From 22 December the battalions were reorganised into four companies each. In January 1915 the IIIrd Battalion was reformed and the regiment redeployed at the end of that month to the Carpathians. They took part in the months that followed in trench warfare at Zwinin, the ridge finally being taken in April. After further fighting on the Eastern Front the regiment was sent to the West in April 1916, taking part in trench warfare in the Champagne and on the Yser, and participating in the Battle of the Somme. From September to November 1916 it deployed again briefly to the Eastern Front before returning to the West and engaging in trench warfare in Lorraine (region). Here, in December 1916, the regiment was reinforced by a 2nd and 3rd MG company. 1917 saw the unit engaged during the battles of Arras, Passchendaele and Cambrai. At the start of the 1918 German Spring Offensive the fusiliers suffered heavy casualties at Beaumetz and subsequently formed itself into 2 battalions of 3 companies each. On 5 April the regiment was reorganised into 3 battalions again and joined on 14 September 1918 by a MW company.
Following the end of the war the regiment was demobilised on 14 December 1918 in Berlin and finally disbanded. Elements of it were used to form two Freikorps units that were later incorporated into the Provisional Reichswehr.[1]
The regiment's tradition was transferred in the Reichswehr by a directive of the Chief of the General Staff (Chef der Heeresleitung), General of Infantry Hans von Seeckt, dated 24 August 1921, to the 7th and 8th companies of the 5th (Prussian) Infantry.
| Rank | Name | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lieutenant colonel/ Colonel | Karl August von Esebeck | 1826 to 29 March 1829 | |
| Lieutenant colonel | Ernst Ludwig Otto von Zieten | 30 March 1829 to 29 March 1832 | |
| Lieutenant colonel/ Colonel | Alexander von Knobelsdorff | 30 March 1832 to 29 March 1838 | |
| Lieutenant colonel/ Colonel | August Alexander von Zenge | 30 March 1838 to 1841 | |
| Lieutenant colonel | Wilhelm von Doering | 14 December 1841 to 25 April 1842 (appointed to command) | |
| Lieutenant colonel/ Colonel | Wilhelm von Doering | 26 April 1842 to 12 July 1848 | |
| Lieutenant colonel/ Colonel | Eduard von Schlichting | 13 July 1848 to 31 May 1850 | |
| Lieutenant colonel/ Colonel | Gustav von der Schulenburg-Altenhausen | 3 October 1850 to 9 May 1855 | |
| Lieutenant colonel/ Colonel | Eugen von Le Blanc Souville | 10 May 1855 to 21 May 1858 | |
| Lieutenant colonel | Ludwig von Loewenfeld | 22 May 1858 14 April 1859 | |
| Lieutenant colonel/ Colonel | Ludwig von Loewenfeld | 15 April 1859 to 6 March 1863 | |
| Lieutenant colonel/ Colonel | Hugo von Obernitz | 7 March 1863 to 19 May 1866 | |
| Lieutenant colonel/ Colonel | Bernhard Franz Wilhelm von Werder | 20 May to 16 September 1866 (appointed to command) | |
| Colonel | Bernhard Franz Wilhelm von Werder | 17 September 1866 to 6 November 1869 | |
| Lieutenant colonel/ Colonel | Viktor von Erckert | 7 November 1869 to 18 August 1870< | --fell at Ste. Marie; Knight of the Order Pour le Mérite--> |
| Lieutenant colonel/ Colonel | Otto Friedrich Wilhelm von Papstein | 21 August 1870 to 12 March 1875 | |
| Colonel | Heinrich Wilhelm von Sannow | 13 March 1875 to 17 January 1878 | |
| Colonel | Arthur von Lattre | 18 January 1878 to 11 April 1881 | |
| Lieutenant colonel | Hermann von Stülpnagel | 12 April 1881 to 12 November 1882 (appointed to command) | |
| Colonel | Hermann von Stülpnagel | 13 November 1882 to 25 May 1887 | |
| Colonel | Hermann Blecken von Schmeling | 26 May 1887 to 21 March 1889 | |
| Adolf von Keller | 22 March 1889 to 27 July 1892 | ||
| Lieutenant colonel/ Colonel | Max von Krosigk | 28 July 1892 to 29 May 1896 | |
| Colonel | Remus von Woyrsch | 30 May 1896 to 31 August 1897 | |
| Colonel | Dietrich von Hülsen-Haeseler | 1 September 1897 to 24 March 1899 | |
| Lieutenant colonel/ Colonel | Kurt Heinrich Wilhelm von Knobelsdorff | 25 March 1899 to 1901 | |
| Colonel | Hoyer von Rotenheim | 1901 to 30 May 1904 | |
| Colonel | Magnus von Eberhardt | 31 May 1904 to 4 April 1907 | |
| Lieutenant colonel/ Colonel | von Bonin | 5 April 1907 to 1911 | |
| Lieutenant colonel/ Colonel | von Hammerstein-Equard | 1911 to 2 January 1913 | |
| Lieutenant colonel/ Colonel | Ernst Armin von Nostitz | 3 January 1913 to 1914< | --from 3 Jan initially appointed to command--> |
| Lieutenant colonel/ Colonel | Karl von der Schulenburg-Wolfsburg | 30 September 1914 to 21 February 1918 | |
| N.N. |