page_title: Finnish Guards' Rifle Battalion
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Finnish Guards' Rifle Battalion / Disbandment of the Guards' Battalion / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: Suomi: Kaartin pataljoonan perinnelippu, joka annettiin pataljoonalle vuonna 1957. English: The traditional colour of the Guards' Battalion of the Guard Jaeger Regiment, awarded to the battalion in 1957.
context_page_description: Finnish Guards' Rifle Battalion, colloquially known as Guard of Finland was a Finnish military unit during 1829–1905 based in Helsinki. Continuing the legacy of Finnish Training Battalion, it was part of the Imperial Russian Army and the only Finnish unit of the Russian Imperial Guard. Furthermore, for large parts of its history, the battalion was the only operational Finnish military unit. Because of its status as both a national showpiece and as a part of the Imperial Guard, it had a visible role in Finland.
  The Finnish Guards' Battalion participated in four campaigns outside Finland. Two of these included actual combat: first in 1831 during the Polish November Uprising and for the second time, in the Balkans front of the Russo-Turkish War. The most famous of the battles it participated in was the battle of Gorni Dubnik in 1877. The unit was also deployed in 1849 to assist in quelling of the Hungarian Uprising and later during the Crimean War to guard the western border of Russia. However, it did not engage in action during these deployments.
context_section_description: In 1910, all Guards' Rifle Battalions were raised to regimental strength. At that time, a Russian unit established in 1799 as a garrison battalion of the Guard, which had later operated as a reserve infantry regiment, was given the name of His Majesty's Life Guard's 3rd Rifle Regiment, thus taking the position held formerly by the Finnish Guard's Rifle Battalion. These two units had, however, different lineages and they should not be mixed. The 3rd Guards' Rifle Regiment was disbanded in 1918.
  After the Finnish independence, a regiment with the name of Finnish White Guard (Finnish: Suomen Valkoinen Kaarti) was established. This regiment was quartered at the old barracks of the Guard of Finland, and considered itself as part of its lineage. The regiment was disbanded after the Winter War in December 1940. After that, the guarding and ceremonial duties in Helsinki were handled by Helsinki Garrison Battalion (Finnish: Helsingin varuskuntapataljoona), which was part of the field army. After the Second World War, the unit was renamed a number of times, until in 1957, it received the name Kaartin pataljoona (Guards' Battalion). At the same time, the unit received the lineage and traditions of the Guard of Finland, including the insignia, anniversary and march of the Guard. In 1996, the Guards' Battalion became a part of Guard Jaeger Regiment, but it retained its old name. Currently, the Guards' Battalion considers itself a successor unit of the Finnish Guards' Rifle Battalion, and it counts its history from year 1812.
  The original barracks of the Finnish Guards' Rifle Battalion now house the Finnish Ministry of Defence and the Finnish Defence Command.
caption: The colour of the current Guards' Battalion of the Guard Jaeger Regiment. Note the dates embroidered on the flag: 1812, 1829, 1905, 1957.
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