User:Shack76/Regiment guards (Savoy)

The Guards Regiment was founded in 1659 by order of the Duke of Savoy Charles Emmanuel II, who established the first stable regiment among all the equal European states. The Regiment was established for the personal defence of the Duke. It was the Duke's personal guard in battle, not to be confused with the "archibugeri guardie della Porta" and the "guardie del corpo" who were the palace guards.

As for the use of war, the Regiment has participated assiduously in all wars and numerous battles (the most famous are the siege of Turin in 1706 and the battle of Assietta).

It's well known that the Guard Regiment wAS the most experienced and prepared; this not only had an impact on the relevant enemy but, sometimes, could also mean the last resort of defense. In fact, the regiment guards (in general, not only in Piedmont) was also the last handhold of a commander and not many times participated in the war. However, the regiment was not always up to its reputation as evidenced by its skidding immediately after contacting the enemy during the disastrous counterattack conducted together with the Regiment Saluzzo (also skidded) at the battle of Pietralunga. Since 1685 the regiment receives 6 grenadiers per company, which are later reunited in a separate company, but should not be confused with the regiment itself that only with the Restoration became grenadiers and was renamed Grenadiers guards.

This is the uniform of 1701, according to an approximate reconstruction by G. Cavalieri

In a document, dated posthumously from the foundation (1702), a tailor from Turin lists the materials and fabrics to complete the uniform. Below are the objects that each soldier had in his possession:

• black felt tricorn hat without any symbolism (a bow "like a rosette" would arrive in 1700);
• a white tie;
• a blue robe up to the knees;
• a savoy blue and scarlet red juxtaposed body (in the document we speak of "2nd lot Ormea cloth (Blu-Scarlatto)" and of "Saglia di Biella"), with a row on the right of golden brass buttons (sheet of silver or other material covering), for soldiers, and of pure gold, for officers; the cuffs of the red sleeves, like the inside of the juxtaposed body, where you can see 3 buttons for handguard;
• stockings (shorts) as red as the socks;
• scarlet red socks (other documents instead say in blue-white) arriving up to above the knees;
• shoes in pure buffalo leather with heel and without distinction right or left;
• buffalo or "Russian cow" bandoleer;
• shoulder strap for flask or bag holder in buffalo;

1731

• instead of socks there are now white spats above the knees;
• red shorts;
• red tie;
• the tails of the juxtaposition are bent;

1741

• the buttoning becomes totally gilded also for the soldiers and with frogs also of the same color;
• the dress becomes from blue to red as the juxtaposition inside.

The grenadier uniform

The grenadiers were soldiers specialized in throwing grenades, to carry out this operation they put the rifle on shoulder so as to have both hands free, so since their creation they were equipped with a hat called "bonnet" (similar to a night cap and used by infantry as a fatigue cap) that did not hinder this movement. Later the bonnet was decorated with a strip of bear or fox skin and remained in use in this form from the beginning of the eighteenth century until 1750 when it was replaced by a tall bear fur cap that in 1774 was garnished with a brass plate depicting the regiment's coat of arms. In addition to the headgear, the grenadiers were initially distinguished by the fact that they were equipped with an axe, a short curved sword called "sabre" (from the French "sabre" = sabre) and the cover (a brass tube that protected the fuse used to trigger the grenades) carried on the bandoleer. The axe soon fell into disuse but remained with the corporals until the middle of the eighteenth century, the cover remained in use instead throughout the century, even when the use of grenades was abandoned it remained as a distinctive symbol of these elite soldiers. The last distinctive element concerns the uniform of the sergeants who had the edge of the golden bandoleer until in 1750 it became white for all.

Officers

The officers did not have the uniform until 1750, when they received a uniform similar to that of the troop but packed at their own expense with fabrics of better quality and often modified according to personal taste in violation of the regulations. Starting from 1750 blue scarves were also regulated, which before then were the only badge of rank, but only from 1774 were introduced real badges of rank for all officers in addition to scarves.

Source

• Domenico Guerrini, La Brigata dei Granatieri di Sardegna, Tipografia Roux e Viarengo, Torino, 1902 [1].
• Uniformi Piemontesi 1671-1798 di Giorgio Cavalieri ISBN 88-88969-11-X;
• Bandiere e Stendardi dell'Esercito Sardo 1713-1802 di Enrico Ricchiardi.
• Archivio di Stato di Torino-vari documenti presso la sezione Ufficio Generale del Soldo.
• Bandiere Sabaude [2] sito dedicato ai reparti sabaudi del 1700 a cura di Federico Bona.