Egersky Regiment

Lifeguard Jaeger Regiment — III —
Regimental Church, St. Petersburg.
Active	1796–1917
Country	Russian Empire
Branch	Imperial Russian Army
Type	Infantry
Size	Regiment
Garrison/HQ	St. Petersburg (1914)
Insignia
Badge of the regiment

His Majesty Lifeguard Regiment (Russian: «Лейб-гвардии Егерский Его Величества полк»), short also Lifeguard Jaeger Regiment (or: LG Jaeger Regiment), was a Jaeger regiment of the Russian Imperial Guard from 1796 to 1917.

The history of the LG Jaeger Regiment began in the year 1792 with the introduction of a new branch of service – the light infantry – under the leadership of Paul I of Russia. This new service branch was named Jaeger… (ru: Егер… in reference to the German noun Jäger) and in relation to the development of the European armed forces.

The first step was to identify appropriate personnel among the so-called Gattchino troops (ru: Гатчинские войска / Gatchinskie voyska) in Gatchina and Pavlovsk, and to concentrate this staff in separate Jaeger companies under the command of Major Anton Rachinski. End of 1793 there was the first restructuring, followed by the new formation in 1794. The innovative uniform of the jaeger, from green camisol, was different to uniforms used before.

By highest of all order from November 20, 1796, all units of the Gattchino troops received the status "Old guard" (ru: старая гвардия). The hitherto separate Jaeger companies were further concentrated to a jaeger battalion, strengthened by a third Jaeger company. The already existing guard regiments, the Semjonov LG Regiment and the Ismailov LG Regiment, as well as the new LG Jaeger Battalion were put under a common command. Since that point of time, November 20, 1796 was dedicated as the official day of foundation. Anton Rachinski, in the meantime promoted to podpolkovnik, became the first commanding officer of the LG Jaeger Battalion. In 1800, prince Bagration, Pyotr Ivanovich, replaced him. In order to strengthen the battalion, a third Jaeger company was added. During the battle of Austerlitz, the young Jaeger Corps received their baptism of fire and approved extraordinary combat strength.