Guards Corps (German Empire)

Guards Corps Gardekorps
Flag of the Staff of a Generalkommando (1871–1918)
Country	Prussia /  German Empire
Type	Corps
Size	Approximately 44,000 (on mobilisation in 1914)
Garrison/HQ	Berlin
Engagements	Austro-Prussian War Battle of Königgrätz Franco-Prussian War Battle of Gravelotte Battle of Sedan (1870) Siege of Paris Battle of Le Bourget World War I Battle of the Frontiers First Battle of the Marne First Battle of Ypres

Austro-Prussian War

Franco-Prussian War

World War I

The Guards Corps / GK (German: Gardekorps) was a corps level command of the Prussian and then the Imperial German Armies from the 19th Century to World War I.

The Corps was headquartered in Berlin, with its units garrisoned in the city and nearby towns (Potsdam, Jüterbog, Döberitz). Unlike all other Corps of the Imperial German Army, the Guards Corps did not recruit from a specific area, but from throughout Prussia and the "Imperial Lands" of Alsace-Lorraine.

The Corps served in the Austro-Prussian War. During the Franco-Prussian War it was assigned to the 2nd Army.

In peacetime the Corps was assigned to the II Army Inspectorate but joined the 2nd Army at the start of the First World War. It was still in existence at the end of the war in the 4th Army, Heeresgruppe Kronprinz Rupprecht on the Western Front. The Corps was disbanded with the demobilisation of the German Army after World War I.

The Guards Corps fought in the Austro-Prussian War against Austria in 1866, including the Battle of Königgrätz.