Semenovsky regiment

Semyonovsky Lifeguard Regiment — III —
Active	1683-1917 2013-Present
Country	Russian Empire
Branch	Army
Type	Infantry
Size	Regiment
Garrison/HQ	St. Petersburg (1914)
Insignia
Badge of the regiment

1683-1917

Semyonovsky Life-Guards Regiment (Семёновский лейб-гвардии полк) was one of the two oldest guards regiments of the Imperial Russian Army. The other was the Preobrazhensky Regiment.

The history of the regiment dates back to 1683 when it formed as a company of the Toy army of Peter I. It took its name from a village called Semyonovskoe (eastern Moscow) () (part of the present-day Sokolniki District), where it was initially stationed. In 1700 the troops became the Semyonovsky Life Guards Regiment. From 1723 the regiment was quartered in St. Petersburg.

During the Great Northern War the regiment fought in the Battle of Narva on the 30th of November, 1700. The Russian guard (Semyonovsky and Preobrazhensky regiments) firmly defended themselves from the Swedes and avoided a defeat. For their valour, the Swedish king Charles XII agreed to allow them to keep their weapons; the Russian guard regiments marched with standards unfurled, drums rolling and in possession of their weapons. For their prowess, all soldiers of the Semyonovsky regiment wore red stockings from 1700 to 1740, as "in that battle, they stood knee-deep in blood". In the battle the regiment lost 17 officers (including the commander, podpolkovnik Cunningham) and 454 enlisted personnel. Major Yakov Lobanov-Rostovsky was judged and condemned to death for his flight from the battlefield, but subsequently pardoned.

In 1702, a squad of the regiment took part in the 13-hour storming of the fortress of Nöteborg. For that, all of its members received a silver medal. The commander of the squad, podpolkovnik Mikhail Golitsyn, was awarded with the rank of guard colonel.

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