Volinsky Regiment — III — |
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Officers and soldiers of the Volinsky Regiment in Warsaw. 1864.
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Active | 1817–1917 |
Country | Russian Empire |
Branch | Army |
Type | Infantry |
Size | Regiment |
Part of | 3rd Guard infantry division, XXIII Army Corps, Warsaw military district |
Garrison/HQ | Warsaw (1913) |
Commanders | |
Colonel-in-Chief | Grand Duke Nicholas Constantinovich (1856–1878) |
Insignia | |
Badge of the regiment |
The Volinsky Life-Guards Regiment (Russian: Волынский лейб-гвардии полк), more correctly translated as the Volhynian Life-Guards Regiment, was a Russian Imperial Guard infantry regiment. Created out of a single battalion of Finnish Guard Regiment in 1817, the regiment took part in the Polish-Russian War of 1830–1831, the Crimean War, the January Uprising of 1863 and the First World War.
Unlike many older units of Imperial Russian Army, the Volinsky Regiment was neither attached to or originated from the land of Volhynia after which it was named. Instead, it traces its roots to a single Imperial Militia Battalion formed by Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia in Strelna on 12 December 1806 (Old Style). In the spring of the following year it took part in the Battle of Guttstadt-Deppen of the War of the Fourth Coalition. In 1807 it took part in the Battle of Friedland and in January of the following year was renamed to His Majesty's Guards Militia Battalion and then in April to His Majesty's Finnish Battalion. Reinforced and reorganised, in October 1811 the battalion was extended to become the Guards Finnish Regiment of three infantry battalions. The first battalion, still including many veterans of the original militia unit, was then mentioned in dispatches for its role in the Battle of Leipzig. Having suffered heavy losses, the battalion was retained in Russian-occupied Warsaw in 1814.
On 12 October 1817 (Old Style) the battalion was reorganised into the Volinsky Guards Regiment (Russian: лейб-гвардии Волынский полк) composed of two battalions of light infantry. Its main task was to serve as a personal guard of Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich and to serve as a counterbalance to the forces of the Kingdom of Poland in case they mutinied. Due to the fact that the original battalion took part in most of the Napoleonic Wars, the new regiment inherited the rights of the "Old Guard" and was included into the Guards Corps rather than the general army.