Tag Archives: Den Kongelige Livgarde

A Tough Nut to Crack

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Some 105 years ago. The Danish Royal Life Guard (Den Kongelige Livgarde) Musical Corps, 13-15 June 1919, pictured just after the Great War.

A proud regiment of a proud military, the Danish Army had gone hard in the Great War to protect its neutrality, having just fought Germany in 1864 and the Brits in 1807.

This meant mobilizing 52,000 reserves and new drafts to add to the professional 13,000-man Army to form the Sikringsstyrken (security force), and building the 23 km-long Tunestillingen line of defenses near Copenhagen which included over 40,000 meters of trenches from Roskilde fjord to Køge bay. Likewise, the Danish Navy almost doubled in size from 6,200 to 10,000.

Danish Tunestillingen line.

Danish soldiers in the Great War, note Madsen LMGs

At its height, the Danes had 65,000 men under arms in 15 infantry (Livgarde and 1st-14th) regiments, 4 horse cavalry (Garderhusarregiment and 3rd-5th Dragoon) regiments, and five regiments of artillery. Local firearms concerns were sufficient to keep the force armed with Madsen machine guns and Krag rifles.

Some 128 Krupp-made M.1902 75mm field guns were on hand while larger 15cm howitzers were ordered during the conflict from Bofors in nearby neutral Sweden.

Sure, even this enlarged Danish force probably would not have halted the Kaiser had he wanted to march north, but then again he never had a couple of extra Army corps on hand during WWI, did he?

Post-war, the Danish Army was demobilized to 15,000~ authorized (30,000 mobilized) and the Tunestillingen was scrapped. Only a handful of the Bofors howitzers delivered.

The liberal government of Denmark in 1939 decided to go the other way when another World War came, furloughing the Army until it contained just a 2,000-man regular cadre (including the Guards units) and about 6,600 conscripts on their 11-month national service orders.

And you see what good that did.

Danish children watching German soldiers take over Denmark, 9 April 1940

Break out the red coats

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Don’t get me wrong, I am no fan of the royals of any nation, but the recent life change by Denmark’s kind of quirky 83-year-old Queen Margrethe II– who abdicated her throne after 52 years over the weekend in favor of her 55-year-old son, who is now Kong Frederik X–  left a lot of great martial pageantry that you just don’t see these days, especially in minor European powers.

The Royal Danish Army’s Guard’s Hussars squadron (Gardehusarregimentets Hesteskadron) and the Vagtkompagniet company of the 365-year-old Life Guards regiment (Den Kongelige Livgarde) turned out at Christiansborg Palace in their full parade gear including seldom-seen red coats on the normally blue/black coated footguards.

It makes for interesting images, especially with the Canadian-made C7 (M16A2) and C8 (M4A1) rifles. Remember that these two guards units aren’t paper soldiers and, besides ceremonial duties, still train as regular armored recon and infantry units, respectively, and have deployed as such in NATO and UN operations for decades– the regiment lost Guardsmen in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Of note, they are using the older M/95 (1990s Diemaco C7A1) rather than the newer M/10 (Colt Canada C8 carbine, which is essentially an M4A1), presumably as the longer fixed stock M16A2 clone looks better on parade. However, note that they have slim little red dots (Aimpoint Duty RDS?) installed rather than bulky Elcans or plain iron rear peep sights. These guys look young and just out of school, but they are ready to rock if needed. Of interest, of the 300 Life Guards in the company, some 280 are 1-year conscripts drawn right from boot camp.

Note the standard use of infantry short swords, with different color sword knots for each platoon. 

Note the infantry short swords, dubbed the Livgardesabel M1854. Originally spoils of war captured from the Prussians in the First Schleswig War of 1848–1851, these brass-hilted 29-inch swords (with 24-inch blades) are carried by every Vagtkompagniet guardsman under arms. Meanwhile, the officers carry the more full-length M/50 saber.

Typically the Livgardesabel is carried in the leather next to the cartridge pouch (which presumably carries some 5.56 NATO these days), next to the bayonet scabbard for the M/95 rifle. Note the radio tucked in there as well, with the earpiece hidden easily under the big bearskin shako.

A video from the Danish Ministry of Defense includes the above and other units getting into the act.

And, since you have come this far, check out this circa 1932 footage of the Life Guards at drill and parade. Of note, they stood ready to fight the Germans in 1940 but were ordered to stand down by the king, who saw it as a waste of life.

Happy 364th, Danish Royal Life Guards

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On Friday, 24 June, the Danish Kongelige Livgarde (The Royal Life Guards) held an Anniversary Parade at the Livgardens Barracks on the occasion of the upcoming 364th anniversary of the establishment of the guards on 30 June 1658.

The event, which had been canceled the past couple of years due to Covid, was attended by Margrethe II, Queen of Denmark and commander-in-chief of the Danish Defence Force.

As the famed unit is made up of three battalions (with I. Bataljon and II. Bataljon being front-line mechanized infantry and III. Bataljon detailed for training and ceremonial duties) Margrethe inspected all three in turn.

Note the Colt-Canada C7/C8 rifles, variants of the M16A2 and M4A1. The unit formally carried the M1 Garand, or Garandgevær M/50, on parade as late as the 1990s.

Danish Minister of Defense Morten Bødskov also visited to inform II. Bataljon it would deploy to Latvia this fall.

Happy Anniversary!

Soldat fra 1/I/LG affyrer en granat under en skarpskydning i Raghammer på Bornholm. Foto: Funder Jensen