History
When the leaders of the Soviet Union moved from Petrograd to the Moscow Kremlin in early 1918, their protection was entrusted to the Red Latvian Riflemen, under the command of the Commandant of the Kremlin. In September 1918, the Latvian Riflement left for the fronts of the Civil War, they were replaced by the cadets of the 1st Soviet United Military School of RKKA named after VTSIK that was redeployed into the Kremlin for this purpose.
In October 1935, the officers' academy left the Kremlin and a Special Purpose Battalion was created to replace them on Kremlin guard duty. On January 28, 1936, the battalion - and the Kremlin Garrison (Komendatura Kremlya), to which it was subordinated - were transferred from the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR to the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD) of the USSR. It is important to note that UKMK and the 1st Division were separate public security units with neither subordinate to the other, which would not prevent them collaborating closely in Kremlin security activities.
On April 8, 1936, in accordance with Order No. 122 for the Moscow Kremlin Garrison, the Special Purpose Battalion was renamed Special Purpose Regiment; this day is considered the birthday of the regiment. However, the Regiment's Day is celebrated annually on May 7.
When the Great Patriotic War began in 1941, the units of the Kremlin Garrison were made responsible for defending the Kremlin, where the State Defense Committee and Chief Military Headquarters were located. On June 25, 1941, the Commandant of the Garrison ordered the regiment to reinforce the defenses, and the regiment set up round-the-clock guard on the Kremlin walls. In 1942-1943 four groups of snipers from the Kremlin Regiment were sent to the Western and Volkhov Fronts. The snipers killed more than 1,200 German soldiers and officers, losing only 97 men in combat. On February 23, 1944 the Kremlin Regiment was decorated with the Order of the Red Banner. Three battalions from the regiment took part in the Moscow Victory Parade of 1945 on Red Square.
In 1952 the regiment was reorganized into the Separate Special Purpose Regiment. On May 7, 1965 it was decorated with the Order of the Red Banner for its military achievements during the Great Patriotic War. On May 8, 1967 the regiment took part in the unveiling ceremony of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexander Garden. In 1973 the unit was renamed the Separate Red Banner Kremlin Regiment. The regiment finally received its current designation in accordance with a presidential decree of March 20, 1993.
On September 2, 2002 on the basis of the 11th Cavalry Regiment (the Moscow Military District movie-making cavalry unit) a cavalry escort unit was formed as part of the Presidential Regiment.
On May 7, 2006 the regiment gained a new regimental color. It has also recently acquired special ceremonial uniforms closely modelled on those worn on parade by the infantry and the cavalry of the Russian Imperial Guard until 1914. These are worn in addition to modern style dress uniforms adopted during the final years of the Soviet period. Both types of uniform are in dark green with medium blue piping, but the shoulder insignia in the historical full dress is different, even through the ranks are just the same.
Read more about this topic: Kremlin Regiment
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—Griffin Jay, and Reginald LeBorg. Prof. Norman (Frank Reicher)
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—Leon Trotsky (1879–1940)
“The history of any nation follows an undulatory course. In the trough of the wave we find more or less complete anarchy; but the crest is not more or less complete Utopia, but only, at best, a tolerably humane, partially free and fairly just society that invariably carries within itself the seeds of its own decadence.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)