The Grand Duke Gediminas Staff Battalion () is a unit of the

Lithuanian Armed Forces The Lithuanian Armed Forces () are the military of Lithuania. The Lithuanian Armed Forces consist of the Lithuanian Land Forces, the Lithuanian Naval Force and the Lithuanian Air Force. In wartime, the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service ( ...

, whose staff it protects. It is also charged with representing Lithuania and its army by providing guard of honour at official events in Lithuania and abroad. The battalion traditionally celebrates on 25 August, because on that day in 1919, the 1st Infantry Regiment with other Lithuanian Army units won the final victory against

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

Zarasai Zarasai () is a city in northeastern Lithuania, surrounded by many lakes and rivers: to the southwest of the city is Lake Zarasas, to the north – Lake Zarasaitis, to the southeast – Lake Baltas, and the east – Lake Griežtas. Lakes Zarasai ...

. The unit has a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

, which has functioned for more than 20 years.

History

Interwar

The Grand Duke Gediminas Staff Battalion traces its history to the 1st Infantry Regiment and continues its traditions.

After the reestablishment of the Republic of Lithuania

On 5 April 1993, the Separate Commandant Battalion () was created to safeguard buildings and material possessions left by the

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

that was leaving Lithuania. This battalion was first deployed to Aukštieji Paneriai, Vilnius. In 1997, the regiment's veterans asked President Algirdas Brazauskas to rename any unit of the Lithuanian Army after the Lithuanian Grand Duke

Gediminas Gediminas ( la, Gedeminne, ; – December 1341) was the king or Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1315 or 1316 until his death. He is credited with founding this political entity and expanding its territory which later spanned the area ranging from t ...

. So, on 8 September 1998, the Separate Commandant Battalion was renamed to the Grand Duke Gediminas Staff Battalion by order of the Minister of National Defence Česlovas Stankevičius, hence being granted the right to the traditions and insignia of the 1st Infantry Regiment. On 15 February 2002, the Battalion was solemnly bestowed a

banner A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Als ...

. On 8 January 2019, the PRISM,

wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...

and

wireless communication Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...

company was separated from the Staff battalion and became the Communication and Information Systems Battalion.

Composition

* Honour Guard Company * Lithuanian Armed Forces Band * Headquarters Provision Company * Deployable Communication and Information Systems Module D (DCM D) of the 3rd NATO Signal Battalion * Intelligence Support Centre

Honour guard company and its public duties

The Honor Guard Corps of the Rapid Reaction Brigade, formed in the autumn of 1991, became the first unit to which conscripts were assigned. The soldiers who started the service that day were prepared within a few days and already on November 23 participated in the solemn parade of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. Liutauras Kavaliūnas was appointed the first commander of the Honor Guard Company. The Honor Guard Company has changed its location several times, operating in Vilnius, Rūdininkai and Nemenčinė. Over the nearly a third of a century since the founding of the Honour guard company, more than 5,000 Lithuanian citizens have served in it and has taken part in more than 9,000 ceremonies and reconstructions. The company's uniform is based on examples from the interwar period. Today, the 98 soldiers and officers coming from three branches of the armed forces (

Land Forces Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various islan ...

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

, and

Naval Force A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

) use American

M14 rifle The M14 rifle, officially the United States Rifle, Caliber 7.62 mm, M14, is an American selective fire battle rifle chambered for the 7.62×51mm NATO (.308 in) cartridge. It became the standard-issue rifle for the U.S. military in 1959, r ...

Abroad

In 2003, after Lithuania's accession to NATO and the EU, soldiers of the Guard of Honor hoisted flags at the headquarters of both organizations in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. In August 2016, the color guard took part in the Independence Day Parade in the Moldovan capital of Chișinău. As recently as 2019, it has participated in the Romanian

Great Union Day Great Union Day ( ro, Ziua Marii Uniri, also called Unification Day or National Day) is a Holidays in Romania, national holiday in Romania, celebrated on 1 December, marking the unification of Transylvania, Bessarabia, and Bukovina with the Kingdo ...

parade on

Piața Constituției Piața Constituției (Romanian for "Constitution Square") is one of the largest squares in the centre of Bucharest, Romania. The square is standing face-to-face with the Palace of the Parliament (biggest building in Europe) and it is bisected by B ...

(Constitution Square).

Silver jubilee (2016)

The Honour guard celebrated its silver jubilee in November 2016, during which a ceremonial parade of the unit was held in

Daukanto Square Daukantas Square in Vilnius, Lithuania is located in the Old Town, in front of the Presidential Palace. Its name commemorates a progenitor of the 19th-century Lithuanian national revival, Simonas Daukantas. In the late 19th century it had a mo ...

near the Presidential Palace, attended by President

Dalia Grybauskaitė Dalia Grybauskaitė (; born 1 March 1956) is a Lithuanian politician who served as the eighth President of Lithuania from 2009 until 2019. She is the first woman to hold the position and in 2014 she became the first President of Lithuania to be ...

. Grybauskaitė personally greeted the soldiers and said:

"These soldiers mirror our army. Each of them evokes a sense of pride and confidence not only here in Lithuania, but also beyond its borders."

Historical Honour Guard

In 2006, the Honor Guard Company began implementing a new project, namely the creation of a historical guard of honor. For this, ten sets of the restored

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

's armour were handed over to the honour guard. In 2009, this historical honour guard was formed from the honour guard company's soldiers. During demonstrations, the soldiers of the historical platoon put on the armor of the elite soldiers from the 14th-century Lithuanian Grand Ducal Army. During every year since 2009, the company's soldiers partake in the reenactment of the

Battle of Grunwald The Battle of Grunwald, Battle of Žalgiris or First Battle of Tannenberg was fought on 15 July 1410 during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. The alliance of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led respec ...

in Poland, the largest medieval event in Europe.

Armed Forces Band

The Lithuanian Armed Forces Headquarters Band is one of the five professional

military band A military band is a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments. The conductor of a band commonly bears the ti ...

s based in Lithuania. It is the largest professional military band in Lithuania. It was founded on 4 September 1991 by Kapellmeister Major (1938–2013) and was made up of 57 civilian and military musicians. The main purpose of the band is to participate in official welcoming ceremonies for high ranking foreign guests. On special occasions, the band wears historical 18th-century uniforms of the Lithuanian Guard Infantry Regiment.

Heraldry

Banner

The back of the battle banner of the headquarters battalion of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Gediminas is blue with a wide red border, in the middle there is a silver image of Gediminas (stylized by Vytautas Kashuba), in an arc accompanied by the motto: "Tegul meilė Lietuvos dega mūsų širdyse" (Let the love of Lithuania burn in our hearts). Along the banner's edges are garlands of green oak leaves. The fringe is red with green.{{Cite web, last=Misiūnas, first=Virginijus, date=21 May 2004, title=Штабной батальон имени Великого Князя Литовского Гядиминаса, trans-title=Headquarters battalion named after the Grand Duke of Lithuania Gediminas, url=https://geraldika.ru/s/32911, url-status=live, website=geraldika.ru, language=ru

Badge

A golden knight's helmet, decorated with a crown with a mantle of

acanthus leaves The acanthus ( grc, ἄκανθος) is one of the most common plant forms to make foliage ornament and decoration, and even as the leaf distinguishing the heraldic coronet of a manorial lord from other coronets of royalty or nobility, which us ...

and wings depicting the

Columns of Gediminas The Columns of Gediminas or Pillars of Gediminas ( lt, Gediminaičių stulpai, ; be, Калюмны, translit=Kaliumny, 'Columns') are one of the earliest symbols of Lithuania and its historical coats of arms. They were used in the Grand Duchy of ...

(Gothic version).

Gallery

File:Dog Company trains for medevac in Lithuania 150709-A-FJ979-002.jpg, Members of the regiment teaining with dogs. File:Compagnie de la garde d'honneur lituanienne.jpg, The honor guard company during the 2007 Bastille Day Parade. File:Lithuania, March 11 parade.jpg, Troops of the company during a parade in Vilnius. File:2june 2007 139.jpg, The color guard of the regiment during a parade in Italy. File:Bastille Day 2014 Paris - Color guards 023.jpg File:Lithuanian honor guard company2.JPG, Members of the Honor Guard Company during their training.

References

Battalions of Lithuania Guards of honour