The Guard of the Serbian Armed Forces ( sr, Гарда Војске Србије, Garda Vojske Srbije) is an

honour guard A guard of honour ( GB), also honor guard ( US), also ceremonial guard, is a group of people, usually military in nature, appointed to receive or guard a head of state or other dignitaries, the fallen in war, or to attend at state ceremonials, ...

unit of the

Serbian Armed Forces The Serbian Armed Forces ( sr, Војска Србије, Vojska Srbije) is the military of Serbia. The President of Serbia acts as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, while administration and defence policy is carried out by the Government o ...

under the direct command of the

General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...

. Besides ceremonial duties its main tasks include security and logistics missions.

History

The Guard was formed on 6 May 1830, as part of the Armed Forces of the Principality of Serbia, by the order of Prince

Miloš Obrenović Miloš, Milos, Miłosz or spelling variations thereof is a masculine given name and a surname. It may refer to: Given name Sportsmen * Miłosz Bernatajtys, Polish rower * Miloš Bogunović, Serbian footballer * Miloš Budaković, Serbian f ...

. It originated with 73 people selected for service in the Guard. On May 12, 1838, the Guard gained legal status from a special decree of Prince Miloš. In 1883, the Guard was transformed into the Royal Guard. The Royal Serbian Guard was considered to be an elite unit of the

Royal Serbian Army The Army of the Kingdom of Serbia ( sr-cyr, Војска Краљевине Србије, Vojska Kraljevine Srbije), known in English language, English as the Royal Serbian Army, was the army of the Kingdom of Serbia that existed between 1882 a ...

and only the best conscripts were chosen to serve in its ranks. In 1914 the Royal Guard numbered a few thousand men and took part in all major battles of the

Balkans theatre The Balkans theatre, or Balkan campaign was a theatre of World War I fought between the Central Powers (Austria-Hungary, Kingdom of Bulgaria, Bulgaria, German Empire, Germany and the Ottoman Empire) and the Allies of World War I, Allies (Kingd ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

(until the liberation in 1918). The Royal Guard was commanded by

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

Nikola Kalabić during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and saw service against both

Axis powers The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...

, their collaborators and the

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...

. On the other side, at the end of the war, by the decision of the

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his deat ...

on November 1, 1944, the Guards Brigade of the Supreme Headquarters of the People's Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia was formed on the basis of the royalist formation. It was bigger than the old formation, and was a motorized force at first. In May 1945, the Guards Brigade's band was raised, then composed of 77 musicians. The first military honor was given to British Field Marshal

Harold Alexander Harold Rupert Leofric George Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis, (10 December 1891 – 16 June 1969) was a senior British Army officer who served with distinction in both the First and the Second World War and, afterwards, as Governor Ge ...

, Commander of the Allied Forces for the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

. The following year, in 1946, the Guards Brigade grew into the rank of a division, and in March 1948, the Guards Division formed the

Yugoslav Army The Yugoslav People's Army (abbreviated as JNA/; Macedonian and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian and bs, Jugoslavenska narodna armija; sl, Jugoslovanska ljudska a ...

Guard Command, which was in the rank of an army district. Later, it was reconfigured to brigade status and renamed to 1st Guards Mechanised Brigade. During the

breakup of Yugoslavia The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s. After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

in 1991, the 1st Guards Mechanised Brigade took part in the

Battle of Vukovar The Battle of Vukovar was an 87-day siege of Vukovar in eastern Croatia by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), supported by various paramilitary forces from Serbia, between August and November 1991. Before the Croatian War of Independence the Bar ...

, where it acted as the JNA strike force from the southern flank. The Guards Brigade would serve the

Armed Forces of Serbia and Montenegro The Armed Forces of Serbia and Montenegro ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Војска Србије и Црне Горе, Vojska Srbije i Crne Gore, ВСЦГ / ''VSCG'') included ground forces with internal and border troops, naval forces, air and air defense ...

with distinction for 14 years. The Guard in its current form was formed on November 30, 2006 when the Serbian Armed Forces was created.

Missions

Dmitry Medvedev, Boris Tadić and serbian Guards

The Guard is responsible for providing

guards of honour Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

at official ceremonies and for special security duties in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

. It also performs tasks within the scope of the military police work and the tasks in the field of logistics.

Ceremonial duties

Ceremonial duties include performing military honours to the highest foreign, domestic, and military officials, such as arrival ceremonies at the

Palace of Serbia The Palace of Serbia ( sr, Палата Србије, Palata Srbije) is a building located in the Novi Beograd municipality of Belgrade, Serbia. The building is used by the government of Serbia and currently houses several cabinet level ministr ...

and guard duty at Novi dvor (the seat of the

President of Serbia The president of Serbia ( sr, Председник Србије, Predsednik Srbije), officially styled as the President of the Republic ( sr, Председник Републике, Predsednik Republike) is the head of state of Serbia. The curr ...

Security missions

Although the ceremonial duties attract more public attention, majority of the missions assigned to the Guard are security missions. These include guarding and protection of buildings and residences of chief military authorities: the Novi dvor (the seat of the Commander-in-Chief i.e. President of Serbia), buildings of the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

and the General Staff as well as the official residences of the President of the Republic, Minister of Defence and the

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

. The close physical protection of the President of the Republic, Minister of Defence and the Chief of Staff is entrusted to the "Cobras", the unit that is not part of the Guard.

Logistics missions

The Guard provide logistics for the General Staff and the Ministry of Defence.

Structure

The unit is composed of four battalions, all of which are based in the capital of

. * Guards HQ * Command Battalion * Honor Guard Battalion * 25th Military Police Battalion * Logistics Battalion

Honor Guard Battalion

Honor Guard Battalion is tasked with performing ceremonial functions. The ceremonial standard rifle of the unit is

Zastava M59/66 Zastava M59/66 PAP, also known as papovka, is a Yugoslav licensed version of Soviet SKS semi-automatic rifle. The nickname "papovka" is a derived from PAP, the abbreviation for ''poluautomatska puška'', Serbian for "semi-automatic rifle". Histo ...

. Battalion members took part both in the

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

Moscow Victory Day Parade The Moscow Victory Day Parade ( rus, Парад Победы в Москве, r= Parad Pobedy v Moskve) refers to the annual military parade of the Russian Armed Forces on Moscow's Red Square on May 9 during the Victory Day (9 May), Victory Day ...

s. Part of the battalion is the

Band of the Guard of the Serbian Armed Forces The Band of the Guard of the Serbian Armed Forces ( sr, Репрезентативни оркестар Гарде Војске Србије, Reprezentativni orkestar Garde Vojske Srbije) is the official representative military band of the Guard o ...

, the representative

fanfare band A fanfare band, fanfare corps, fanfare battery, fanfare team, horn and drum corps, bugle band, drum and bugle corps, or trumpet and drum band (including the German ''fanferenzug'', ''fanfarenkorps'' and ''regimentsblaserkorps'', the Dutch ''drumba ...

of the unit and the Serbian Armed Forces in general.

25th Military Police Battalion

The 25th Military Police Battalion is the

military police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. In wartime operations, the military police may support the main fighting force with force protection, convoy security, screening, rear recon ...

unit of the Guard and the Serbian capital. It comprises the motorcycle unit which provides escort riding, personal escort, regulation and control of military traffic.{{Cite web, url=http://www.paluba.info/smf/index.php?topic=398.0;wap2, title = Реорганизација војне полиције - Page

Traditions

Anniversary

The anniversary of the unit is celebrated on May 6, in memory of the day when the Guard was formed in 1830.

Patron saint

The unit's

slava Slava may refer to: Ships * ''Slava'' class cruiser, a modern Russian warship ** Soviet cruiser Slava (1979), now Russian cruiser ''Moskva'', a ''Slava'' class guided missile cruiser sunk during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine * Russian ba ...

or its patron saint is

Saint George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

known as ''Đurđevdan''.

Colors

Royal blue and black with red trim are the colors used in the

full dress uniform Full dress uniform, also known as a ceremonial dress uniform or parade dress uniform, is the most formal type of uniforms used by military, police, fire and other public uniformed services for official parades, ceremonies, and receptions, inclu ...

uniforms, worn by the Guardsmen since 1954, a recognizable symbol of the unit among general public in Serbia.

March Music

The Guard uses its own Guard March (''Gardijski marš'') as standard march music.

Decorations

Order of the National Hero The Order of the People's Hero or the Order of the National Hero ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Orden narodnog heroja, Oрден народног хероја; sl, Red narodnega heroja, mk, Oрден на народен херој, Orden na ...

(1958)

Order of the War Banner Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of ...

(2000)

Order of the White Eagle (2015)

Gallery

File:Pocasni vod VS.jpg, Drill platoon File:Гарда ВС.JPG, Gun salute platoon

Links

Youtube: Naoruzanje i oprema Gardijskog bataljona

References

1830 establishments in Serbia Military units and formations of Serbia Guards of honour