Kaartin Jääkärirykmentti -- abbreviated
KaartJR and officially
glossed in English as the
Guard Jaeger Regiment -- is an
urban combat
force entrusted with the task of defending the Finnish capital
Helsinki in times of
crisis.
History
The regiment was formed on
July 1, 1996 when the independent
Guard Battalion (
KaartP) and
Uusimaa Jaeger Battalion
(
UudJP) were joined together. However, these units trace their
history much further back, and the regiment is dedicated to several
forebears from different periods of Finnish history.
The most important of these is the 3rd Sharpshooter Battalion,
a pre-independence unit of the autonomous Finnish Guard,
the defense force of the Grand Duchy of Finland under
Imperial Russia. Decommissioned during the so-called "years of
oppression" under Czar Nicholas II, the battalion was retrained
as the Royal Prussian 27th Jaeger Battalion (yes, in Prussia)
and fought on the side of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War.
The second important forebear is the 2nd Jaeger Battalion,
which fought against the Soviet Union during the
Finnish Winter War and the Finnish Continuation War.
Organization
In terms of organization, the regiment is still divided into its
component battalions.
The Guard Battalion consists of:
- Sotilaspoliisikomppania (Military Police Company)
- 2. Jääkärikomppania (2nd Jaeger Company aka the Honor Company)
- Kuljetuskomppania (Transport Company)
The Uusimaa Jaeger Battalion consists of:
- 1. Jääkärikomppania (1st Jaeger Company aka the Vanguard Company)
- Panssarintorjuntakomppania (Anti-Tank Company)
- Kranaatinheitinkomppania (Grenade Launcher Company)
The regiment also operates a number of auxiliary units ranging
from the
National Defense Academy (
Maanpuolustuskorkeakoulu)
to the
Guards' Band (
Kaartin Soittokunta). Following
the decommissioning of the central
Taivallahti military base, the
operations of the regiment are almost entirely concentrated
on the lovely island of
Santahamina to the southeast of Helsinki.
The total (peacetime) strength of the regiment is around 1500 soldiers;
note that this is all
infantry, as the Finnish
Navy and
Air Force
have their own bases around Helsinki.
Random Trivia
The Guard Jaeger Regiment
is the only specifically
urban combat force in Finland.
The regiment is the only Finnish
infantry unit whose
grunts are called
kaartinjääkäri (
Jaeger of the Guard) instead
of the normal
jääkäri (
Jaeger) and who are permitted to
wear the symbol of the Guard -- a
laurel wreath topped
with
St. George's Cross and a
horn -- on their sleeves.
The honor guard for the presidential palace is selected from
the regiment's Military Police Company.
References
www.mil.fi/joukot/kaartjr/
Personal experience