Guards Corps Gardekorps | |
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![]() Flag of the Staff of a Generalkommando (1871–1918) | |
Active | 1813 | –1919
Country | ![]() ![]() |
Branch | Army |
Type | Artillery Cavalry Infantry Pioneer |
Size | Approximately 44,000 (on mobilisation in 1914) |
Garrison/HQ | Berlin/Hinter dem Gießhause 3 |
Patron | German Emperor and King of Prussia |
Motto(s) | Semper talis (always the same/great) |
Shoulder strap piping | Varies per unit |
Engagements | Austro-Prussian War |
Insignia | |
Abbreviation | GK |
The Guards Corps/GK (German: Gardekorps) was a corps level command of the Prussian and then the Imperial German Armies from the 19th century to World War I.
The Corps was headquartered in Berlin, with its units garrisoned in the city and nearby towns (Potsdam, Jüterbog, Döberitz). Unlike all other Corps of the Imperial German Army, the Guards Corps did not recruit from a specific area, but from throughout Prussia and the "Imperial Lands" of Alsace-Lorraine.
The Corps served in the Austro-Prussian War. During the Franco-Prussian War it was assigned to the 2nd Army.
In peacetime the Corps was assigned to the II Army Inspectorate but joined the 2nd Army at the start of the First World War.[1] It was still in existence at the end of the war[2] in the 4th Army, Heeresgruppe Kronprinz Rupprecht, on the Western Front.[3] The Corps was disbanded with the demobilisation of the German Army after World War I.