Republican Guard (Laeral)

The Republican Guard (Fr: Garde Républicaine, Mn: Gònghédǎng wèiduì) is an elite Laeralian military unit originally in existence from 1923 to 1968, before being reestablished in 1990. The Republican Guard was established in the first year of the Republic of Laeral by President René Gramont as a military unit separate from the Laeralian Army and of secure loyalty to the Social Democratic regime. Composed of elite troops receiving superior training and equipment than standard Laeralian army units, the Republican Guard reported directly to the President of the Republic. The Republican Guard served with distinction in numerous conflicts during its existence, including the Brissac War, the Accession of Lienne, the Bloody Summer, and the Great War. After the end of the Great War, the Republican Guard was disbanded and reincorporated into the Laeralian National Security Force in 1968, and was reinstated in a limited role as the president's personal bodyguard by President Michel Baudry in 1990. Elements of the role and traditions of the original Republican Guard remain in the elite Special Forces units of the LNSF.

Founding

The Republican Guard has its roots in the Rose Banner Brigades, paramilitary troops of the Army for Democracy and Progress during the Laeralian Revolution—in particular the specialized units, comprised of trusted veterans of the Laeral-Fellsian War, which were assigned to protect high-ranking revolutionaries. When President René Gramont issued his Proclamation on the Reorganization of the Armed Forces in 1923, the Republican Guard was created alongside the reconstituted Laeralian Army.

Organization

The First Regiment of the Republican Guard was charged with the protection of the president and other governmental leaders. Permanently stationed around Laeralsford and the president's person, the First Regiment saw significant action in the Bloody Summer. The Second, Third, and Fourth Regiments of the Republican Guard were deployed in offensive roles abroad, and the Great War saw the establishment of a Fifth and Sixth Regiment. Since the 1990 reestablishment of the Guard, only the first through fourth regiments remain in service. Each regiment has distinctive traditions, including regimental nicknames and initiation rites. In its original incarnation, the Republican Guard included integrated artillery and armored units and even aircraft and helicopters.

Legacy

The exploits of the Republican Guard, particularly lionized during Bloody Summer and Great War propaganda, have become a fertile source of inspiration for television, film, comics, and other media. Jerome Cordier's 1956 novel Ma Vie dans le Garde Républicain (My Life in the Republican Guard) spurred a surge of follow-up novels and films, of which 1964's L'Homme de Garde (The Guardsman) is the most well-known and acclaimed. Fictional Laeralian intelligence agent Michel Vidal, the star of a series of books and films, is canonically a former Guardsman.

In 1971, the Laeralian news journal Revue Place de Capucins reported that numerous veterans of the Republican Guard's Second Regiment had illegally retained their weapons after leaving the military, implicating two Republican Guard veterans in the 1971 murder of police officer Yannick Fabre and suspected drug-dealers Xavier Le Roux and Yvan Etienne in Marcieux, Sarene. Culprits Jean-Camille Hsu and Fai Hsiang-lin, both former tankers who had served together during the Great War and members of the Rén Self-Defense League, were sentenced to life in prison; their case was dramatized in film and television.

Veterans of disbanded Republican Guard units became a significant flow of recruits for the Rén Self-Defense League, more so than the Littoral Assault Regiment of marines which was disbanded at the same time.