Abstract:
There existed two types of armed forces in the First Democratic republic
of Georgia (1918-1921): the Regular Army and the National Guard, which was
based on volunteer principle. The latter one during the peaceful times was
assigned under the command of the Head of the Government. However, in case
of war it should be subordinated to the Commander in-Chief. The National
Guard’s ruling body was the Main Staff, which consisted of 21 members and
was elected for one year by National Guards’ Congress. The Guard was
composed from regular units and reserve battalions. The Soviet Russian
intelligence and the memoirs written by Georgian military commanders are
giving various military data regarding the quantity of the National Guard’s units
and the structure of its organizational staff. According to the documents
obtained from the Historical Archive of Georgia, we were able to specify the
above mentioned details.
The National Guard comprised of the following regular units:
1. Special infantry Battalion;
2. Cavalry squadron;
3. Artillery brigade;
4. Special detachment of machine-guns;
5. Group of Armoured cars;
6. Armour-carrier detachment;
7. Brigade of Engineers;
8. Tank squadron.
In total: 2113 soldiers; 24 cannons; four armoured cars; four armoured
trains, and two Mark-V tanks.
There were enrolled 19 battalions of reserve infantry in the Guard. After
the beginning of warfare, the Guardsmen were gathering in local battalions (by
regions and districts) within 24-48 hours. The overall mobilization capacity
varied between 11,000-12,000 warriors.
