First raised 1675 as the regiment of the Hereditary Prince Frederick. 2 battalions. 3 battalions in 1717 when it incorporated the so-called "Red Battalion" or "Long Fellows". In 1740 Frederick II reduced it to one battalion, retaining the cipher of his father Frederick William on the flags and the previous central wreath. IR15 now became the King's Guards and IR6 the Grenadier Garde.
The flags as they were in 1740:
And as they were after 1740:
The Grenadier Garde battalion first went into action in the Seven Years War at Rossbach on November 5th 1757. Its grenadier company had already fought in the battles of Lobositz and Prague. Its attack on the churchyard at Leuthen with the Guards Brigade is famous; losses were 36 dead and 155 wounded. In the defeat of Hochkirch on October 14th 1758 it was part of a counter-attack with the Guards (IR15) and infantry regiments 20 and 26 west of the village. In that battle it lost 335 men. In 1760 Major General Friedrich Christoph von Saldern became its chef; he was "an exemplary teacher of his officers, a great infantry tactician and inspector, a sensible friend to man and father to his soldiers". It was at Liegnitz on 15th August 1760 suffering light casualties. In the Battle of Torgau on November 3rd 1760, the Saldern Guard Brigade, at the head of the Zieten Corps, struck the enemy on the Süptitz Heights in the rear and flank at twilight via an unoccupied causeway between the sheep ponds, thus deciding the almost-lost battle. The attack cost the battalion eight officers and 333 men. On July 20th 1762 the battalion stormed Ohmsdorf Castle, which was the starting point for the attack on the Austrian defences between Burkersdorf and Leutmannsdorf; it was then employed to protect the artillery batteries established there. At Reichenbach a short time later the battalion saw action only after the battle was almost over.
This is a famous Röchling painting of IR 6 in action at Hohenfriedberg in 1745:
And Menzel's painting of a guardsman in 1740:
P.S. The flags as first posted had a "quality control problem", now fixed. So if you downloaded them quickly, please redownload. The member of staff who got it so terribly wrong has now been shot...