First raised February 1728. Chefs in the SYW were: Major General Berend Sigismund von Blanckensee to October 1756; Major General Hans Samuel von Pritz from 19.10.1756; Major General Ernst Ludwig von Kannacher from 21.01.1757; Major General Joachim Friedrich von Stutterheim from 01.01.1759.
The regiment was with the King's Army in 1756. The grenadiers were at Pirna helping hem in the Saxons and the 2 musketeers battalions were at Lobositz on the left flank under Keith where they were involved in helping clear the Lobosch Hill of Croats; they lost 275 men. At Prague on May 6th 1757 the regiment was part of the breakthrough south of Kej under Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick and appears to have suffered minimal casualties. On the 9th May the grenadiers and 2 musketeer companies stormed the Ziska-Berg north-east of Prague. The regiment was not at Kolin. In August the grenadiers went with the King to Rossbach and the musketeers went to Silesia with the Duke of Bevern and suffered defeat at Breslau on the 22nd November. On the right centre of the main line at Leuthen on December 2nd, the two musketeer battalions suffered only about 15% casualties (C J Duffy, Army of Frederick the Great, 1st Edition henceforth AFG1). After the battle the regiment was at the fall of Breslau on December 19th.
IR30 stayed in Silesia under Margrave Karl after the unsuccessful 1758 campaign. At Hochkirch on October 14th Field Marshal Keith tried to recapture the lost batteries along the eastern edge of the town at the head of IR30 but was shot from his horse and mortally wounded. The regiment was ordered to abandon the attack and the lost guns. Half the regiment was lost (AFG1 confirms 50% casualties).
In 1759 IR30 was in action at Torgau, Meissen and Böhmisch-Friedland. In 1760 it fought at Strehla under Prince Heinrich in August and at Torgau on November 3rd. Both grenadier and musketeer battalions led second the attack on the Süptitz Heights, suffering heavy casualties when attacked by four regiments of cuirassiers. Nearly all the officers were wounded.
In 1761 IR30 helped secure eastern Saxony and again in 1762, culminating in the battle of Freiberg on October 29th, where as part of the Jung-Stutterheim Brigade IR30 came up against, for once, three hard-fighting regiments of the Reichsarmee in the shape of Rodt, Trier and Baden-Baden. The brigade's attacks were repulsed. Only after the success of neighbouring attacks were IR30 and the other regiments of the brigade able to advance, towards the end of the battle. Frederick awarded two majors and a lieutenant of IR30 the Pour-le-merite.
Frederick called IR30 "a good and brave regiment".
And here is the musketeer uniform in 1756:
