Regiment of Mounted Grenadiers General San Martin (Regimiento de Granaderos a Caballo General San Martín) is the name of two Argentine Army regiments:
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The regiment was founded by Argentine national hero José de San Martín in 1812. The regiment fought in the Battle of San Lorenzo (1813), the Battle of Vilcapugio (1813), the Battle of Ayohuma (1813). The regiment also played a key role as part of the Army of the Andes (Spanish: Ejército de los Andes) in the battles of Chacabuco (1817) and Maipú (1818) in Chile. And later in Perú, Ecuador and Bolivia at the Battles of Riobamba, Pichincha (1822) and Ayacucho (1824), and in the Argentina-Brazil War. The regimental strength had fallen to 120 men (troop size) and the regiment was disbanded in 1827, at the height of its final actions.
By the time then Lt. Col. of Cavalry Jose de San Martin arrived on March 9, 1812, the First Triumvirate recognized him and his services as a Cavalry officer. He then knew about the Argentine War of Independence, and the Argentine Army's organizational and strategy problems that he was ready to put his experiences in the Peninsular War to good use.
On March 12, the Superior Provisional Government gave the order that recognized and confirmed his services. The letter that was written by the Triumvirate's members to the Government specified that Commander of the Horse Grenadiers Squadron about to be raised was one of his then titles, then given to him by the Triumvirate aside from his rank as a Lieutenant Colonel of Cavalry in the Spanish Army. It was necessary for him to form a new cavalry corps, and that also included having parameters of personality and conduct, the rigorous training duties, and the unit's uniforms, pattered after that of the Swiss Army's Horse Grenadiers, among others.
His objective for the formation of the cavalry unit is that to become the fully trained unit helping the Argentine Army fulfill its tasks and win its battles, with the unit composed of native soldiers and officers trained in cavalry tactics and mounted combat skills.
On the same day, Lt. Col. San Martin began to raise the Horse Grenadiers Squadron. The job of raising it took a few months to complete.
The unit was composed of:
Officers and commanders of the Squadron
1st Cavalry Troop
2nd Cavalry Troop
In line with other armies of the era, Jose de San Martin's Horse Grenadiers Regiment became a model of the Argentine Army due to its strict training regimen and exemplary conduct expected of a Horse Grenadier. Rigorous military discipline, especially in maneuvers, training and parade drill became commonplace for the squadron, a model for modern armies of today.
In recruiting new members of the unit, the San Martin Code of Honor, still used today by the Regiment, was a guide for strict military discipline at all times for every Horse Grenadier, either trooper, NCO and officer to follow. San Martin used it in every recruitment activity he led in order to form the Horse Grenadiers as a large full-time military unit.
The Regiment's lead as a example way of life was what San Martin envisioned for the Horse Grenadiers, a example led by living accordingly and by being good citizens of the nation and great soldiers of the Argentine Army, ready to fight for the nation.
As a result of fierce discipline, the cult of valor and honor that Lt. Col. San Martin started in his unit, and the extremeness and rigorousness of military and physical instruction, he wrote his Guide for good habits from the officers as the honor code for the regiment's NCO's and enlisted personnel. This code of honor has exactly 14 points of honor, in which are written the proper norms of conduct and duty.
These are the simplified points :
San Martin added his own words to the code as a summary, and it states that: Of my Grenadiers however, they should be having values, just as I have. When it's insufficient, fill them, when it's exceeding, don't.
San Martin's training and capacitance for the Horse Grenadiers worked, and on September 11, 1812, the 2nd Horse Grenadiers Squadron was decreed to be raised and so was for the 3rd Squadron in December, all by the 1st Triumviate.
San Martin was now called by the authorities in Buenos Aires as the Commander of the Mounted Grenadiers, and on December 7 the Horse Grenadiers Regiment was officially raised, and he was promoted to Colonel. It was on that month when the 3rd Squadron was finally formed, and the 4th Squadron would not be formed until 1815.
In 1903, the Regiment was reinstated, and after 4 years it returned to the role of a Presidential honor guard escort.
At the present day, the regiment acts as the presidential guard and also fulfills ceremonial protocol functions. It is the caretaker of the Casa Rosada, the Argentine Presidential Palace at the eastern end of the famous Plaza de Mayo, nearby some historical and cultural landmarks like the Buenos Aires Cabildo, in which the Regiment of Patricians serve as caretakers, the Buenos Aires City Hall, and the Buenos Aires Cathedral. They also take ceremonial and security duties at the various residences of the President of Argentina nationwide.
Officers
Enlisted and NCOs
Established in 1929 as the musical support unit of the Mounted Grenadiers Regiment, this is one of the many military bands in the service of the Argentine Army, and one of the Army's few cavalry mounted bands. Like the bands of the British Army's Royal Armoured Corps and Household Cavalry, and the French Army's Cavalry Branch and the French National Gendarmerie's Republican Guard Cavalry Regiment, the band plays not just as a regular military band but also as a mounted band.
When mounted on horseback, it has trumpet, helicons, tubas, euphoniums, baritones, 4 timpani and 1 glockenspiel, and the band is led by two Directors of Music. But when on the ground, the instrumentation is of trumpets, valve trombones, mellowphones, tubas, baritones, euphoniums, 1 snare drum, 1-2 bass drums, cymbals, 1 glockenspiel, and field snare drums, and is led by not just the two Directors of Music but by the band's Drum Major.