Prussian Infantry Regiment No. 6 consisted of the Potsdam Giants, which were established in 1675 and lasted until 1806, when they were disbanded after the country’s disastrous war with France against Napoleon Bonaparte. The troops of this regiment were known as Potsdam Giants or Lange Kerls (“Long Fellows”) due to the unusually tall average height of the men who served in it at the time. The regiment took its name from the large city of Potsdam. The Grenadier Guard was also another common nickname for this unit. It wasn’t until shortly before the dissolution of the Potsdam Giants in 1806 that the regiment was finally numbered as “No. 6”.
History of the Potsdam Giants
In 1675, Brandenburg Elector Frederick William (later King Frederick I of Prussia) formed the “Regiment Kurprinz” with two battalions in reaction to the Swedish invasion of the Margraviate of Brandenburg (1674–75).
His son Frederick I of Prussia, also a Brandenburg Elector, served as the first leader of this regiment, which would soon include the Potsdam Giants.
A part of the regiment embarked from Magdeburg on June 23, 1675, to fight in the Battle of Fehrbellin, which was between Swedish and Brandenburg-Prussian troops and began on June 18.
The son of Frederick III, Frederick William, took over as regimental commander in 1694 at the age of 6. It was for cadet training, but a year later, he was still given a miniature arsenal.
In 1701, the unit’s name was officially changed to the “Crown Prince Regiment.” The reason for this was that on January 18, 1701, Frederick III was crowned king as “Frederick I of Prussia”.
A New Battalion Consisting of Tall, Young Men
Initially consisting of two battalions, a third battalion was raised in 1704, and the regiment’s name was rebranded into the Count of Schlieben Regiment the following year.
The crown prince’s hunting guard and a bunch of tall men were recruited in 1709 to create the VI Battalion. The recruitment of tall, young men was mostly voluntary.
The new battalion became known as the “Great Life Guard Grenadier Battalion” and was also called the Red Grenadier Battalion. In 1711, there were four separate companies in this battalion.
With Frederick William I’s accession to the Prussian throne in 1713, the regiment was elevated to Royal Guard rank and its name changed to “His Royal Majesty’s Regiment.” However, it was also known as the “Life Regiment” or the “Royal Regiment.”
William I subsequently took steps to bolster his armed forces, including the recruitment of 40,000 mercenaries. During this period, he also began to recruit hundreds of more tall men every year to surround himself with extremely tall soldiers.
His Potsdam Giants participated shortly in the 1715 siege and eventual capture of Stralsund during the Great Northern War (1700–1721). The King’s Regiment was made up of the Red Grenadiers (Battalion I) and the Battalions II and III of the Old Electoral Prince Regiment, all of which were formed in 1675 and had five companies each.
In 1735, the regiment expanded by adding one company of wing grenadiers to each battalion. Bringing the total number of companies in the regiment to 18.
The First Known Instance of Human Interbreeding
Frederick attempted to create giants by pairing these tall men with other tall women. Charles Darwin identified this endeavor as the sole incidence of purposeful human interbreeding in The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex.
The Potsdam Giants are the only known example of human interbreeding where specific males and females were purposely selected and matched to produce humans with a specific trait.
And, as one could assume, all Potsdam Giants obeyed this practice of intentional selection. During this time, many tall men were raised in the towns inhabited by Potsdam Giants and their tall wives. There are a few known descendants of their families.
It’s Time to Recruit More Giants
The grenadiers in the king’s regiment were expected to be at least 6 Prussian feet, or around 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) tall. But to make it practical, they also had to be humble with less physically imposing recruits.
Since there were thousands of soldiers of various heights in the regiment, the average height of the Potsdam Giants was never recorded.
True giants,” like the 7 feet, 1.43 inches (2.17 m) Irishman James Kirkland, were among the tallest Potsdam Giants that stood out the most. The tallest (Daniel Cajanus) was said to measure an astounding 8 feet 1.24 inches (2.47 m).
Daniel Cajanus, or “Swedish Giant,” left the country in 1723 to join the Potsdam Giants. Some modern researchers list his height as 7 feet 8 inches (2.34 m) which is still outstanding, considering that the average height of a man in 1675 was 5 feet 4 inches (1.62 m). Cajanus spent some of his years as a cavalry trooper in the Polish court of August II.
The outlier Potsdam Giants, like Kirkland and Cajanus, were either assigned to the department for regimental replacements known as the “Great Rekrut” (“Great New Recruits”) or made members of the 1st member of the king’s life company.
When it came to the royal regiment, the 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m) tall Prussian monarch Frederick William I served as the regimental commander and official uniform bearer.
The king dispatched emissaries around Europe to entice tall men to join the Prussian army by offering them significant amounts of money and, in some cases, the threat of imprisonment if they refused to serve in the royal regiment. Some giants were also kidnapped.
Although giants were paid well, not all of them were happy, particularly those who had been forcefully recruited; some even tried to defect or commit suicide.
Tall Men as Gifts from Other Monarchs
Tall soldiers as “gifts” from benevolent princes were also not uncommon. Because the recruitment and maintenance costs for these extremely tall men’s salaries and benefits were enormous.
European monarchs quickly realized that sending Frederick William I some tall soldiers was the surest route to winning his favor. Imperial rulers from Austria, Russia, and even the Ottoman Sultan sent him their tallest troops in an effort to strengthen diplomatic ties with Prussia. After presenting Tsar Peter I with the renowned Amber Room, the Tsar sent him several tall troops as a personal gift.
Every day, William I would lead his own troop in training and drills, and he enjoyed recreating their likenesses on his canvas. The king even made an effort to display them for visitors to the palace.
When he was feeling down, William I would attempt to perk up by having his Potsdam Giants march before him. The regiment’s mascot, a bear, would lead this march. “I’m not interested in the most beautiful girl or woman in the world, but tall soldiers are my weakness,” he reportedly told the French envoy.
Reason and Function of the Potsdam Giants
The Potsdam Giants’ tall stature likely had a functional purpose: These towering men were expected to use muzzleloader rifles. These rifles were made with longer barrels to allow their bullets to travel much longer distances. Long-barreled muzzleloader rifles required taller men for ease of use, and extremely tall soldiers like the Potsdam Giants would be the best candidate for this task.
However, according to some historians, many of the Potsdam Giants were actually physically fragile due to their pathological gigantism. Therefore, the regiment of the Potsdam Giants would have been nothing more than a show unit, unfit for actual military service. There were around 3,200 soldiers in the regiment at the time of Frederick William I’s death in 1740.
End of the Potsdam Giants
Due to the enormous expense of maintaining the Potsdam Giants regiment, King Frederick II disbanded it upon his assumption of the throne in 1740 with the death of his father. He recruited 10,000 more soldiers and formed seven new battalions with their money.
However, he still chose to keep one battalion out of 18. The remaining troops were sent to other regiments. Some of them were transferred to the new Regiment Guard, or Frederick’s Life Regiment (1806: No. 15). The rest of the Potsdam Giants were distributed among the newly formed regiments of his brothers (No. 34 and No. 35).
The one remaining battalion from the original No. 16 Potsdam Giants regiment was given the title “King’s Grenadier-Guard Batallion” with all the guard benefits (higher compensation, etc.) from that point on.
When the battalion’s winged grenadiers joined forces with other regiments, the previous members of the Potsdam Giants finally saw battle during the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763) in the Rossbach, Leuthen, Hochkirch, Liegnitz, and Torgau battles. They also fought at Hohenfriedberg and Soor during the Second Silesian War (1745).
Therefore, despite their short involvement in the Great Northern War during King Frederick William I of Prussia’s reign, the Potsdam Giants had never participated in long-lasting combat. However, after William I’s death in 1740, his son Frederick the Great saw them as nothing more than show units and redirected most of the Potsdam Giants members to more active duties in the army.
The “Grenadier-Guard Battalion,” the new name of the Potsdam Giants, was in use from 1801 until 1806. In 1806, close to Erfurt and Prenzlau, the forces surrendered, and with their disbandment, the Potsdam Giants came to an official end.
Potsdam Giants Turned into a Tradition
After the disbandment of the Potsdam Giants, infantry units No. 6 and No. 15 became customary unit numbers. Although later regiments did not follow the idea behind the Potsdam Giants, recruiting extremely tall soldiers for long-range rifles.
With authentic reproductions of their uniforms and rifles, the Association for the Promotion and Maintenance of the Tradition of the Potsdam Giant Guard, or simply the Lange Kerls, in Germany has been working to preserve and protect the history of the Potsdam Giants since 1990.
Through bivouacs, parades, and drills, the group strives for the highest possible level of realism in their public and private performances.
Uniform and Equipment of the Potsdam Giants
In the picture of Schwerid Rediwanoff seen in a few pictures above, you can observe the many components of the uniform and equipment of the Potsdam Giants.
Their crimson mitres, Prussian blue jackets with gold lacing, scarlet breeches, and white gaiters were standard clothing for the time period.
- Cap: On the grenadier’s scarlet hat was written in Latin, “SEMPER TALIS,” which translates to “always the same.” In addition to that, “to each his own” (“suum cinque”) was written in Latin on the black eagle at the center.
- Musket: Their muzzleloader rifles, like the M1723 from Spandau/Potsdam, which utilized a long cartridge, were in use up to the year 1740. They were also known as Potzdam Muskets.
- Saber: Their edged weapon was a saber with a 30.9-inch (78.5-cm) blade, similar to a karabela.
- Bags: The Potsdam Giants were equipped with both a bullet bag and a grenade bag. The matches and the sparks for the explosives were attached to the chest strap.
- Footwear: The footwear had the feature of being interchangeable between left and right feet.
Commanders of the Potsdam Giants
The heads of the Potsdam Giants regiments were:
- 1675–1688 Elector Frederick of Brandenburg
- 1688–1740 Prince Elector, in 1701 Crown Prince, and in 1713 King Frederick William I of Prussia.
- 1740–1743 King Frederick the Great (Frederick II).
- 1743–1745 General G. E. von Einsiedel
- 1745–1760 Colonel F. v. Retzow
- 1760–1766 General F. v. Saldern
- 1766–1779 Colonel H. S. v. Lestwitz
- 1779–1796 General W. v. Rohdich
- 1796–1798 General D. v. Roeder
- 1798–1801 Colonel F. v. Ingersleben
- 1801–1806 Colonel C. L. v. Le Coq
In Popular Culture
Along with the Lange Kerls organization in Germany, the giants make some other appearances in other parts of popular culture. The Potsdam Giants are a featured unit in the video game Empire: Total War (2009). The units are “resistant to morale shocks,” and they “inspire nearby units.”
References
- History of Friedrich II. of Prussia Volume XI – By Thomas Carlyle – 2018
- Life of Frederick William, the Great Elector of Brandenburg – By Charles Edmund Maurice – 1981
- Association for the Promotion and Maintenance of the Tradition of the Potsdam Giant Guard
