Editing Grenadier (section)

==Grenadier companies==
[[File:40thRegimentOfFootByDavid Morier.png|thumb|upright=.6|40th Regiment of Foot by [[David Morier]], 1751]]

From the 17th Century<ref>{{cite book |page=4 |last=Fraser |first=David |title=The Grenadier Guards |location=London |publisher=Osprey Publishing |date=1989 |isbn=978-0-85045-284-6 }}</ref> to the mid 19th centuries the "Foot" or infantry regiments of the British and several other armies comprised ten companies; eight of them "Battalion" or "Centre" companies, and two "[[Flank Companies]]" consisting of one Grenadier and one Light or Light Infantry Company.<ref>p.39 Logusz, Michael O. ''With Musket and Tomahawk: The Saratoga Campaign and the Wilderness War of 1777'' Casemate Publishers, 19/05/2010</ref> In the United States, an Act of Congress made on 8 May 1792 directed that for every infantry battalion there should be one company of grenadiers, riflemen, or light infantry.<ref>p.xxxv Miller, A.E. printer ''The Militia System of South-Carolina: ...'', 1835</ref>

On occasion the grenadier and light companies could be "brigaded" together into separate grenadier and light infantry battalions for assaults or [[skirmishing]] respectively.<ref>p.143 Kirke, Charles ''Red Coat, Green Machine: Continuity in Change in the British Army 1700 to 2000'' Continuum International Publishing Group, 28/12/2009</ref>

Each of the line infantry regiments of the Austrian Army of this period included a grenadier division of two companies, separate from the [[fusilier]] companies that made up the bulk of the unit. The grenadier companies were frequently detached from the parent regiment and grouped into composite grenadier battalions for a particular campaign or purpose.<ref>Philip Haythornthwaite, page 5 "Austrian Army of the Napoleonic Wars (1): Infantry", {{ISBN|0-85045-689-4}}</ref>

The [[Russian Imperial Army]] of the 18th century followed a different line of development. Prior to 1731 grenadiers made up five separate regiments. These were disbanded prior to the outbreak of war with Turkey and picked infantrymen were transferred to one of two grenadier companies incorporated in each (two-battalion) line infantry regiment. In 1753, 2 grenadier companies were added to the infantry regiments and all regiments were ordered to consist of a 3-battalion structure, with 3 grenadier companies of 200 grenadiers in each. In 1756 each of the grenadier companies was brought together in four permanent grenadier regiments.<ref>Angus Konstan, pages 16-17 "Russian Army of the Seven Years War (1)", {{ISBN|1 85532 585 3}}</ref>{{sfn|Velichko|Novitsky|Schwartz|Apushkin|1912|p=485}} This policy of maintaining a separate corps of grenadiers continued until the Russian Revolution of 1917. The Palace Grenadiers was a ceremonial company selected from distinguished veterans, in existence from 1827 to 1917 with the primary role of guarding the [[Winter Palace]].<ref>Borris Mollo, page 131 "Uniforms of the Imperial Russian Army", {{ISBN|0-7137-0920-0}}</ref>

With the standardisation of training and tactics, the need for separate grenadier companies at regimental level had passed by the mid-19th century and the British, French and Austrian armies phased out these sub-units between 1850 and 1862.
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File:MorierGrenadiersRegts464748.jpg|A representative panel of the Grenadier Paintings, depicting privates of the [[46th Regiment of Foot|46th]], [[47th Regiment of Foot|47th]] and [[48th Regiment of Foot|48th]] Reg'ts. of Foot in route march order, by David Morier
File:2nd Horse Grenadier.jpg|Trooper of the 2nd Reg't. of Horse Grenadiers, by David Morier
</gallery>