Its role in the Stasi was the protection of buildings and high-ranking officials of the GDR government and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany and was also a highly trained Motorized Infantry and public security force.

[2][3] It was composed of experienced and ideologically reliable men separate from the National People's Army that could be deployed to suppress rebellion and unrest.

In November 1954, the Guards Battalion A was set up as the official paramilitary wing of the Stasi and its staff headquartered in Adlershof, East Berlin.

The Stasi was dissolved on 13 January 1990 and its facilities and responsibilities taken over by the GDR's Ministry of the Interior (Ministerium des Innern), but the regiment continued to exist.

While the FDGR's main duties were to ensure the safety of SED official and party members, it could also be mobilized to conduct some commando operations when required.

[7][8] Scholarly research into the regiment after the end of the Cold War mentions that FDGR soldiers had trained PLO and other Middle Eastern and South American-based terrorists at a classified military base known as Objekt 74 at Briesen.

[9] At full strength, the regiment consisted of over 11,200 personnel, including 2,500 officers, 8,735 NCOs and enlisted men, and nine civil staff.

FC Union Berlin Dirk Zingler was a member of the Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment for three years during his military service.

Dirk Zingler has explained that he had sought to spend his military service in Berlin and that he was unaware beforehand that the regiment belonged to the Stasi.

Specialized units such as the honor companies (28. and 29 MSK of the 10th MSB) were fitted in addition to the above-mentioned weapons, rifles and sabers.

[8] Its uniforms were nearly identical to those of the National People's Army (NVA) and were distinguished primarily by the dark red MfS service color of its insignia and by a cuff title on the left sleeve bearing the regiment's name.