Suomen Tarkk’ampujapataljoona, Swedish: Livgardets 3:e finska skarpskyttebataljon, Russian: Лейб-гвардии 3-й стрелковый Финский батальон, romanized: Leib-gvardii 3-j strelkovyi Finski bataljon), colloquially known as just Finnish Guards (Finnish: Suomen kaarti, Swedish: Finska gardet) was a Grand Duchy of Finland light infantry during 1829–1905 based in Helsinki.

Two of these included actual combat: first in 1831 during the Polish November Uprising and for the second time, on the Balkan front of the Russo-Turkish War.

The unit was also deployed in 1849 to assist in quelling the Hungarian Uprising and later during the Crimean War to guard the western border of Russia.

During peace time, the battalion was responsible for guard duty in Helsinki and participated in the Russian military exercises held annually in Krasnoye Selo.

Soldiers were paid 60 Russian rubles for their entire 6 year military contract, as well as one and a half barrels of rye annually.

Its first assignment was to undertake guard duties in Saint Petersburg between 31 March 1813 and 31 August 1814, while the majority of the Russian Army was tied in Western and Central Europe in the battles against Napoleon.

[9] In July 1829 the Finnish Training Battalion was suddenly ordered to join the imperial life-guards' exercise camp in Krasnoye Selo, south-west of Saint Petersburg.

For this reason, the Finnish Rifle Battalion also participated in public duties in Saint Petersburg, including those pertaining to the protection of the Emperor as the commander in chief of the army and navy.

Just like elsewhere in the world, the Russian guard regiments held a clearly more esteemed social position in comparison to regular line infantry.

Sending Finnish forces outside of the borders, or taking part to crush the Polish Uprising was no cause of scruples for Finns.

The battalion received its baptism of fire in the beginning of the April, together with other imperial forces and Finnish soldiers quickly got a reputation as good marksmen.

The battalion was from its inception in a visible position in the Grand Duchy of Finland as it was based in the center of the capital city of Helsinki.

During the 19th century, the numerous Russian and Finnish troops based in Helsinki and their frequent parades gave the capital quite a militaristic tone, with various incidents caused by the soldiers becoming a part of the normal life of the city.

With the development of more powerful rifles, bullets were no longer stopped by the walls of the Punavuori shooting range, but flew out to the sea, causing a danger to marine traffic.

[17] After the Emperor died, the uniforms were handed over to the battalion, which stored and preserved them as valuable relics, placed on display in showcase, inside a dedicated church-hall in the Guards' Barracks.

During the reign of Nicholas I of Russia, the battalion stopped on its way to Krasnoye Selo in Peterhof for a couple of days to serve as guards and to entertain the Emperor with parades.

After the allotment system, which had been reintroduced during the Crimean War, was ramped down in 1867 in response to the famine of 1866–67, the battalion was left as the only operational Finnish military unit.

The bulk of the fighting was in Crimea, but Russia held a large contingent of troops back to secure the western border, in case of an Austrian invasion.

They were deployed with numerous other units in autumn 1877, as the Russian offensive had been stalled due to failed attempts to take the fortress of Plevna.

After the capture of Plevna in December, Gourko decided to take his troops across the Balkan Mountains in the middle of the winter as a detour to avoid the heavily defended Arabakonak pass.

The battalion was at the time attached to a unit commanded by general major Dmitry Filosofov, but after crossing the mountain, it was moved back to Ellis's Guards' Brigade.

At an early stage it was planned that the Guards' Battalion be recruited only from the southern Uusimaa Province, but later, it was decided that conscripts could be enlisted from all over the Grand Duchy in order to maintain the strength of the unit.

The Governor General Nikolai Bobrikov noted, that organizational differences and the Finnish officers' lack of knowledge of the Russian language were issues to be fixed.

This decision reflected a general political bias by the Russian Imperial government against regional autonomy, including the creation of separate military units.

However the Finnish Dragoons were disbanded the same year, when its officers resigned as a group, in protest against the way Nikolay Bobrikov had treated its commanding colonel Oskar Teodor Schauman.

Subsequently, the "draft strikes movement" organised large-scale opposition against Finnish conscripts being obliged to undertake their military service in Russian units.

Finnish public opinion expressed a hope that the battalion might become a volunteer (non-conscript) unit, but the leadership of the Russian army refused the idea.

As the revolutionary unrest of 1905 was spreading in Russia, the General Governor Ivan Obolensky was afraid that Finns might start a separatist rebellion.

On 9 April 1905, the Finnish Guard's Rifle Battalion left Helsinki for the annual Krasnoye Selo exercises for the last time, in an atmosphere of crisis.

After the Second World War, the unit was renamed a number of times, until in 1957, it received the name Kaartin pataljoona (Guards' Battalion).