at Buckingham Palace. The Wachtruppe was left in place by the NSDAP leadership after Adolf Hitler's appointment as Chancellor in 1933. In 1934, the unit was renamed Wachtruppe Berlin and in 1936 the addition of a headquarters and administration company raised the unit size to a full battalion with 8 companies, the battalion HQ, and service support elements. In June 1937, the unit was again renamed, this time to Wach Regiment Berlin. The recruitment system was reworked, with postings no longer on divisional lines, but instead individual soldiers were posted to the unit for 6-month tours of duty. A supply company was also added to the Regiment's order of battle. In World War I, Germany had been more of a political concept than a nation, and most divisions were still named for their region (e.g. Saxon, Prussian, Bavarian, Baden etc.). Under the NSDAP, the country had been finally united as a true Deutschland, but this was only a part of the Party's plans for a Greater Germany, encompassing all Germanic peoples under one banner, and with its capital in Berlin, to be renamed Germania it was to become a Großdeutschland. The Wach Regiment Berlin provided escorts and guards of honour for state visits, conferences and the Olympic Games. Despite the fact that Hitler's personal security was in the hands of the SS Leibstandarte, on the outbreak of World War II a small detachment was drawn from the Wach Regiment to become Hitler's official state bodyguard. This unit was called the Führer Begleit ("Führer Escort") battalion, and was to eventually be expanded to divisional size (see Führer-Begleit Division). Infanterie-Regiment Großdeutschland - France and The Low Countries In the months leading up to World War II, while the rest of the Wehrmacht Heer marched into The Saarland, Austria and Czechoslovakia, the men of Wach Regiment Berlin marched up and down Unter den Linden Strasse every Sunday. However they were not to stay out of the front lines for long. In the first week of 1939, Hitler ordered that the Wach Regiment be renamed Infanterie-Regiment Großdeutschland. The unit was now a permanent cadre, and unlike other regiments of the German Army (which were raised from a particular region), future recruits of the Großdeutschland were to be recruited across nationwide lines, with officers also drawn nationally. The unit was officially activated on 14 June 1939, and the occasion was marked by a parade through