The regiment has its origins in
fänikor (companies) raised in Dalarna in 1542. During 1598, some of the units participated in the
War against Sigismund and in 1605 one
fänika from Dalarna fought at the
Battle of Kircholm. In 1615, these units—along with
fänikor from the nearby provinces of
Uppland and
Västmanland—were organised by
Gustav II Adolf into
Upplands storregemente, of which 1,400 of the total 3,000 soldiers were recruited in Dalarna.
Upplands storregemente consisted of three field regiments, of which the
Dalregementet was one. The Dalarna Regiment was also the first Swedish regiment to be
allotted, which happened as early as in 1621. Parts of this grand regiment participated in the
Polish–Swedish wars during the siege of Riga in 1621 and as garrison from 1626–1629. During this period, sometime between 1623 and 1628, the grand regiment was permanently split into three smaller regiments, of which the Dalarna Regiment was one. The regiment's first commander was
Axel Oxenstierna. The regiment was shipped to
Germany and arrived at
Wolgast in June 1631 to participate in the
Thirty Years' War. Its first major battle was the
Battle of Breitenfeld on 17 September that same year, where it stood in the first line. It also stood in the first line as part of the
Swedish Brigade at the
Battle of Lützen the next year, a battle which caused heavy casualties to the regiment. The regiment's "creator", Gustav II Adolf, was killed in a cavalry charge trying to ease the pressure on the Dalarna Regiment's part of the front. The regiment returned to Sweden to replenish shortly after and remained at home until 1638, when one of the regiment's two
battalions was sent as garrison to
Stettin. The Dalarna Regiment was one of the original 20 Swedish infantry regiments mentioned in the Swedish
constitution of 1634.
Carl Gustaf Wrangel was the commander from 1639 on. The second battalion was sent to Germany in 1642, and the whole regiment fought at the
Battle of Leipzig that year, only to return to Sweden again the following year. They were present during the siege of
Landskrona in 1644 during the short
Torstenson War. The Dalarna Regiment was shipped to
Pomerania in 1655 following the outbreak of the
Northern Wars. The regiment was part of the army that sieged and captured
Marienburg in 1656, after which one of the battalions was sent to reinforce the garrison in
Riga while the other participated in the attack on
Copenhagen in 1659. In preparation for the
Scanian War, one of the battalions was sent back to
Germany in 1674, and was once again put under command of
Carl Gustaf Wrangel, who led a thrust into
Brandenburg, which ended in the
Battle of Fehrbellin. The other battalion was used in
Scania in the
Battles of Halmstad,
Lund and
Landskrona in 1676–1677. A temporarily raised reserve regiment of eight companies was used against
Norway in the
Battle of Uddevalla. When the
Great Northern War started, the Dalarna Regiment was under the command of
Magnus Stenbock and was used against
Denmark but was soon sent to the
Baltic region, taking part in the
Battle of Narva in 1700 and the
Crossing of Daugava in 1701. In 1702, the regiment received orders to join the main army at
Warsaw. The regiment took part in the
Battle of Kliszów, but was sent back to the Baltics for periods between 1702 and 1705. It then was subordinated to the main army that fought at
Holovczyn,
Malatitze and finally at the
Battle of Poltava, where the regiment surrendered to the
Russians. The regiment was reformed with new recruits in Sweden in 1710 and was sent to
Pomerania and the
Battle of Gadebusch in 1712. The Dalarna Regiment once again had to surrender, this time in 1713 after the
Siege of Tönning. The regiment was reformed a second time, and took part in both the 1716 and 1718 attacks on
Norway. The next action of the regiment was in 1741 during the
Hats' Russian War and the
Battle of Villmanstrand, the last of the regiment's major battles. In 1758 the regiment was shipped to
Pomerania yet again, this time to participate in the
Seven Years' War, but the Dalarna Regiment saw no major battles during that war. In
Gustav III's Russian War, the Dalarna Regiment was initially positioned along the southern
Finnish coast but was later transferred to the inland, where several minor skirmishes took place during 1790. One of the battalions was involved in the
First War against Napoleon, fighting minor battles against
Norwegian troops which ended with the whole battalion being captured in early 1808. The final battle of the Dalarna Regiment was during the
Campaign against Norway in 1814, in the
Battle of Kjölbergs bro, one of the last battles Sweden fought before adopting a policy of
neutrality. The regiment was given the designation I 13 (13th Infantry Regiment) in a
general order in 1816. Dalregementet was garrisoned in
Falun from 1908. In 1973, the regiment gained the new designation I 13/Fo 53 as a consequence of a merge with the local defence district Fo 53. The regiment was disbanded in 2000. The regiment was re-established on 23 October 2021, a symbolically chosen day for historical reasons. On 23 October 1642, the
First Battle of Leipzig was fought, where the original Dalarna Regiment formed a brigade together with a German regiment. Dalarna Regiment was inaugurated by His Majesty the King
Carl XVI Gustaf to the tunes of the
Royal Swedish Army Band. The Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces, General
Micael Bydén, Chief of Army, Major General
Karl Engelbrektson and the Minister of Defence
Peter Hultqvist also attended the inauguration. == Campaigns ==