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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
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[[File:Guard trench.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The Imperial Guard.]]The '''Imperial Guard''' is the primary fighting force of the [[Imperium]], so numerous in size that even the [[Departmento Munitorum]] cannot place a figure on the number of [[Guardsman|Guardsmen]] under arms at any one time; the daily lists of new recruits and toll of casualties can run into the millions in a single day. It would be infeasible trying to put any exact number on the strength of the Guard; however, it is believed that there must be many billions of Imperial Guardsmen, divided into millions of [[regiment]]s. This absolute numeracy provides the Guard with its main power; their ability to deploy in numbers that, eventually, result in victory. Attacking in seemingly endless influxes across battle-zones, charging forth under the cover of massive barrages and delivering massed [[lasgun]] volleys, in the Guard the individual [[Human]] soldier may appear a lost thing, almost forgotten. Yet the actions of these anonymous soldiers daily decide the fate of worlds.<sup>1</sup>
The Guard forms the very backbone of the Imperium; without it, Mankind would surely perish. Whilst Guardsmen are hardly the equals of [[Space Marines]], fighting neither with the advantages of genetic enhancement or the most powerful personal weaponry, the Guard possesses the courage and the manpower to face and annihilate the enemies of the [[Emperor of Mankind|Emperor]] across the galaxy.<sup>2.p.52a</sup>
==Origins of the Imperial Guard==
