Unit Profile
The Légion Etrangére (foreign Legion) is the French Army's specialists support unit.
It is an French elite Army unit established in 1831. Since then the Legion has fought in almost every conflict France was involved in. In earlier days everybody was allowed to join the Legion. Nowadays the past of every recruit is carefully checked.
Mission
- Primary mission: Specialist support of the French Army
Raised and Disbanded
- Raised: March 10th, 1831
Units
- COMLE
- 1er Régiment Etrangér
- 2éme Régiment Etrangér d’Infanterie
- 3éme Régiment Etrangér d’Infanterie
- 4éme Régiment Etrangér
- 5éme Régiment Etrangér
- 1er Régiment Etrangér de Genie
- 2éme Régiment Etrangér de Genie
- 1er Régiment Etrangér de Cavalerie
- 2éme Régiment Etrangér de Parachutistes
- 13éme Demi-brigade de Légion Etrangére
- Detachement de Légion Etrangére Mayotte
Headquarters
- Quartier Viénot, Aubagne, near Marseilles, France
Tireur de précision du 2e Régiment étranger d'infanterie (France) en Afghanistan en 2005 avec un FR F2. (Source: Wikipedia.org.)
History
On March 10th, 1831, by Royal ordinance, the French Foreign Legion was created by King Louis-Philippe Louis. He had taken this step in the hope of strengthening his hold on the throne after becoming king by a coup in 1830. Besides that a colonial war was up hand in Algeria. Later that year the first seven battalions arrived in Algeria. These first battalions, composed exclusively of volunteers, were based on one or similar nationalities. The first fighting the legion was involved in, was in Algeria in 1832. During the Spanish campaign, in 1835, Colonel Bernelle changed the composition of the battalions. To strengthen the unity of the Legion the battalions became composed of all nationalities with French as the official language of command.
During the following years the regiment fought in the Crimean War (1854-56), Italy's fight for freedom from Austria in 1859 which resulted in the first march of the Legion in Paris. In 1863 The Legion was sent to Mexico to protect French interests. This campaign resulted in one of the most famous battles of the Legion. On April 30th 1863 seventy Legionnaires were killed at Camerone Hacienda near Puebla after resisting 2,000 Mexicans during a day of heroic fighting. The name of the battle adorns every Legion flag. Following the defeat of the French by Prussia in 1870, the Legion was then engaged at Tonkin and in North Africa. It suffered very heavy casualties in the First World War and the disbanded regiments were amalgamated into the Foreign Legion's Regiment de Marche.
In 1920's and 1930's, regiments were next involved in Morocco and the Middle East. The Legion was involved throughout the Second World War with the battalion-strength 13e Demi-Brigade Légion Etrangér (13th Foreign Half-Brigade/13DBLE) making a name in Norway and then, in 1942, at Bir-Hakeim in Libya. From 1945 to 1954, virtually the entire Legion was heavily involved in Indo-China until the surrender at Dien Bien Phu.
It then returned to Algeria and fought in a bitter war of independence that cost 2,500 Legionnaires killed. Generals from the Legion come into rebellion against the decision of General de Gaulle to give Algeria its independence. When Algeria was given its independence, de Gaulle took his revenge for the Army's objections to this by axing the parachute divisions and demanding that every Legionnaire should be vetted. On September 29th 1962 the Legion leaves Sidi-Bel-Abbes in Algeria after more than 100 years and moves into its new home in Aubagne, France.
During last ten years of the 20th century, units were involved in the Gulf War and the former Yugoslavia.
Légion étrangère. (Source: uknown.)
Operations
| 1832 | First fights against Abd El Kader, Algeria | |
| 1835 | battle of Barbastro [1837], Spain | |
| 1844 | Victory: M'Chounech (Aures) 2nd Etranger lead by the duc d'Aumale. | |
| 1854 - 1856 | Sebastopol and the death of Colonel Viénot, Crimea | |
| 1859 | Victories of Magenta and Solferino, Italy | |
| 1863 - 1867 | Mexico April 30th 1863: Camerone February 28th 1866: Santa-lsabel March 1867: Return to Algeria |
|
| 1870 - 1871 | Victory of Coulmiers: First fights of the Legion in France, French German war | |
| 1883 - 1885 |
January 1883: Sontay February 1885: Langson, Tonkin (Indochina) |
|
| 1885 | Formosa | |
| 1892 | Dahomey | |
| 1893 - 1894 | Sudan | |
| 1895 - 1904 | Madagascar | |
| 1900 - 1918 | Morocco | |
| 1914 - 1918 | World War I | |
| 1922 - 1923 | Battle of Taza, Morocco | |
| 1925 | Campaign against Abd El Krim, Rif | |
| 1933 | End of war, Morocco | |
| 1939 - 1940 | World War II | Fights in France 1940 - 1945 13th DBLE Narvik, Norway May 1940: Rallying to the French Forces in Great Britain 1941 campaign of Eritrea campaign of Syria 1942 February-June: Bir-Hakeim, Libya El Himeimat Death of Lieutenant Colonel Amilakvari 1943 Campaign of Tunisia 1944 Campaign of of Italy 1944 Operation Dragoon: Landing in the south of France 1944 - 1945 Campaign of France and Germany |
| 1946 - 1954 | Indochina | 1948: Phu Tong Ha 1949 - 1954: Fights of the RC 4 (RC = Route Coloniale = Colonial Road) September 1950: Dong Khe October 1950: Cao Bang October 6th-8th 1950: Tragic fights of Coc-Xa 1952: Hoah Binh. Fights of the RC 6 and Black River 1953: Na-San. November, installation of the Dien Bien Phu's Camp 1954 May 7th: After 5 months Dien Bien Phu falls |
| 1954 - 1962 | Algeria | 1954 November 1st: beginning of the Algeria's War 1957 Battle of Algiers 1958 Battles at the borders of Algeria Death of Colonel Jean-Pierre (1st R.E.P) 1961 Putsch of the Generals. Dissolution of the 1st R.E.P |
| 1956 | Suez' Expedition, Egypt | |
| 1969 - 1970 | Chad | |
| 1978 | The 2nd R.E.P parachutes into Kolwezi to protect and save 2,000 Europeans after the Katanga rebellion, Kolwezi, (Zaire) | |
| 1978 - 1980 | Chad | |
| 1982 | Protecting the retreat of the PLO, Bayreuth Lebanon | |
| 1983 | Bayreuth, south of Lebanon | |
| 1983 | Chad | |
| 1986 - 1994 | Chad | |
| 1990 - 1991 | Rwanda (Zaire) | |
| 1991 | Operation Desert Storm | The Legion captures the town and airport of As-Salman, Gulf War |
| 1992 | UN Mission, Cambodia | |
| 1992 - 1993 | Humanitarian mission, Somalia | |
| 1993 | UN Mission, Bosnia | |
| 1994 | Humanitarian mission, Rwanda |
Légion étrangère. (Source: uknown.)
Organization
1831
- 1st (Swiss) Battalion
- 2nd (Swiss and German) Battalion
- 3rd (Swiss and German) Battalion
- 4th (Spanish) Battalion
- 5th (Italian) Battalion
- 6th (Belgian and Dutch) Battalion
- 7th (Polish) Battalion
1962
- 1er Régiment Etrangér
- 4éme Régiment Etrangér
- 5éme Régiment Etrangér
- 2éme Régiment Etrangér d’Infanterie
- 3éme Régiment Etrangér d’Infanterie
- 1er Régiment Etrangér de Cavalerie
- 1er Régiment Etrangér de Parachutistes
- 2éme Régiment Etrangér de Parachutistes
- 13éme Demi-brigade de Légion Etrangére
1977
- 1er Régiment Etrangér
- 4éme Régiment Etrangér
- 5éme Régiment Etrangér
- 2éme Régiment Etrangér d’Infanterie
- 3éme Régiment Etrangér d’Infanterie
- 1er Régiment Etrangér de Cavalerie
- 2éme Régiment Etrangér de Parachutistes
- 13éme Demi-brigade de Légion Etrangére
- Detachement de Légion Etrangére Mayotte
1984
- 1er Régiment Etrangér
- 4éme Régiment Etrangér
- 5éme Régiment Etrangér
- 2éme Régiment Etrangér d’Infanterie
- 3éme Régiment Etrangér d’Infanterie
- 6éme Régiment Etrangér de Genie
- 1er Régiment Etrangér de Cavalerie
- 2éme Régiment Etrangér de Parachutistes
- 13éme Demi-brigade de Légion Etrangére
- Detachement de Légion Etrangére Mayotte
1999
- 1er Régiment Etrangér
- 2éme Régiment Etrangér d’Infanterie
- 3éme Régiment Etrangér d’Infanterie
- 4éme Régiment Etrangér
- 5éme Régiment Etrangér
- 1er Régiment Etrangér de Genie
- 2éme Régiment Etrangér de Genie
- 1er Régiment Etrangér de Cavalerie
- 2éme Régiment Etrangér de Parachutistes
- 13éme Demi-brigade de Légion Etrangére
- Detachement de Légion Etrangére Mayotte
Training - selection
The selection policy was changed after the exploits of the German Battalion in former French Indochina. This battalion consisting of men who escaped possible war crimes trials in Europe after World War II, they joined the French Foreign Legion and shot, bombed, tortured and bayoneted their way into the Viet Minh. Theirs was a war of reprisals and vicious counter-reprisals, of criminal violence on both sides, of outrages against humanity, of war at its rawest, cruellest and most gruesome. Stumped by veterans who gave even more than they received, the treacherous Viet Minh embarked on a systematic campaign of denigration, using the Communist press and some Western media.
The French were rebuked for using their erstwhile enemies to further their "imperialistic designs" and henceforth the German Battalion ceased to exist. The "Battalion of the Damned" as they preferred to call themselves had lived exactly 1,243 days. during which it destroyed 7,466 guerrillas by body count, 221 Viet Minh bases, supply dumps, and camps; it liberated 311 military and civilian prisoners from terrorist captivity and covered roughly 11,000 kilometres on foot. They lost 515 men - to them a very heavy loss indeed.
Légion étrangère. (Source: uknown.)