Between November 2 and December 12, 2020, yearly joint military manoeuvres called Wessex Storm take place on Salisbury Plain in Wessex, southern England. The six-week manoeuvres have to confirm the skills and readiness of the 2 PARA Battlegroup, the British Army’s leading response force, assigned to the 16 Air Assault Brigade. During the 2020 Wessex Storm exercise, a company of the French Foreign Legion’s 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP) and a US Army platoon have been included into the British battlegroup.
13e DBLE: 2020 Documentary
See a new, well-rendered documentary covering young legionnaires of the 13th Foreign Legion Half Brigade (13e DBLE) at Camp Larzac, their military base nearby La Cavalerie, a small commune in southern France. The documentary was released in late November 2020. English subtitles included.
2e REI: Visited by COMLE
On November 10, 2020, General Alain Lardet, the commander-in-chief of the French Foreign Legion (COMLE), officially visited the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e REI), the longest-serving regiment of the Legion at its military base in Nimes.
3e REI: 2020 Jungle Assistant Course
See a nice report made by the Foreign Legion, covering part of the Jungle Assistant Course (Stage Aide-moniteur fôret, AMF), the most difficult French military course for ordinary soldiers. Out of fifty initial volunteers, there are no more than seven legionnaires to continue the course to obtain that very prestigious certificate and get a chance to become one of the ten assistants of the Jungle Instructor…
Foreign Legion: 2020 Armistice Day
As every year since 1918, even on this 11 November the different regiments of the French Foreign Legion were commemorating the end of World War I and paying honor to the veterans and the dead. Known as Remembrance Day (or Veterans Day) in mostly English-speaking countries, the Armistice Day is highly regarded in France.
Suppression of the 1947 Malagasy Uprising: Another forgotten campaign of the Legion
In late March 1947, three months after the regular war started in French Indochina, a bloody rebellion erupted in Madagascar, then a French colony annexed by France (with the predominant help of legionnaires) in 1896. To stop the massacres of French settlers and to restore order on that large island in the Indian Ocean, a battalion of the Foreign Legion left North Africa. Follow the link and learn more about another already forgotten campaign of the Legion, accompanied by 40+ original, still unpublished photos from private archives…
Read moreSuppression of the 1947 Malagasy Uprising: Another forgotten campaign of the Legion
2e REP: 2020 Saint Michael Day kickboxing
In late September 2020, a regimental challenge was organized as usual at Calvi in Corsica by the Foreign Legion’s 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP). The challenge is a traditional part of the festivities in commemoration of Saint Michael the Archangel (the patron of all French paratroopers) whose feast falls on September 29. This day also marks the 2e REP’s holiday.
1er REC+1er REG: Visit from General Lardet
In late October 2020, the French Foreign Legion’s commander-in-chief, General Alain Lardet, came to visit the cavalrymen from the 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment (1er REC) at their Camp Carpiagne near Marseille and combat engineers from the 1st Foreign Engineer Regiment (1er REG) at their base in Laudun.
13e DBLE: Commemoration of the 80th anniversary at Camp Larzac
In late September 2020, reunited again after having returned from different deployments, the officers and legionnaires of the 13th Foreign Legion Half Brigade (13e DBLE) commemorated together the 80th anniversary of their unit constituted in 1940 in North Africa. See photos.
Read more13e DBLE: Commemoration of the 80th anniversary at Camp Larzac