This Wednesday marked Bastille Day, the French National Day of the 14th July. As usually, a military parade occurred in Paris that day. While the previous year was the parade significantly reduced, due to the COVID-19 restrictions, the popular event was back to normal this year. As always, the French Foreign Legion was represented.
4e RE: Obstacle course with Major Gérald
In a new Foreign Legion official video, Major Gérald Michiara presents an obstacle course which is well-known for all legionnaires and NCOs who have served with the Foreign Legion since the late 1980s – that one at the 4th Foreign Regiment (4e RE) in Castelnaudary.
100 years ago: A sad campaign in France ended for the Foreign Legion
100 years ago, in late June 1871, three battalions of the Foreign Legion landed in Algeria, having returned from the very first deployment of the Legion in metropolitan France. The men spent eight months there and took part in a wretched campaign. However, these weren’t the only foreigners to participate in the then fighting on the French side. Also, the three battalions didn’t represent all units of the Legion that were to partake in the conflict.
Read more100 years ago: A sad campaign in France ended for the Foreign Legion
Documentary: 2e REP and Kolwezi 1978
Watch an old French documentary dedicated to the legionnaires from the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP) who participated in the 1978 Battle of Kolwezi in the then Republic of Zaire, Central Africa.
13e DBLE: Exercise Skrenvil 2021 alongside U.S. Marines, with new Griffon vehicles
Between late May and early June 2021, legionnaires with the 13th Foreign Legion Half Brigade (13e DBLE) participated in an amphibious exercise, Skrenvil 2021, to strengthen enhanced interoperability between the French Army, the Navy, and U.S. Marines.
Read more13e DBLE: Exercise Skrenvil 2021 alongside U.S. Marines, with new Griffon vehicles
1er REC: 2021 Commando Training Center
In late May 2021, the 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment (1er REC), the only cavalry unit currently serving within the French Foreign Legion, opened its new commando training center. The first course took place there between May 16 and 28. See the images.
2e REG: Captain Ulm died in service
On June 3, 2021, Captain Bastien Ulm died in service in southeastern France. He was a member of the Foreign Legion’s 2nd Foreign Engineer Regiment (2e REG), the so-called “Mountain Regiment”.
75 years ago: A disciplinary unit was born
75 years ago, on 1 June 1946, a new Foreign Legion disciplinary unit was born in French Indochina. Stationed on an island at Cam Ranh Bay in what is now called Vietnam, the unit’s mission was to reform badly behaving legionnaires who were being deployed to the Far East to participate in the First Indochina War (1946-1954), and who couldn’t undergo the usual punishment within their mother units. Although there is only little information, the new article dedicated to this disciplinary unit provides all currently available info, as well as very rare images that were never published before.
2e REI: Commando training on Réunion
In May 2021, men from the 1st Company, 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e REI) conducted a “commando course” on Réunion. It is an island situated in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, and an overseas department and region of France. See the video.