In September 1925, in the small Syrian village of Messifré, the French Foreign Legion distinguished itself in a clash that became one of the defining moments in its history in the Levant. Facing several thousand Druze fighters, the legionnaires withstood more than twelve hours of repeated assaults. The Battle of Messifré marked the first major French victory of the Great Syrian Revolt (1925-27) and opened the road to Suwayda, the capital of the Druzes.
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L'article en français : Bataille de Messifré (1925)
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Background
After the Great War, in 1920, France was granted the mandate over Syria and Lebanon, territories detached from the Ottoman Empire in the Levant, a vast region in the Middle East. The establishment of French authority, however, was met with strong local resistance, especially in the Djebel Druze, a mountainous region in southwestern Syria. The Druze, a proud and independent people practicing a religion born of an Islamic offshoot, preserved deep-rooted warrior traditions. Their spiritual doctrine – according to which dying with weapons in hand guaranteed a noble reincarnation – fueled exceptional combativeness.
By the summer of 1925, the situation deteriorated rapidly for the French Army. On July 18, a task force under Captain Normand was annihilated. On August 2, another French task force, led by General Michaud, in turn suffered heavy losses: Druze attackers did not hesitate to hurl themselves against armored cars and slash through openings with their sabers. These disasters severely undermined French authority in the Djebel Druze. Suwayda (also spelled Sweida), the region’s main town, found itself under siege.
Faced with the gravity of the situation, General Sarrail, commander-in-chief of the French forces in the Levant, urgently called for reinforcements. Among the units dispatched from French North Africa were the 4th Squadron of the 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment (1er REC) – a young regiment created in Tunisia in 1921 – and the 29th Marching Company (de marche) of the 1st Foreign Infantry Regiment (1er REI), formed in August in Algeria at Sidi Bel Abbès, the Foreign Legion’s motherhouse. These reinforcements joined the 5th Battalion of the 4th Foreign Infantry Regiment (4e REI) already deployed in the Levant since the early 1920s.
In this moment of crisis, the small village of Messifré (al-Musayfirah, sometimes also spelled Mousseifré in older Legion documents) was chosen as an advanced base and fortified outpost. It had a strategic location, halfway between Daraa (with an important French airfield) and Suwayda. It was there, on September 17, 1925, that a battle took place whose memory would be long remembered in Legion tradition.
Legion Units in the Levant
5th Battalion of the 4th Foreign Infantry Regiment
Stationed in the Levant since 1921, the 5th Battalion of the 4e REI had already gained solid experience in pacification operations in Syria. In 1925 it was commanded by Major Kratzert, a seasoned and well-regarded officer. The battalion comprised two infantry companies (the 18th and 19th) and a machine-gun company (CM5). A mounted company equipped with mules, then based in Deir ez-Zor (in eastern Syria), was also part of the battalion but did not take part in the defense of Messifré. The battalion’s primary mission was to hold key positions and support mobile columns sent into the Djebel Druze.
In Messifré, the 5th Battalion was reinforced by the 29th Marching Company of the 1er REI. Created by ministerial order on August 6, 1925, and commanded by Lieutenant Vernon, it numbered two officers, 15 non-commissioned officers, 21 corporals, and 126 legionnaires (164 men in total). The company landed in Beirut, Lebanon, on August 31. Quickly integrated into the battalion, it joined the defense of Messifré as early as September 11. The Legion infantry in the village numbered around 600 men now.
4th Squadron of the 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment
The 1er REC was a young regiment, created in 1921 and still waiting to earn its distinction in combat. Its 4th Squadron, under Captain Landriau, was selected to deploy to the Levant in the summer of 1925. After landing in Beirut on August 20, the unit crossed Mount Lebanon on foot, with their horses heavily burdened.
The squadron consisted of 179 men (5 officers, 14 non-commissioned officers, and 160 troopers) with 170 horses. The four platoons were commanded by Lieutenants Robert (1st), Castaing (2nd), de Médrano (3rd), and Second Lieutenant Dupetit (4th). The unit – composed, according to sources, of 75 to 90 percent Russians from the White armies of Denikin and Wrangel (anti-Bolshevik forces from the Russian Civil War of 1918–20) – also included Germans, Englishmen, Serbs, Greeks, Bulgarians, Danes, and Swiss. Many of the troopers were only three months from discharge, yet none requested exemption from the campaign.
Under Captain Landriau and his deputy, Lieutenant Robert, the 4th Squadron quickly established itself as a cohesive and disciplined unit. In Syria, it would fight not as mounted cavalry but on foot, transformed into shock infantry at the heart of Messifré’s defense.
Supporting Arms and Reinforcements
Alongside these Legion units came complementary forces. A cavalry armored-car platoon, consisting of three vehicles armed with 37 mm guns, was integrated into the defensive system. Their role proved very important during the Druze assaults. French aviation, based at Deraa (southwest of Messifré), provided limited but crucial support through bombing and strafing runs. Finally, a battalion of the 16th Regiment of Tunisian Riflemen (Tirailleurs, 16e RTT) intervened as reinforcements on the afternoon of September 17, a move that proved decisive for the outcome of the battle.
Messifré: Its Preparation for Defense
The village of Messifré, located south of Damascus (the capital of Syria) on a small rise overlooking the Hauran plain, had about 600 to 800 inhabitants in 1925. Its houses, built of basalt stone or mudbrick, had flat roofs and clustered around narrow, winding alleys. Several distinctive landmarks marked the site: a mosque with a square minaret, a domed marabout shrine, and the former Turkish karakol (gendarmerie post). The surrounding cultivation plots, enclosed by stone walls one to one and a half meters high, offered as much cover and obstacles for defense as for attack.
While the site held some strategic value as a barrier in front of Suwayda, it remained vulnerable. Abandoned quarries and collapsed walls could provide shelter for the enemy. Major Kratzert, in charge of the village and its defense, worked to organize the position as best he could: repairing walls, digging rudimentary trenches, and preparing machine-gun emplacements. Captain Landriau insisted, as early as September 14, on the need for barbed wire: “It’s a question of wire… without barbed wire, the enemy will slip through at will.” Soon afterward, wire entanglements were delivered and installed around the positions to strengthen their protection.
The final defensive system consisted of several fortified positions (A, B, C, D) arranged around the village, while two positions (E, F) were occupied inside it:
- Position A: two platoons of the 29th Company, with its command, machine guns, and one armored car
- Position B: one platoon of the 29th Company, with machine guns and one armored car
- Position C: the complete 19th Company, reinforced by a CM5 machine-gun platoon
- Position D: the complete 18th Company, also with a CM5 machine-gun platoon
- Position E: the battalion’s HQ, the HQ platoon, a CM5 machine-gun platoon, and one armored car
- Position F: the 4th Squadron of the 1er REC with its own machine guns
Four defensive positions (A, B, C, D) were established about 330 yards (300 m) from the village. One of them (B) was triangular in shape, with sides measuring roughly 30 yards (30 m), while the other three were square, each about 50 yards (50 m) across. The positions were surrounded by a stone wall approximately four to five feet (1.2–1.5 m) high, reinforced with barbed wire. Major Kratzert’s headquarters was located in one of the stone buildings inside the village (E), while a nearby enclosed courtyard was occupied by Captain Landriau’s 4th Squadron. The squadron’s horse stables, however, stood elsewhere in the village at an unspecified location.
This deployment was meant to absorb a frontal assault. But it did not prevent infiltration by local inhabitants or the enemy’s use of rooftops and terraces. The lesson of the Michaud task force’s disaster a month earlier demanded caution: it was now known that the Druze attacked in massed waves, unfazed by automatic weapons or armored vehicles, and that they exploited the terrain with skill.
On September 16, the warning signs became clearer. In the morning, a reconnaissance mission by the 4th Squadron toward Oum Oualeb turned into a clash with several hundred Druze horsemen. There were losses, including the death of Sergeant Pavolotzky, killed in action. The squadron was forced to withdraw in good order under fire. That same evening, at 7 p.m., a signal message from Suwayda confirmed the imminence of the ordeal:
“3,000 Druze—banners unfurled—moving on Messifré—attack likely tonight.”
At nightfall, the garrison went on maximum alert. Sentries were doubled, positions hastily reinforced. In the tense silence, everyone sensed that the following day would be decisive.
Battle of Messifré (September 17, 1925)
Dawn Assault
On September 17, shortly before four in the morning, the attack erupted. Under cover of darkness, about three thousand Druze fighters, both infantry and cavalry, converged on Messifré. The first shots struck Position B, which was soon overwhelmed by dense waves. The attackers, banners flying, advanced in small groups but in overwhelming numbers.
The village defenses were quickly caught in a crossfire. From rooftops and windows, plunging fire rained down on the legionnaires – some local inhabitants had joined the attack or opened their homes to the insurgents. Inside Messifré itself, Druze groups managed to infiltrate.
The main blow fell on the position held by the 4th Squadron of the 1er REC. It was here, around four o’clock, that a group of about forty Druze tried a ruse by shouting in French: “Halt! Legion, don’t shoot!” The deception was quickly uncovered – the legionnaires replied with a volley and the cry: “Vive la Légion!” For the next three hours, from four to seven in the morning, the cavalrymen, fighting on foot, repelled wave after wave. Losses were severe: Second Lieutenant Dupetit was killed by a bullet to the head, while Sergeants Prymac and Schellman also fell. Adjudant-chef Gazeau, a warrant officer commanding the squadron’s headquarters platoon, received two saber wounds yet continued to lead despite his injuries.
The 1er REC’s horse lines were overrun. The guards (about a dozen of men) were massacred and nearly all of the mounts were killed. A few horses escaped, wandering through the village before being cut down as well. This material loss would weigh heavily on the squadron’s future mobility.
Close-Quarters Combat and Acts of Bravery
In several sectors, the fighting raged hand-to-hand. Grenades were exchanged at close range, and bayonets came into play. Accounts reported several acts of individual bravery:
Legionnaire Lochel cut down five opponents with his saber.
Legionnaire Sichinsky, wounded, continued firing while standing until he fell.
Adjudant-chef Teissier was killed by a bullet to the forehead while directing the defense of the northern redoubt.
Corporal Gabreau was killed in hand-to-hand combat, killing his opponent himself.
Intervention of the Armored Cars
The armored cars, armed with 37 mm guns, played a key role. Their accurate fire neutralized marksmen posted in the minaret and on rooftops, easing the pressure on French positions. These interventions allowed threatened platoons to be relieved and the overall defense to hold together.
After half an hour of fierce fighting, Adjudant Seurac and his legionnaires managed to recapture a previously lost position, aided by one of these armored cars.
Fragile Lull
By ten o’clock, the intensity of the assaults lessened. The exhausted garrison took advantage of the relative lull to hand out biscuits and chocolate. But losses were mounting: platoons were considerably decimated, machine-gunners diminished, and the central redoubt held only at great cost.
Decisive Afternoon
At two o’clock in the afternoon, French aircraft entered the fight. Planes from the Deraa squadron flew over the battlefield, bombing and strafing Druze concentrations around the village. The effects were immediate – several groups scattered in disorder.
Yet it was only from four o’clock onward that the situation truly shifted. A battalion of the 16th Regiment of Tunisian Riflemen, accompanied by additional armored cars, arrived on the field. Their deployment facing the village, combined with the garrison’s stubborn resistance, forced the insurgents to break off. By dusk, the last Druze groups withdrew, carrying away their wounded.
After many hours of continuous fighting, the garrison of Messifré still held. Captain Landriau, in his report of September 29, emphasized that his cavalrymen had fought “like the infantry of the Old Legion.” The battlefield bore witness to the violence of the clashes – enemy bodies lay scattered before the walls, others inside the village.
Losses and Citations
French Losses
The defense of Messifré came at a heavy cost to the Legion. In total, 54 legionnaires fell in combat from all units combined (4e REI, 1er REC, 1er REI), and around 80 were wounded.
4th Squadron of the 1er REC: 1 officer killed (Second Lieutenant Dupetit), 3 non-commissioned officers and 16 troopers killed. Three officers (Lieutenants Robert, de Médrano, and Castaing) were wounded, as well as Adjudant-chef Gazeau and about twenty troopers. The squadron also lost nearly all its horses and equipment.
5th Battalion of the 4e REI and 29th Company: 34 killed, among them many NCOs and corporals who fell at their posts. More than fifty men were wounded.
These losses were all the more painful because many of the legionnaires were veterans of the Great War or of the Russian Civil War – hardened fighters, yet close to the end of their service.
Druze Losses
Enemy losses were considerable: about 500 killed and as many wounded, according to French estimates and even the Druzes’ own admissions. More than two hundred bodies were counted in front of the defenses, and about fifty inside the village. Eight Druze banners were captured – symbols both of the ferocity of the fighting and of the prestige the Legion gained that day.
Official Citations
For their heroic resistance, the engaged units received the highest collective distinctions. By Order No. 351 of the Army of the Levant, signed by General Sarrail, the 5th Battalion 4e REI and the 4th Squadron 1er REC received a citation à l’ordre de l’Armée (official mention in army orders) – the highest honor in the French military.
The official text praised the legionnaires, “attacked by an enemy force estimated at 3,000 cavalry and infantry, who stood firm against assaults pressed home to close combat, inflicted heavy losses on the enemy, and forced him to retreat, leaving more than 200 dead and eight banners on the ground.”
General Andréa, commanding the infantry troops in the Djebel Druze, summed up the spirit of the defense:
“The Foreign Legion of Africa knows how to fight and to read clearly the intentions of its adversary; the surprise had no grave consequences thanks to the composure and courage of the legionnaires.”
Finally, Captain Landriau, proud of his men, wrote:
“Since this affair, the Legion is saluted with deep respect in Syria.”
List of 54 men of the Foreign Legion who fell at Messifré
5th Battalion, 4e REI:
- Adjudant-chef TEISSIER Emile (France)
- Sergeant CASTIBLANQUE Ricardo (Spain)
- Sergeant DORRONSORO Y GOICOECHEA Ignacio (Spain)
- Sergeant ECKER Georges (Germany)
- Corporal CONRAD Lucien (France)
- Corporal GABREAU Emile (Belgium)
- Corporal BARDON André (Czechoslovakia)
- Corporal KOVALSKY Anatole (origin not specified)
- Corporal LEPOVITCH Moritz (origin not specified)
- Legionnaire ABDEL GAOUA Mahmoud (Egypt)
- Legionnaire BARANOFF Théodore (Russia)
- Legionnaire BIGORAY Pierre (origin not specified)
- Legionnaire CHAREF Mohamed (origin not specified)
- Legionnaire COSSE Joseph (Belgium)
- Legionnaire GRAEPER Robert (Germany)
- Legionnaire JABOUR Youssef (Italy)
- Legionnaire JUNGINGER Alfred (Germany)
- Legionnaire KAISER Antoine (Austria)
- Legionnaire KOSJANENKO Wasili (Russia)
- Legionnaire RICHTER Valentin (Germany)
- Legionnaire ZANFIROFF Mikaël (Romania)
4th Squadron, 1er REC:
- Second Lieutenant DUPETIT François Marie (France)
- Sergeant PAVOLOTZKY Serge (Russia)
- Sergeant PRYMAC Michel (Russia)
- Sergeant SCHELLMAN Joseph (origin not specified)
- Corporal FRANSIOLI Pisolo (France)
- Legionnaire BIRCK André (Russia)
- Legionnaire BUCHSER Willy (Switzerland)
- Legionnaire ENINE Basile (Russia)
- Legionnaire FOMINE Grégorie (Russia)
- Legionnaire GORBATCHEFF Efime (Russia)
- Legionnaire KOLESNIKOFF Jacob (Russia)
- Legionnaire KOLOTILINE Théodore (Russia)
- Legionnaire KOSTRUKOFF Serge (Russia)
- Legionnaire KREUTZ Nicolas (Germany)
- Legionnaire NOVIKOFF Nazar (Russia)
- Legionnaire STREISSNIG Jean (France)
- Legionnaire PAVLOVSKY André (Russia)
- Legionnaire REINHARDT Gustave (Germany)
- Legionnaire ROBES Karl (Germany)
- Legionnaire TCHERNENKO Vsevolod (Russia)
29th Marching Company, 1er REI:
- Sergeant LOUKIANOVITCH Woldemar (Turkey)
- Corporal KARTZIVADSE Eugène (Russia)
- Legionnaire AUGSTEN Frantz (Czechoslovakia)
- Legionnaire CATTI Antoine (Italy)
- Legionnaire FISCHER Eugène (Switzerland)
- Legionnaire GUZELY Félix (Germany)
- Legionnaire MEIHSEN Charles (Germany)
- Legionnaire MONGRANDI Henri (Switzerland)
- Legionnaire MULLER Otto (Germany)
- Legionnaire RITTHALER Othon (Germany)
- Legionnaire SOIKIN Léon (Russia)
- Legionnaire STAHL Jules (Germany)
Conclusion
The victory at Messifré was above all a tactical success. By holding out for more than twelve hours against forces vastly superior in number, the legionnaires of the 4e REI, 1er REC, and the 1er REI demonstrated remarkable resilience and cohesion. Their sacrifice preserved the advanced strongpoint of General Gamelin’s task force and opened the road to Suwayda, which was liberated on September 24, 1925. The 5th Battalion 4e REI took part in this operation. The Syrian revolt itself had in practice been crushed by the following year, 1926.
For the 1er REC, the battle of September 17, 1925, was the founding moment of the regiment’s reputation in combat. Still, the 4th Squadron struggled to rebuild after the battle. Deprived of most of its horses and reduced to about one hundred men, it received replacement mounts of mediocre quality. Yet by November 1925 the squadron once again distinguished itself during the heroic defense of the citadel of Rachaya in Lebanon, facing Druze forces even more numerous than at Messifré.
The 29th Marching Company of the 1er REI, for its part, continued operations in Syria before becoming the 4th Marching Company of the 5th Battalion 4e REI.
The award of a collective citation à l’ordre de l’Armée to the Legion units confirmed their determination and fighting spirit in the battle. Messifré thus remains one of the most striking episodes of the Great Syrian Revolt and of the Foreign Legion’s history in the Levant, forever associated with the idea of heroic resistance against overwhelming odds – a cardinal value of Legion tradition.
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Main information sources:
Képi blanc magazines
Légion Etrangère magazines
Vert et Rouge magazines
Bennet J. Doty: The Legion of the Damned (The Century Co., 1928)
Collectif: Le 1er Régiment Étranger de Cavalerie, Historique et Combats (FASQUELLE Éditeurs, 1947)
J. Brunon, G.-R. Manue, P. Carles: Le Livre d’Or de la Légion (Charles-Lavauzelle, 1976)
Jean-Charles Jauffret: L’idée d’une division de Légion étrangère et le Premier régiment étranger de cavalerie, 1836-1940 (Centre d’histoire militaire et d’études de défense nationale, 1978)
Collectif: Historique du 1er Régiment étranger de cavalerie 1921-1982 (Képi blanc, 1983)
Alain Gandy: Royal Etranger: Légionnaires cavaliers au combat (Presses de la Cité, 1985)
P. Cart-Tanneur & Tibor Szecsko: Le 4ème Etranger (Editions B.I.P., 1987)
Jean-Luc Messager, Collectif: Les secrets de la Légion étrangère: Histoire et grands faits d’armes (Éditions du Chêne, 2014)
Mémoire des Hommes (Fr)
Wikipedia
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Learn more about the Foreign Legion history:
1863 Battle of Camerone
1903 Battle of El Moungar
1908 Battle of Menabha
1911 Battle of Alouana
1930 Battle of Bou Leggou
1933 Battle of Bou Gafer
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The page was updated on: September 20, 2025