13e DBLE: Officially based in France | French Foreign Legion Information

On June 29, 2016, the 13th Foreign Legion Demi-Brigade (13e DBLE) was officially stationed on French soil for the first time in 76 years. Lieutenant Colonel Guillaume Percie du Sert, the unit’s new commanding officer, received the regimental colors from General Jean-Pierre Bosser, chief of the French Army Staff, during a ceremony at Camp Larzac in the Aveyron department of southern France — the demi-brigade’s new permanent home.

The move marked the end of a long journey. The 13e DBLE — a regiment-sized unit of the French Foreign Legion — had been stationed in Djibouti from 1962 until 2011, when it was pulled out of Africa as part of a broader French military restructuring. A greatly reduced contingent of around 60 permanent personnel then spent five years at the French base in the United Arab Emirates before the unit was transferred to Larzac and rebuilt from the ground up.

The choice of location carries historical resonance. Camp Larzac is the same site where the 13e DBLE was first assembled in March 1940, shortly after its creation as part of a Franco-British expeditionary force. The camp has long served as a training ground for French Army units, including other Foreign Legion regiments, and houses the CEITO, an operational shooting and infantry tactics training center now attached to the 13e DBLE. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the 61e BMGL was also stationed there and carried out a major renovation of the facility and its shooting ranges.

The 13th Demi-Brigade in France now comprises two combat companies, a half-strength headquarters and logistics company, and a CEITO detachment — roughly 460 legionnaires in total. Plans call for the unit to grow into a full-strength regiment of some 1,200 men by 2018.

The 13e DBLE was the last Foreign Legion unit to leave Africa and one of only two Legion regiments stationed outside mainland France continuously since 1945. The other is the 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment (3e REI), based in French Guiana in South America.

13e DBLE - 13 DBLE - Larzac - 2016 — Lieutenant colonel *Guillaume Percie du Sert*, the new commanding officer of **13e DBLE**, together with Army general *Jean-Pierre Bosser*, reviewing the troops during the ceremony at Camp Larzac (*June 29, 2016*)

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Information source:
Ministère de la défense
MidiLibre: L’arrivée officielle de la Légion sur le Larzac

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