1er REG: Operation Sentinelle in Nice

After a series of terrorist attacks in France in late 2020, a platoon of the 1st Foreign Engineer Regiment (1er REG) was put on alert. Not long afterwards, the unit reinforced French troops in Nice (southern France) to guard the city.

The city of Nice, located in the French Riviera, on the south-east coast of France on the Mediterranean Sea, saw a terrorist attack on October 29, 2020. Immediately, French troops were put on alert. Including the legionnaires of the 1er REG, the unit making part of the 15 regiments assigned to guarding the Zone Sud (Southern Zone). That’s why the platoon of Lieutenant Félix deployed to Nice on October 30, to reinforce two platoons of the 4th Squadron, 4th Chasseur Regiment (4e RCh) of Captain Nicolas.

The tasks of the 1er REG men are guarding schools and patrolling streets on foot or by car. According to Eastern-European Sergeant Maxym, a group leader with the platoon, the goal of their mission is to protect, ensure and alert. By the way, it is not the first deployment of the 1er REG to Nice. The same unit was alerted and came to guard the city in mid-2016, upon the 2016 Nice truck attack: 2016 Operation Sentinelle in Nice.

Operation Sentinelle is part of an ongoing state of emergency in France. It was launched after the January 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris. About 10,000 soldiers participate in; 3,000 of them are reservists. All Foreign Legion operational units based in mainland France are involved, being deployed on a company or platoon level. Every deployment takes usually two months.

Although published by the French Army in late February 2021, the coverage has already been made in late November 2020.

 

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