3e REI: 2024 Fourragere Day | French Foreign Legion Information

On September 13, 2024, the French Foreign Legion’s 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment (3e REI) commemorated the 106th anniversary of the 1918 Battle of Vauxaillon.

The Battle of Vauxaillon, which took place during World War I in northern France on September 14, 1918, is famous because of breaking Germany’s Hindenburg Line. An important defensive position built from 1916-1917, the line was broken through with the help of the Foreign Legion’s RMLE (Operational Regiment), predecessor to the current 3e REI. The battle led to a German retreat from the Western Front and, eventually, to the end of the war. For that action, the RMLE gained the rare double fourragère and became the most decorated unit of the French Army of that time. However, during the battle, the regiment suffered at least 275 men killed (including 10 officers) and 1,158 men wounded. In 1920, the RMLE was renamed as the 3rd Foreign Regiment. Today, the date of breaking Germany’s Hindenburg Line marks the 3e REI’s regimental holiday, called Fourragere Day.

As usual, the celebrations took place in Kourou, the unit’s garrison town in French Guiana, South America.

A few days earlier, the 3e REI platoons competed in the 1st edition of the Major Forget Challenge, a 20-km-long race (12.5 miles) run with a 10-kg backpack (22 lb) and a rifle. The challenge, named after a 3e REI officer who was killed in Indochina in October 1950, was part of the 2024 Fourragere Day celebrations.

PHOTOS: 3e REI: 2024 Fourragere Day
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