Between March 17 and 28, 2025, the 1st Foreign Engineer Regiment (1er REG) conducted Terra Nostra, a major open-terrain military exercise across the Gard department. Led by Colonel Rémy Chabaud, the regiment’s commanding officer, the exercise engaged nearly 500 soldiers, over 100 military vehicles, and a fleet of river boats in a complex, multi-phase scenario. The Foreign Legion’s YouTube channel recently published a video dedicated to this operation.
2e REI: 2025 Infernal Run
On May 17, 2025, the Camp des Garrigues near Nîmes, southern France, hosted another edition of the Infernal Run, an extreme obstacle course organized by the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e REI) of the French Foreign Legion. The event attracted 800 participants, including a record-breaking 300 civilians eager to test their limits alongside legionnaires and 300 members from non-Legion military units. This year’s race was graced by the presence of Major Gérald Michiara as a special guest.
Foreign Legion: 2025 Victory in Europe Day
On May 8, 2025, Foreign Legion units took part in the celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe. Honor guards from various regiments participated in ceremonies held primarily in their garrison towns, with several detachments also representing the Legion in other cities across their regions. Below are images from this year’s commemorations.
Foreign Legion: 2025 Camerone Day
April 30, 2025, marked the 162nd anniversary of the Battle of Camerone, the defining event in the French Foreign Legion’s history, when 62 legionnaires under the command of Captain Jean Danjou faced a force of 2,000 Mexican troops. Refusing to surrender, they fought to the very end, with only three able-bodied legionnaires left standing. Commemorations of this anniversary were held across all Legion units and garrisons, both in France and abroad. The following post includes images from several of these ceremonies.
2e REI: 2025 Exercise Solferino
Between March 6 and 13, 2025, the French Foreign Legion’s 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e REI) conducted Exercise Solferino, a large-scale military drill in the Corrèze region of central France.
2e REI: 2025 Letestu Challenge
Each year, the Letestu Challenge is organized by the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e REI). Watch a short video of this year’s edition, which took place at the end of February.
PHOTOS: 1st Battalion 2e REI in Vietnam’s Faifo around 1950
Another part of the PHOTOS series. See a small set of nice pictures taken in French Indochina’s Vietnam from 1950 to early 1951, during the First Indochina War (1946-1954). These few photographs belonged to a German legionnaire serving with the 1st Battalion, 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e REI) there at the time.
Read morePHOTOS: 1st Battalion 2e REI in Vietnam’s Faifo around 1950
2e REI: New chapel nears completion
Within the French Armed Forces, the Foreign Legion is known as a corps that has traditionally maintained a strong conservative and Christian spirit. So it was no surprise when the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e REI) launched, in 2021, a fund-raising campaign to create a new chapel for its legionnaires. After several years, the construction of the chapel is nearing completion.
Foreign Legion: 2024 Armistice Day
Today, on November 11, 2024, the French Foreign Legion detachments participated in the ceremonies commemorating Armistice Day, to honor the memory of military veterans and those who died in the line of duty. See images.
Foreign Legion: 2024 SAED Presentation
Watch a nice presentation of a SAED commando-like platoon of the French Foreign Legion. A combat support platoon, it is still a relatively little-known unit among Foreign Legion enthusiasts. You’ll learn more about the platoon in this article.
2e REI: 2024 El Moungar Day
On Monday, September 2, 2024, the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e REI) officially commemorated the 121st anniversary of the 1903 Battle of El Moungar, an important part of the French conquest of the Sahara, and the 36 men of the regiment who had fallen during it.