See a fresh, fully reworked article dealing with the history of an overseas battalion of the Foreign Legion being established in Madagascar, an island in the Indian Ocean, in mid-May 1957. Although little-known today, it was an exceptional and interesting unit which would give birth to two brand-new regiments, the 3e REI in Madagascar and the 13e DBLE in Djibouti in the 1960s. By the way, the battalion was the only Foreign Legion operational unit to not take part in the Algerian War (1954-1962) at the time.

Read more62 years ago: A Foreign Legion overseas battalion in Madagascar was born

The Foreign Legion Madagascar Battalion (BLEM) is one of those very little known units of the French Foreign Legion, even in France. The BLEM, in historical context, it is a very unique unit. It was the only Foreign Legion combat unit being not involved in the Algerian War (1954-1962). Also, the BLEM is that unit which helped to re-establish the new 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment in 1962. A company of BLEM was the first Legion unit ever stationed in Djibouti. The battalion also operated an amphibious and jungle training center, the predecessor to today’s famous, well-known CEFE jungle training center based in French Guiana. The last interesting thing is that the very few data we can find about the BLEM are misinterpreted by both, Wikipedia and the Foreign Legion official website.

Read moreBLEM: History of the only Foreign Legion unit not participating in the Algerian War