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Alan Seeger: The American Poet in the French Foreign Legion

July 3, 2026 · Posted in 2rei, history, wwi

In northern France on July 4, 1916 — American Independence Day — a tall, twenty-eight-year-old Harvard graduate rose from a wheat field near the village of Belloy-en-Santerre and charged a line of German machine guns. He was not French, and his country was not yet at war. He was Alan Seeger, member of the French Foreign Legion, and within minutes he would be dead on the ground he had chosen to defend two years earlier. Today he is remembered as one of the most famous foreign volunteers ever to serve in the ranks of the Legion. A poet whose life, and whose death, became a symbol of the Franco-American bond forged in the trenches of the Great War.

PHOTOS: 5e RMP’s Heavy Equipment Company in Tahiti in 1971

June 20, 2026 · Posted in 5re, history, photos, polynesia

The latest part in our series on interesting photographs. This time we head to the South Pacific — Tahiti, French Polynesia — for a set of photographs taken in Polynesia’s capital, Papeete, in 1971. They show the Heavy Equipment Company of the 5th Pacific Mixed Regiment (5e RMP) and some of its vehicles and heavy construction equipment.

80 Years Ago: Disciplinary Unit Was Born

June 2, 2026 · Posted in history, indochina

80 years ago, in early June 1946, a new Foreign Legion disciplinary unit was established in French Indochina. Stationed on a remote island off the coast of Vietnam, the unit’s mission was to reform ill-disciplined legionnaires who had been deployed to the Far East to fight in the First Indochina War (1946–1954), and whose offenses were too serious to be handled through standard disciplinary measures at the regimental, battalion, or company level.

50 Years Ago: Deadly Accident in Africa

May 24, 2026 · Posted in 2rei, djibouti, gole, history

50 years ago, on May 24, 1976, a helicopter transporting Foreign Legion elements crashed during a military exercise in the Horn of Africa. Six legionnaires died immediately; another two died from their injuries later. At the time, this was the deadliest day for the Legion since the end of the Algerian War in 1962. Although largely forgotten today, even in France, this sad event and its victims should be remembered.

PHOTOS: A Legionnaire’s Photographs from My Tho, French Indochina, 1947–1949

May 22, 2026 · Posted in history, indochina, photos

This is a new part in our PHOTOS series. Once again, we turn to French Indochina — this time to southern Vietnam in the late 1940s. The photographs presented here were shared with us by a French reader whose grandfather, Emile Louis André, served there with the Foreign Legion. His granddaughter, Ms. Alcina Machado, provided some basic details about his service, while the rest had to be researched or pieced together from the photographs themselves. She also shared a few lines about her grandfather’s life, giving us a glimpse into the personal story of one of the tens of thousands of legionnaires who were deployed to the First Indochina War (1946–1954).

65 Years Ago: Military Revolt Failed

May 16, 2026 · Posted in 1rep, Algeria, history

65 years ago, in late April 1961, a military revolt failed in Algeria, then an integral part of France in North Africa. The revolt became one of the most controversial events in France’s modern history. The Foreign Legion actively participated, and the consequences of this failed coup affected the Legion for many years to come.

55 Years Ago: A Campaign Ended in Africa

March 28, 2026 · Posted in 1re, 2rep, chad, history

55 years ago, in late 1970, the last men of the French Foreign Legion returned from Central Africa, where they had been deployed as part of Operation Limousin in Chad – the first French operation of this scale since the end of the Algerian War. For the Legion, playing the leading role, it confirmed its ability to conduct prolonged interventions far from its bases, under demanding conditions and with limited resources. This website is the first medium, in France and beyond, to offer a complete and detailed study of the Legion’s involvement in this campaign.

155 years ago: A war ended in France

March 20, 2026 · Posted in france, history

155 years ago, in mainland France in early 1871, a tragic conflict with German states ended. For the Foreign Legion, the war marked a significant moment: for the first time in their history, the legionnaires fought on French soil. However, they had to face harsh conditions, bitter cold, and a war that was already lost.

160 years ago: A tragic battle in Mexico

March 3, 2026 · Posted in history, mexico

160 years ago, in northern Mexico in early March 1866, a column of legionnaires charged toward a fortified hacienda. What followed was one of the most controversial battles in the history of the Foreign Legion. A few hours later, nearly all men were dead or captured.

50 Years Ago: The Foreign Legion’s First Counterterrorism Operation

February 5, 2026 · Posted in 13dble, 2rep, djibouti, history

In early February 1976, two French Foreign Legion units participated in an counterterrorism operation to rescue 31 French children kidnapped by Somali militants in the Horn of Africa. The extraordinary operation constitutes a significant episode in the history of the French Foreign Legion.

10 Years Ago: 2016 Mountain Training Tragedy at Valfréjus

January 18, 2026 · Posted in 2reg, history

Ten years ago, in January 2016, a group of 52 cadres and legionnaires from the French Foreign Legion’s 2nd Foreign Engineer Regiment (2e REG) arrived in the mountains near Valfréjus, a ski resort in the Savoie department in eastern France, for an initial mountain adaptation course. This is a routine training meant to prepare units for operations in harsh, high-altitude conditions. What began as a standard exercise, turned into the deadliest loss the regiment had faced since its creation.