The Foreign Legion Moroccan Motorized Company Group (Groupement des compagnies portées de Légion étrangère du Maroc; GCPLEM, also designated GCPLE or, less often, GCPLM) was created on October 1, 1946. It was the direct successor to the Mounted and Motorized Company Group, 3e REI (GCMP/3, 1944–1946). Its creation turned a page: no longer the custodian of the 3e REI’s traditions, the group now became a fully independent unit in its own right.
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L'article en français : Groupement des compagnies portées de Légion étrangère du Maroc
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The group’s staff and HQ Company were based in Agadir, in southwestern Morocco, at Camp IV (later Camp Sigmann), just south of the city. The group also used Camp Alibert, on the city’s northern side.
In addition to the HQ Company, the group had three motorized units: the 13th, 14th, and 15th Motorized Companies (13e, 14e, and 15e CP). Each consisted of an HQ element and three platoons of fusiliers-voltigeurs (riflemen) carried in trucks. On paper, a company was supposed to have about 230 men, but in practice its strength usually ranged between 100 and 150 legionnaires. These large fluctuations were caused by the reinforcements being sent to Indochina, where the Legion had been engaged since 1946. In all, the GCPLEM numbered no more than 500 men. Though small, it included a large number of veteran legionnaires with many years of service behind them.
The 13th Motorized Company, commanded at the end of 1946 by Captain de l’Escapolier, was garrisoned at the Le Moal Post at Foum El Hassan. The company had been stationed there since the mid-1930s, when it was still the Automobile Mounted Company of the 4e REI (CMA/4). Located about 110 miles (180 km) from Agadir, it was the group’s southernmost company.
The 14th Motorized Company, under Lieutenant Lacote, was stationed at the Captain Morel barracks in Taroudant, a town about 50 miles (80 km) east of Agadir.
The 15th Motorized Company, which had arrived from Marrakesh in February 1946, was based in Tiznit, about 55 miles (90 km) south of Agadir.
Through their uninterrupted presence in Morocco, these companies upheld the Legion’s traditions and kept alive the memory of the interwar “Old Legion,” forming a link with the postwar Legion. In 1944 and 1945, as part of the GCMP/3e REI, they had even been, together with the 8th Mounted Company, the only Legion units to serve continuously in the Moroccan protectorate.
Operationally, the GCPLEM came under the Agadir-Borderlands Subdivision (SAC), which was also headquartered in Agadir. Established in 1934, the SAC was responsible for monitoring and controlling the Sahara border areas, a desert frontier zone that was particularly sensitive. Its area covered not only southern Morocco but also the Tindouf region in Algeria and the Fort Trinquet and Chegga areas in Mauritania. At the end of 1946, the SAC came under the command of Colonel Olié, former commanding officer of the Foreign Legion Marching Regiment (RMLE) and the 3e REI, from 1944 to 1945.
Command of the group went to Lieutenant Colonel François Binoche. He was officially appointed on October 10, 1946, the day Lieutenant Colonel Guyot and Major Panchuquet left the unit, but he did not take up his post until November 5. In the meantime, the group was led by Captain Clémençon, probably the same officer who had commanded the 13e CP in 1944.
Lieutenant Colonel Binoche knew the Legion well. From 1935 to 1940, he had served in the 1er REI, the 2e REI, and the 11e REI. Taken prisoner in 1940, he managed to escape and joined the Resistance in France, where he lost his right arm in combat with the Germans.
On November 7, he was joined by Major Nicolas Tokhadze, an officer of Georgian origin who had served in the Legion since the early 1920s. Tokhadze became the group’s chief of staff and second-in-command.
Like its predecessor, the group was responsible for maintaining order and a French presence in southern Morocco, western Algeria, and northern Mauritania. In Agadir, its legionnaires also took turns guarding key sites, such as the buildings housing the French civil and military authorities. In early 1947, two of its companies were working deep in the desert between Tindouf and Fort Trinquet, on the Imperial Road linking French North Africa with French West Africa.
In January 1947, a GCPLEM detachment under Second Lieutenant Desjeux, who in 1963 would become the last commanding officer of the 5e REI in Algeria, set out on a liaison run, a long-range journey to maintain contact between distant posts, to Taoudenni. This remote settlement, known for its rock salt mines, lay about 435 miles (700 km) southeast of Tindouf, in northern French Sudan (present-day Mali). The detachment, however, was forced to turn back early. A month later, in the first half of February, another detachment from the group took part in a liaison run from Tindouf to Taoudenni. The round trip covered some 2,500 miles (4,000 km) and took two weeks. It was led by Lieutenant Colonel Binoche, and Lieutenant Colonel Clément, the SAC’s chief of staff, also took part. The journey marked the group’s first use of the newly issued Latil M7 T1 all-terrain tractor.
In March 1947, the group’s unit insignia went into production.
Work on the road continued over the following months. Around May 1947, Legionnaire Black of the 15e CP, a veteran of more than 21 years’ service, died in the Tindouf area after being stung by a scorpion.
The GCPLEM, however, was short-lived. On July 1, 1947, at the request of its commanding officer, its companies were renumbered 1 to 3. Their story continued under a new, simpler name: the Foreign Legion Moroccan Motorized Group (GPLEM).
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Main information sources:
Képi blanc magazine
Vert et Rouge magazine
Michel Brun: A Foum El Hassan avec la 13e CPLE 1946-1947 (Képi blanc, 1996-1997)
J. Brunon, G.-R. Manue, P. Carles: Le Livre d’Or de la Légion (Charles-Lavauzelle, 1976)
Tibor Szecsko : Le grand livre des insignes de la Légion étrangère (S.I.H.L.E., 1991)
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Learn more about the Foreign Legion’s history:
Foreign Legion Algerian Motorized Group
1st Legion Saharan Motorized Company
2nd Legion Saharan Motorized Company
3rd Legion Saharan Motorized Company
4th Legion Saharan Motorized Company
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The page was updated on: October 9, 2026