On November 12, 1954, under Lieutenant Benard and Second Lieutenant de Concqueray, the first elements of a new company of the future 6th Battalion, 1st Foreign Infantry Regiment (1er REI), were assembled at Nouvion (present-day El Ghomri), in the Mascara region of Algeria. A camp in Nouvion, one of several available to the Legion at the time, had served as a training centre for legionnaires destined for the Indochina War (1946–1954). The 1er REI elements were then sent to Aïn Sefra, an old Legion garrison in South Oran (Sud-Oranais), a desert region long associated with the legionnaires, in western Algeria near the Moroccan border. There, they were to replace the 1st Legion Saharan Motorized Company (1re CSPL), which was moving east, where the Algerian War (1954–1962) had broken out two weeks earlier.
The 21st Motorized Company (21e Compagnie portée, 21e CP) of the 6th Battalion 1er REI was thus created in Aïn Sefra on November 16, 1954. A highly mobile infantry company whose men rode in vehicles, it was placed under Captain André Hedan and consisted of three platoons equipped with half-tracks and Dodge 6×6 trucks. Since the 6th Battalion’s staff did not yet exist, the company was designated a “fictitious” unit (unité fictive) and was administratively attached to the Foreign Legion Joint Depot (DCLE) in Sidi Bel Abbès, then the Legion’s headquarters.
In early December 1954, the 21e CP was sent east to the Biskra region, once again to relieve the 1re CSPL. The company set up at Zeribet El Oued, where its mission was to control caravans and pursue the fellaghas (rebels).
In late December, the 21e CP left the Biskra region for Laghouat, a town in the center of the country that had been the garrison of the 2e CSPL since 1948. It was later joined there by the 22nd Motorized Company, a recently formed sister unit. On January 25, 1955, both companies received their fanions (company pennants) from Lieutenant Colonel Arnault, commander of the DCLE and acting commanding officer of the 6th Battalion, which had still not been formed.
On January 28, the 21e CP left Laghouat and headed back east, toward the Algerian-Tunisian border area. The company was stationed at Negrine, with one platoon detached to Ferkane and another to Soukies. The legionnaires maintained liaison with the French garrisons in Tunisia, checked caravans and nomad camps, and searched for rebels.
In March, the company made way for the 2e CSPL and left Negrine for Bir El Ater. In this sector, the legionnaires conducted operations against the rebels, often alongside their comrades of the 1st Foreign Parachute Battalion (1er BEP), which became the 1er REP (Regiment) in September 1955.
The 21e CPLE as an Independent Unit (1955–1956)
On July 1, 1955, the Legion’s headquarters was reorganized. The DCLE and the 1er REI were disbanded, and a new 1st Foreign Regiment (1er RE) was formed in their place. The three motorized companies of the 6th Battalion, which had never really been re-formed, became independent. The 21e CP was accordingly renamed the 21st Foreign Legion Motorized Company (21e Compagnie portée de Légion étrangère, 21e CPLE). An armored car platoon with M8 armored cars soon joined the company’s three motorized platoons, bringing its strength to about 160 men. Each motorized platoon was also equipped with three 81mm mortars.
The missions remained the same. Operations in the Bir El Ater sector alternated with population checks, searches of nomad tents, patrols, convoy escorts between the south and Tébessa, repairs to the telephone line, and relieving the garrison at the Soukies post.
In late September 1955, the company took part in Operation Timgad, a large combined-arms operation on the Tunisian border, not far from Djebel El Djorf (djebel means mountain). It fought alongside its comrades from the 22e CPLE and 23e CPLE, the 1re and 2e CSPL, the 1er REP, and the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e REI). A major gathering of rebel leaders from the Aurès and Nementcha mountains was wiped out. For this operation, the CPLEs and CSPLs were brought together in a “Foreign Legion Motorized Company Group” under Lieutenant Colonel Brisbarre, an officer of the Colonial Troops.
On October 18, the 21e CPLE returned to Negrine to replace the 2e CSPL and the 23e CPLE, while one platoon continued to hold Ferkane.
Four days later, on October 22, the company and elements of the 1er REP fought a fierce battle to the northeast, at Djebel Onk. Twenty-five rebels were killed that day. The company lost a sergeant and a legionnaire killed, and three legionnaires were wounded.
On December 30 came Operation Oscar Hotel, with the 1er REP and the 23e CPLE, near Rhirane Bou Doukrane, northwest of Negrine. For the first time, the 21st Company was airlifted by helicopter. During the operation, Lieutenant Fouquet-Lapar and Lieutenant Bedrich-Bedrich were wounded, and Senior Corporal Letourneur was killed. Lieutenant Philippe Fouquet-Lapar would later be cited in Army orders, the highest level of citation in the French Army.
On January 17 and 19, 1956, the Ferkane post was attacked by a large rebel band armed with a 60mm mortar, but the attackers were driven off.
Throughout the year, the company would continue its missions: patrols along the Tunisian border, participation in operations, convoy escorts, cordon operations, and more.
The 21st Motorized Company of the GPLEA (1956)
On February 1, 1956, the Foreign Legion Algerian Motorized Group (GPLEA) was created. The new group was to bring together the three motorized companies of the former 1er REI, scattered across eastern Algeria, which would thereby lose their administrative autonomy. In practice, however, the integration did not take place until June.
In April, the company was operating along the Tunisian border, still as part of a border task force. Two of its platoons were at Ferkane.
In July, the 21st Motorized Company of the GPLEA received a new commander, Captain Gérard Mozat. He succeeded Captain Hedan, who joined the 1er RE.
In late August 1956, during his tour of Algeria, Max Lejeune, then Secretary of State for the Armed Forces (a junior minister serving under the Minister of National Defense), visited the company at Negrine and decorated several of its men. By the time of this visit, the legionnaires were already wearing the Saharan uniform, with its characteristic seroual (wide, baggy trousers) decorated on the side with the Agadez cross, a symbol of the Tuareg of the Sahara.
In October 1956, the GPLEA, a little-known and short-lived unit, was disbanded, and its elements were absorbed into the freshly reorganized 2e REI. The 21st Company of the GPLEA, still based at Negrine, thus became the 4th Motorized Company, 2e REI (4e CP/2).
A few months later, in March 1957, the 4e CP left eastern Algeria to join the regiment at its headquarters in Aïn Sefra, where the company had been formed in 1954.
———
L'article en français : 21eme CPLE : 21e Compagnie Portée de Légion Etrangère
———
———
Main information sources:
Képi blanc magazine
Foreign Legion annual bulletins (1950s)
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)
———
More from the Foreign Legion’s history:
22nd Foreign Legion Motorized Company
Mounted and Motorized Company Group, 3e REI
PHOTOS: 2nd Motorized Company GPLEM in Taroudant, Morocco, in 1954
3rd Legion Saharan Motorized Company
———
The page was updated on: October 15, 2026