The 23rd Motorized Company (23e CP) of the 6th Battalion, 1st Foreign Infantry Regiment (1er REI), was formed on January 1, 1955, at Aïn Sefra, in western Algeria near the Moroccan border. An old Legion garrison in South Oran (Sud-Oranais), a desert region long associated with the legionnaires, the town had also been the former garrison of the 1st Legion Saharan Motorized Company (1re CSPL). A highly mobile infantry company whose men rode in vehicles, the 23e CP was placed under Captain Nicolas Laboure and consisted of three platoons equipped with scout cars. 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 mid-February, Captain Laboure left the company and was replaced by Captain Roger Magnas. In March, Magnas received the company’s fanion (company pennant) from Lieutenant Colonel Arnault, commander of the DCLE.
Also in March, the company received the fourragère (a braided cord worn on the left shoulder as a collective unit decoration) in the colors of the ribbon of the Croix de Guerre des TOE (War Cross for Overseas Theaters of Operations). This decoration had been awarded to the former 6th Battalion 1er REI, for its actions in Morocco in 1925–1926, during the Rif War. The fourragère was presented by Major Reppelin, acting commander of the 6th Battalion 1er REI, a unit that had not yet truly been formed. Although the last of the battalion’s three motorized companies to be created, the 23rd Motorized Company was the first to receive the fourragère.
Composition of the 23rd Motorized Company in March 1955:
- Company commander: Captain Magnas
- 1st Platoon: Lieutenant Le Peillet
- 2nd Platoon: Lieutenant Auclair
- 3rd Platoon: Lieutenant Lambert
During its time in Aïn Sefra, the company devoted itself mainly to training, since very few of its men had ever served in a motorized unit.
In May, the scout cars were exchanged for Dodge 6×6 trucks, which were better suited to future missions in desert regions. Each motorized platoon thus received five Dodges and was also equipped with three 81mm mortars. The company also had a few half-tracks and GMC trucks.
The 23e 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 23e CP was accordingly renamed the 23rd Foreign Legion Motorized Company (23e Compagnie portée de Légion étrangère, 23e CPLE).
That same month, Lieutenant Lambert was replaced by Lieutenant Tassy.
In early September, the company received five M8 armored cars, which formed its armored car platoon. Many of the platoon’s men were veterans of the 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment (1er REC) who had kept their light khaki berets from Indochina. Then, on September 8, the 23e CPLE moved to Negrine, in eastern Algeria, where it shared the garrison with the 2e CSPL for several weeks.
In late September 1955, the company took part in Operation Timgad, a large combined-arms operation on the Tunisian border, in the Tébessa region, not far from Djebel El Djorf (djebel means mountain). It fought alongside its comrades from the 21e CPLE and 22e CPLE, the 1re CSPL and 2e CSPL, the 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment (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.
In October, the 2e CSPL left Negrine. At the same time, the 23e CPLE was relieved there by its older sister unit, the 21st Motorized Company, and moved farther northeast to Bir El Ater, with one platoon detached to Soukies.
From then on, work on the defenses and on improving the company’s facilities alternated with operations and patrols in its assigned subsector, in the Nementcha mountains or along the Tunisian border (alongside the 21e CPLE or the 1er REP). There were also day and night ambushes, identity checks, and searches of nomad camps and their caravans, which numbered anywhere from 10 to 150 camels.
The 23rd Motorized Company of the GPLEA (1956)
On January 6, 1956, Lieutenant Tassy’s 3rd Platoon left Soukies and rejoined the rest of the company at Bir El Ater.
A few months later, the company would lose its autonomy and, along with its two sister companies, be attached to the Foreign Legion Algerian Motorized Group (GPLEA), created in February. It was to become the 23rd Motorized Company of the GPLEA. The integration, however, did not take place until June.
On May 20, Captain Magnas handed over command of the company to Captain Julien Camelin and joined the staff of the GPLEA.
On May 25, during a reconnaissance at Djebel Onk (west of Bir El Ater), the company ran into an enemy band. Six fellaghas (rebels) were killed that day. On June 8 came another major clash, this time southeast of Bir El Ater, in which 35 rebels were killed and 10 taken prisoner.
In early September, the men of the company went to Philippeville (present-day Skikda), then the garrison of the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP), for a week of rest. On September 21, after their return, they fought a fierce battle at Djebel Fououa, north of Bir El Ater, in which 26 rebels were killed.
In late October 1956, the GPLEA, a very short-lived unit, was disbanded, and its elements were absorbed into the freshly reorganized 2e REI. The 23rd Motorized Company of the GPLEA, still based at Bir El Ater, thus became the 6th Motorized Company, 2e REI (6e CP/2). By then, the company had killed a total of 89 rebels and captured 67 weapons.
In March 1957, the 6e CP made way at Bir El Ater for the 3rd Motorized Company, 4th Foreign Infantry Regiment (4e REI). It then left eastern Algeria for Bou Alam and did not join the 2e REI at its headquarters in Aïn Sefra, where it had been formed in January 1955, until early November 1958.
In 2000, the newly created Base and Training Company (CBI) of the 2e REI adopted the former unit insignia of the 23e CPLE. Converted into the Administration and Support Company (CAS) in 2003, the company kept this insignia until it was disbanded in 2011.
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L'article en français : 23eme CPLE : 23e Compagnie Portée de Légion Etrangère
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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)
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More from the Foreign Legion’s history:
21st 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
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The page was updated on: October 15, 2026