The Foreign Legion Moroccan Motorized Group (GPLEM) was a motorized infantry unit. Made up of motorized companies, it served in southern Morocco, western Algeria, and northern Mauritania from 1947 to 1956. When it was disbanded in November 1956, its companies were absorbed into the 4th Foreign Infantry Regiment (4e REI).
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L'article en français : GPLEM : Groupement Porté de Légion Etrangère du Maroc
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Origins of the Group
The presence of such a group in Morocco was rooted in history. A French protectorate since 1912, Morocco was part of French North Africa (Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia). The Legion had been involved there from the very start of military operations in 1907 and had played a leading role in the pacification of the country, which was completed in 1934. World War II, however, had led to the departure of the vast majority of the legionnaires. By 1944, of the three Legion infantry regiments still stationed in Morocco in 1940, only four understrength companies remained.
On June 1, 1944, these units, the 8th Mounted Company and the 13th, 14th, and 15th Motorized Companies, were brought together in the Mounted and Motorized Company Group, 3e REI (GCMP/3). They kept the Legion’s presence and prestige alive in the country without interruption, while also preserving the legal continuity of the 3e REI, which had been disbanded. Their ranks included many veteran legionnaires who carried on the spirit and traditions of the prewar “Old Legion.”
On October 1, 1946, with the 3e REI re-formed and sent to Indochina, the group lost its role as custodian of that regiment’s traditions, as well as its mounted company. It then became a fully independent unit, the Foreign Legion Moroccan Motorized Company Group (GCPLEM), whose three companies were now all based in southwestern Morocco.
Creation and Organization
The Foreign Legion Moroccan Motorized Group (Groupement porté de Légion étrangère du Maroc, GPLEM) was created on July 1, 1947, simply by renaming the GCPLEM, which had existed for only nine months. At the same time, at the request of their commanding officer, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Motorized Companies (compagnies portées) were renumbered as the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Motorized Companies (1re, 2e, and 3e CP). These highly mobile units, whose troops were carried in vehicles, were the heirs to the old mounted companies.
Apart from the three companies, the GPLEM also consisted of a small staff and an HQ Company under Captain Pierson. Its headquarters was in Agadir, a town on the Atlantic coast of southwestern Morocco, where the staff and support services occupied Camp Sigmann (formerly Camp IV) and Camp Alibert.
The group was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel François Binoche, who had already led the GCPLEM. He knew the Legion well. From 1935 to 1940, he had served in the 1er REI, 2e REI, and 11e REI. After escaping from captivity, he had joined the Resistance in France, where he lost his right arm in combat with the Germans. He was assisted by Major Nicolas Tokhadze, who served as chief of staff and second-in-command of the group.
The 1st Motorized Company (formerly the 13e CP), commanded by Captain de l’Escapolier, was garrisoned at the Le Moal Post at Foum El Hassan, about 110 miles (180 km) from Agadir. It was the group’s southernmost company. The company had been stationed there since the mid-1930s. In fact, it had built the post itself in 1934, when it was still the Automobile Mounted Company of the 4e REI (CMA/4). The post often saw summer temperatures above 122°F (50°C). The company’s history went back even further, to 1894 and the Aïn Sefra Mounted Company.
The 2nd Motorized Company (formerly the 14e CP) was stationed at the Captain Morel barracks in Taroudant, about 50 miles (80 km) east of Agadir. The town was a true citadel, enclosed by nearly four miles (6 km) of sixteenth-century ramparts with 130 towers and 19 bastions.
The 3rd Motorized Company (formerly the 15e CP) was based in Tiznit, about 55 miles (90 km) south of Agadir. This town, too, was surrounded by imposing ramparts.
Territorially, the group came under the Agadir-Borderlands Subdivision (SAC), which was autonomous at the time. Its area of responsibility covered not only southern Morocco but also the Tindouf region of Algeria and northern Mauritania, in French West Africa (AOF). This arrangement dated back to 1934 and the end of the pacification of these borderlands, which had been carried out by troops from southern Morocco, legionnaires among them. As a highly mobile unit with a long operational range, the GPLEM kept in regular contact with these Saharan regions, which were an integral part of its area of operations.
Missions and Men
In addition to maintaining a French presence, the group’s companies carried out a wide range of missions. Above all, they were responsible for maintaining order in the region, maintaining and improving roads and tracks, carrying out liaison runs (long-range journeys to maintain contact between distant posts) in their sector, helping military or civilian motorists in trouble in the desert, and serving as the Subdivision’s intervention units.
They also gave basic training to young legionnaires arriving from Algeria before they left for the Far East, where the Legion was fighting in the Indochina War (1946–1954). Finally, they served as transit units and offered a period of rest to officers, NCOs, and legionnaires returning to North Africa after their two-year tour in Indochina. These men served a few months with the GPLEM before heading back to the Far East.
On top of these tasks came work on the posts, training, marches, and maneuvers. To break the monotony of garrison life, the legionnaires also carried out memorable reconnaissance missions in the Sahara and sometimes grueling long-distance expeditions into Mauritania and even as far as northern French Sudan (present-day Mali). One example was the liaison run from Tindouf to Taoudenni, a journey of some 2,500 miles (4,000 km), carried out in February 1947, shortly before the GPLEM was created.
In 1947, each motorized company had an authorized strength of about 230 men. This was more than an ordinary infantry company, because of the large number of vehicles and drivers. The demands of the Indochina War, however, soon reduced actual strength to some 100 to 130 men, and numbers remained highly variable. In the second half of 1947, the entire group numbered barely more than 400 men.
Small as it was, this force included many veteran legionnaires with long years of service behind them. More than a hundred of them held the Médaille militaire (Military Medal), the highest military decoration open to NCOs and enlisted men. Adjudant-chef Kaladjew was a perfect example. In the Legion since 1920, he was at the time the longest-serving adjudant-chef in the entire Legion (adjudant-chef is the second highest NCO rank in France, roughly equivalent to a master sergeant in the U.S. or Warrant Officer Class 1 in the UK).
Equipment
In 1947, each company was organized into three platoons and had thirty to forty vehicles. During the first half of the year, the old right-hand-drive British Bedford trucks, veterans of the campaigns in Libya and Tunisia, gave way to Latil M7 T1 all-terrain tractors. Originally produced for the German army, these now carried the troops. The vehicle fleet also included tank trucks and workshop trucks.
In 1948, American GMC trucks appeared. Used for logistics, carrying supplies, water, and fuel, they probably replaced the old Panhards. By 1950, the group was fully equipped with Dodge 6×6 trucks, which replaced the Latils and became its main vehicle. Dodge 4x4s were used mainly by officers.
In 1954, the group’s equipment was significantly expanded. It received M8 armored cars, which made it possible to form an armored car platoon within each company. The motorized companies thus regained an element that had been part of their original organization (since 1940) but had already disappeared: the machine-gun or armored car platoon.
The GPLEM from 1947 to 1953
The group’s unit insignia, which had gone into production in March 1947, had originally been designed for the GCPLEM. It naturally became the insignia of the GPLEM.
On July 14, 1947, Bastille Day, the group received its fanion (unit pennant), presented on behalf of its godmother, Mrs. Jacquemin-Binoche, the commanding officer’s mother. That same day, the unit paraded through Agadir on its new Latils.
During the year, the 1st Motorized Company carried out road construction work in the Oukaïmeden massif in the High Atlas, south of Marrakesh, where the 4e REI had a ski center. The work cost the lives of two of the company’s men: Staff Sergeant Quimperlé, a long-serving legionnaire killed in an explosion, and, a few days later, young Legionnaire Horkay.
In 1948 and 1949, the 2nd Motorized Company in Taroudant was commanded by Captain Labaume.
In August 1949, Lieutenant Colonel Binoche left the GPLEM and later took command of the 5e REI in Indochina. Major Tokhadze served as acting commander until the arrival of Lieutenant Colonel Edmond Laimay, in November. A sergeant in the Legion in the 1920s, he would later command the 3e REI in Indochina (1951–1953). At the end of that year, Major Périn, who had commanded the 4e REI’s battalion in Madagascar from 1947 to 1949, became the group’s second-in-command.
On November 1, 1950, to meet the manpower needs of the war in Indochina, the 1st Motorized Company was converted into a cadre company, kept at reduced strength around its officers and NCOs, and stationed in Agadir.
In late February 1951, Lieutenant Colonel Jean Raberin succeeded Lieutenant Colonel Laimay. Raberin would later command the 5e REI (1951–1954) and then the 1st Foreign Regiment (1er RE).
On May 31, 1951, Captain Lacote’s 3rd Motorized Company was disbanded in Tiznit. The very next day, the officer took command of the re-formed 1st Motorized Company. He knew the company well, having already commanded it in 1945 and 1946, when it was still the 13e CP. Lacote, who would later command the 13e DBLE in Djibouti (1962–1965), was the group’s best-known officer. He had served with it on and off since 1944, in the days of the GCMP/3.
By June 1951, the GPLEM, under Lieutenant Colonel Raberin, therefore had only two motorized companies left: Captain Lacote’s 1st Motorized Company and Captain Vadot’s 2nd Motorized Company. The staff was headed by Major Périn.
In August 1951, Lieutenant Colonel Raberin left the group. Major Périn commanded it from September 1951 until April 1952, when Lieutenant Colonel Tokhadze, the group’s former second-in-command, took over. Tokhadze remained in command until December 1953.
The GPLEM from 1954 to 1956
In January 1954, Major Albert Brothier took command of the group. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on October 1 of that year and remained in command until December 1955. He would go on to command the 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment (1er REP) from 1956 to 1957, and then the 1er RE from 1959 to 1961.
The year 1954 marked the end of the Indochina War, but also the beginning of unrest in North Africa, and Morocco was not spared. The GPLEM now took part in policing patrols. It had to show itself in several places at once, which meant splitting up and operating in small units such as platoons or detachments. Some areas could not be reached by vehicle but still had to be covered, so most of these patrols were made on foot. In this way, the group’s legionnaires asserted its presence and showed that they could reach even the most remote parts of the Agadir region, the Atlas, and the Anti-Atlas relatively quickly. As a Legion brochure of the time put it:
“The legionnaire of 1955, full of curiosity, was rediscovering a Morocco that cannot be seen from the road, a Morocco his predecessors must have known well. He renewed the contact.”
These new missions called for adaptation. In 1955, specialized elements were therefore created within the group: a mountain platoon, a dog-handler team, two reconnaissance platoons, and two commando teams. Unfortunately, for lack of sources, no further details about these units are available.
At the end of 1955, the GPLEM’s companies, then commanded by Captain Bertany (1st Motorized Company) and Captain Chamagne (2nd Motorized Company; a lieutenant with the GPLEM in 1949–1950), were deployed farther north, to Rabat, to maintain order there.
In January 1956, Major Pierre Darmuzai took command of the group. He had previously commanded the 3rd Foreign Parachute Battalion (3e BEP, 1949–1951), the 1er BEP (1951–1952), and the 3rd Foreign Parachute Regiment (3e REP, 1955), and would later command the 2e REP (1960–1961). He was the group’s last commanding officer.
Early in the year, a commando team from the group left for Tindouf, in Algeria, where it joined fellow legionnaires of the 4th Legion Saharan Motorized Company (4e CSPL), also deployed in the area. Operations there were directed against local insurgents coming from Spanish Morocco.
During 1956, the political situation changed profoundly. France was moving toward ending the protectorate, and in March 1956, Morocco gained its independence. All of the GPLEM’s missions and operations were then suspended. The units regrouped in Agadir, where the legionnaires waited to be repatriated. In the meantime, they were responsible for maintaining order and ensuring the safety of French nationals in the area. They also carried out essential liaison runs and escorted senior officials.
On November 15, 1956, the GPLEM was formally disbanded. The next day, at Camp Sigmann in Agadir, it became Motorized Company Group No. 2 (GCP 2) of the 4e REI, which had just been converted into a motorized regiment. The 1st and 2nd Motorized Companies of the former GPLEM became the 4th and 5th Motorized Companies, 4e REI.
Epilogue
In March 1957, as the regiment left for Algeria, the two former GPLEM companies set off for Mauritania. There, until 1958, they took part in operations against rebels coming from Spanish Morocco.
To complete the picture, a sister unit had been formed in Algeria in 1956: the Foreign Legion Algerian Motorized Group (GPLEA).
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Main information sources:
Képi blanc magazine
Vert et Rouge magazine
Foreign Legion annual bulletins (1950s)
P. Cart-Tanneur, Tibor Szecsko: Le 4ème Etranger (Editions B.I.P., 1987)
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)
Google.com
Wikipedia.org
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Other GPLEM images & information (in French):
Camp de la Légion Étrangère-Camp IV-Camp Sigmann
Les souvenirs de la Légion étrangère à Agadir
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More from the Foreign Legion’s history:
97th Division Reconnaissance Group
1st Legion Saharan Motorized Company
Foreign Legion Repair Platoons in Africa
GOLE: Foreign Legion Operational Group
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The page was updated on: October 11, 2026