On Wednesday evening, September 2, 2026, the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e REI) commemorated the 123rd anniversary of the Battle of El Moungar, the 1903 desert engagement whose date became the regiment’s main holiday. After last year’s ceremony at the regimental barracks in Nîmes, southern France, the event returned to the Roman amphitheater (Arena) in the center of the city, built in the first century AD and still in use today.
2e REG: Martinique in 2026
At the end of August 2026, the 2nd Company of the 2nd Foreign Engineer Regiment (2e REG) wrapped up a four-month deployment to Martinique, a French overseas region in the Caribbean, and traded the tropics for the high mountains of southeastern France, where the regiment is garrisoned at Saint-Christol. The company had arrived on the island in late April.
3e REI: 2026 Change of Command (Video)
As we reported earlier, the French Foreign Legion went through a whole series of changes of command this summer, with several of its regiments getting new commanding officers. One of them was the 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment (3e REI), the only Legion unit permanently stationed in South America. On July 23, 2026, Colonel Grossin handed over command of the regiment to Colonel Gauzence de Lastours at a ceremony held at its home base in Kourou, French Guiana, a French overseas department on the northeastern coast of the continent.
Foreign Legion: 2026 Changes of Command in Five Regiments
In summer 2026, the French Foreign Legion saw five changes of command at the regimental level, reflecting the French Army’s regular two-year command rotation cycle. These changes affected units stationed in metropolitan France and overseas, including some of the Legion’s most prominent operational formations.
Read moreForeign Legion: 2026 Changes of Command in Five Regiments
Foreign Legion: 2026 Change of Command
On August 1, 2026, Brigadier General Christophe Passerat de La Chapelle took officially command of the French Foreign Legion and became the new Père Légion, or “Father of the Legion.” He succeeded Major General Cyrille Youchtchenko, who had led the elite corps for the past three years.
An Italian Legionnaire’s Photo Journey Through the Legion, 1987–1992
Summer is traditionally a quiet season for Legion news, but a nice photo slideshow is well worth a look while things wind down. Posted on YouTube by an Italian former legionnaire, the video takes viewers through his five years of service in the French Foreign Legion, from August 1987 to August 1992, most of it spent with the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP).
Read moreAn Italian Legionnaire’s Photo Journey Through the Legion, 1987–1992
4e RE: 2026 Remise de Kepis blancs in Saint-Malo
On July 19, 2026, the French Foreign Legion held a White Kepi Ceremony (Remise des Képis blancs) on the ramparts of the historic port city of Saint-Malo, in Brittany, a historical region in the north-west of France. During the ceremony, forty recruits from the 3rd Platoon, 1st Company of Enlisted Volunteers of the 4th Foreign Regiment (4e RE) — the Legion’s training regiment — donned the white kepi for the first time and took the Legion’s traditional oath to serve France “with honor and fidelity.”
Foreign Legion: 2026 Bastille Day
July 14 marks France’s national holiday, Bastille Day. Beyond the main military parade in Paris, where the French Foreign Legion was represented once again this year, Legion units also take part in local celebrations held across the country and in France’s overseas territories.
2e REG: Sergeant Killed in the French Alps
In early July 2026, a French Foreign Legion sergeant serving with the 2nd Foreign Engineer Regiment (2e REG) died during a training course in the Alps. He was 32 years old.
2026 Bastille Day Military Parade
Paris marked Bastille Day (France’s national day) on July 14, 2026, with its annual military parade down the Champs-Élysées, running from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde in front of President Emmanuel Macron — his last such parade before his term ends in 2027. As usual, the French Foreign Legion participated.
2e REI: NATO’s Allied Reaction Force
Starting in early July 2026, legionnaires of the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e REI) will form the core of a forward battalion held at 48-hour readiness for a one-year rotation as part of NATO’s Allied Reaction Force (ARF) — the alliance’s revamped rapid response mechanism, which replaced the earlier NATO Response Force.