French Foreign Legion information. An online project dedicated to the famous Foreign Legion.
In 1933, the Foreign Legion’s 1st Foreign Infantry Regiment, comprising around 8,000 legionnaires, established within its ranks a new unit to reduce the load on its administration. The new formation had to receive, organize and train recruits for the Legion, carry out the discharge procedure for those legionnaires returning to the civilian life, as well as other important tasks…
Read moreHistory of a Foreign Legion unit to receive and train recruits in the 1930s and 1940s
See the French Army’s nice report on Foreign Legion military activities in the important three-border region of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, situated in the Sahel area of West Africa, around April-May 2020, aimed at local armed terrorist groups (GAT).
Read moreOperation Barkhane: Immersion in the three-border region
While the vast majority of the 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment (1er REC) has been currently deployed to Mali in West Africa since this February for at least four months, there are two squadrons which remain in France, at the regiment’s Camp Carpiagne near Marseille.
Read more1er REC: Activities for 3rd ESC and ECL in France in June 2020
In May 2020, fresh legionnaires recently arriving to the 1st Foreign Engineer Regiment (1er REG) after their basic training at Castelnaudary, they took part in an initial regimental instruction at Camp Caylus in southern France.
See a new video released by the 2nd Foreign Engineer Regiment (2e REG), the youngest regiment of the Foreign Legion. The video shows basic urban warfare training for the regiment’s recently arrived young legionnaires.
Because of the health restrictions, the military life all over the world have seen some specific difficulties. However, training, missions and operations have to continue. Even in French Guiana in South America, where is stationed the 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment (3e REI) of the French Foreign Legion.
See a nice video published by the Foreign Legion’s 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP). The video presents the initial parachute training for the fresh legionnaires who had finished their four-month basic instruction at Catelnaudary and arrived at the regiment.
In late May 1976, an air accident occurred during a military exercise in the then French Territory of the Afars and the Issas (TFAI, today’s Djibouti), a country located in the Horn of Africa. A French Army helicopter crashed. Eight men on board were killed, including six legionnaires from GOLE (Foreign Legion Task Force). Another two legionnaires died later. At the time, the incident became the deadliest accident for the Legion since the end of the Algerian War (1962). And it still remains the second deadliest accident for the Legion since 1962. Nevertheless, for unknown reasons, the fatal crash has been completely forgotten in France. Here is the article dedicated to this sad event and to pay homage to the victims.