In the second half of last month, November 2014, Exercise IBERIAN STAR 2014 took place on the Chinchilla Training Area in the province of Albacete, southern Spain. Legionnaires of the French Foreign Legion and the Spanish Legion (former Spanish Foreign Legion), together with British soldiers were involved in the exercise.
Between 15 and 29 November, around 400 Spanish legionnaires from Spanish Legion’s VIII Bandera, some 40 French legionnaires from Foreign Legion’s 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e REI) and about 100 British soldiers from The Royal Welsh, Welsh Guards and Irish Guards were improving their multinational operation skills (by using each other’s weapons), and also the tactical and communication skills in the field.
The Spanish Legion, formed in 1920, was originally intended as a Spanish equivalent of the French Foreign Legion, to conduct Spain’s colonial campaigns in North Africa. Since the 1980s, the Spanish Legion has been closed for foreigners, except for the spanish-speaking citizens from former Spanish colonies (according to the Spanish Army official website).
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Information & image source / © photos credit:
El Tercio ‘Don Juan de Austria’ se adiestra en Chinchilla con la Legión Extranjera
Quand la légion française rencontre la légion espagnole
Welsh soldiers on a Spanish mission
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Related posts:
Video: Exercise Iberian Star with the Spanish Legion
2e REI: Exercise with US Marines of July 2014
2e REI and US Marines exercise – official video
2e REP and US Paratroopers in Corsica
2e REP: 82nd Airborne Division trained with the Foreign Legion
Blue legionnaire: 2e REP trained with British Paras in Corsica