The Foreign Legion Madagascar Battalion (BLEM) is one of those very little known units of the French Foreign Legion, even in France. The BLEM, in historical context, it is a very unique unit. It was the only Foreign Legion combat unit being not involved in the Algerian War (1954-1962). Also, the BLEM is that unit which helped to re-establish the new 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment in 1962. A company of BLEM was the first Legion unit ever stationed in Djibouti. The battalion also operated an amphibious and jungle training center, the predecessor to today’s famous, well-known CEFE jungle training center based in French Guiana. The last interesting thing is that the very few data we can find about the BLEM are misinterpreted by both, Wikipedia and the Foreign Legion official website.

If you are interested in the history of the battalion, you can see a few information available about this autonomous unit serving within the Foreign Legion during the 1957-1962 period, including 20+ rare BLEM images.

See the History & images of BLEM.