As every year since 1948, French Foreign Legion paratroopers celebrated the day of Saint Michael the Archangel, their patron. The annual ceremony took place at Camp Raffalli, the regiment’s headquarters located near Calvi, Corsica, on the 29th of September. This day also marks the regimental holiday. See photos.
Legion Music: French Foreign Legion song
In mid-September 2019, the exceptional and well-respected Foreign Legion Music Band (MLE) performed a concert in Attignat, a small town in the Ain department in eastern France. During the concert, an Eastern-European legionnaire was praised with a great applause for singing the French Foreign Legion, a song from 1958, well-known due to its original performer Frank Sinatra. See the video.
4e RE: September 2019 Remise de Kepi blanc in Sète
In early September 2019, a French Foreign Legion enlisted volunteer platoon of the 4th Foreign Regiment (4e RE) finished their initial four-week instruction and after having passed a long march, they were allowed to make a military oath and become legionnaires. This time, the ceremony took place in Sète in southern France.
13e DBLE: BACCARAT 2019 starts today
In northeastern France, in the regions of Champagne and Alsace, a large multinational ten-day exercise starts today: BACCARAT 2019. The exercise is aimed at adaptation to air assault and its perfection. It has been organized since 2017, by the 4th Air Assault Brigade (4e BAC). Apart from British, Spanish and French military helicopter units, the Foreign Legion’s 13th Half Brigade (13e DBLE) also participates in the exercise.
VIDEO: Mission Lynx in Estonia in 2019
See a French Army official video presenting the French contingent of Mission Lynx in Estonia in 2019. Two French Foreign Legion units made part of the contingent and spent four months in the Baltic state. The 3rd Company of the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e REI) and a platoon of the 3rd Company, 1st Foreign Engineer Regiment (1er REG).
2e REI: El Moungar 2019
In early September 2019, the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e REI) of the French Foreign Legion commemorated the 116th anniversary of the famous Battle of El Moungar. The battle occurred at El Moungar, in the Bechar region of western Algeria, on September 2, 1903. That day, a half-company of the then 2nd Foreign Regiment (2e RE) was attacked by a war band of Moroccan Berbers.
1er REC: 2nd Squadron train at Formiguères
In mid-August 2019, the legionnaires of the 2nd Squadron, 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment (1er REC) moved to Formiguères, a commune in the Pyrenees mountain range of southern France, at the border with Spain, to spend two weeks there.