Major Raymond Cabaribère (1913 – 1954) | French Foreign Legion Information

Major Raymond Cabaribère was an officer of the French Foreign Legion. He was killed in action on April 21, 1954, during the Indochina War, while commanding the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment. He was 41 years old.

3e REI - 3 REI - Raymond Cabaribère - 1954 - Foreign Legion Etrangere

Raymond Auguste Joseph Cabaribère was born on February 12, 1913 in Fourques, in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. He received his secondary education in Marseille, where he also joined the army. In 1932, Cabaribère entered the Saint-Cyr Special Military School (ESM), France’s most prestigious military academy; he attended the “De Bournazel” class (named in honor of a French officer killed in the 1933 Battle of Bou Gafer). He left as a second lieutenant and, after some temporary posts, was assigned as a platoon leader to the 162nd Fortress Infantry Regiment (162e RIF). After becoming a lieutenant in 1940, Cabaribère participated with his unit in the defense of the Maginot Line against Nazi Germany’s armed forces. He was eventually captured and imprisoned.

After World War II, Lieutenant Cabaribère moved to French North Africa and served in the Foreign Legion, which he joined in 1946. He later deployed to French Indochina in Southeast Asia to be assigned to the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e REI). The regiment, along with other Legion and French units, fought against the Viet Minh in the First Indochina War (1946-1954).

Upon his return to North Africa, now-Captain Cabaribère was sent to Ain Sefra in Algeria’s South Oran where he assumed command of the 1st Legion Saharan Motorized Company (1re CSPL) in early August 1950. With this very specific autonomous unit, he undertook several adventurous expeditions through the Algerian Saharan wastelands as far south as Reggane, where French atomic bomb tests were later conducted. One of his expeditions, equipped with American Dodge 6×6 vehicles, was the first to cross, from south to north, the Grand Erg Occidental (Western Sand Sea), where sand dunes can reach heights of up to 390 feet (120 m). The expedition took place in early 1951; Cabaribère‘s detachment had to cover, on its own, about 150 miles (some 250 km) of the uncharted sand sea territory without GPS navigation, mobile phones, and Google Maps.

Captain Cabaribère commanded the company for three years, until late September 1953.

Back in Indochina in November of the same year, the promoted Major Cabaribère took over the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment (3e REI). The battalion operated in Laos and was involved in many fierce battles with the enemy.

In late January 1954, the battalion was stationed near Koung Khouei, in the Muong Khoua region. Cabaribère was ordered to retreat from his position, though this order came too late. During the retreat, on January 31, his men suffered several assaults from three advancing enemy battalions. They then pursued Cabaribère‘s companies, which tried to defend themselves in dense vegetation. The next morning, violent fighting began between the encircled 2nd Battalion and the Viet Minh. It continued until February 3. That day, the battalion was decimated. From its original strength of 325 men, it suffered nine officers, 26 NCOs, and 252 legionnaires killed, wounded, missing, or imprisoned. Among the imprisoned men was the commander, Major Cabaribère.

The imprisoned men were taken to the European POW camp at Yung Toi in northern Laos. Cabaribère escaped five days later and met pro-French Laotian partisans. With their help, he traveled across the hostile jungle and reached the French positions on February 23.

The 2nd Battalion, 3e REI was soon reconstituted under Major Cabaribère, this time near Hanoi in Tonkin (what is now Northern Vietnam). In mid-March, it was deployed to the Tonkinese Delta to guard Colonial Road 5 (RC5) between Hanoi and Haiphong.

On the morning of April 21, 1954, the battalion (HQ and three companies) left its post and patrolled the road. Around 9 a.m., a heavy enemy attack occurred, coming from both sides of the road. It was carried out by two Viet Minh infantry battalions and supported by the precise fire of an artillery battalion. Major Cabaribère ordered a retreat to the nearby high ground to have a better chance for a successful defense. However, during the movement, the commander was wounded by a bullet and, shortly afterward, killed by shrapnel from an enemy shell.

The Viet Minh attackers didn’t flee until reinforcements arrived, supported by armored vehicles. The battle was over at about 12 p.m.

That day, three officers and 30 NCOs and legionnaires were killed, while another 68 men were wounded. Forty men were missing.

A few days later, Major Cabaribère was buried in Hanoi alongside the other killed men of the battalion. In late 1954, his body was transported to France and buried in his natal Fourques.

Raymond Auguste Joseph Cabaribère earned several citations (mentions in dispatches) and was awarded, among other accolades, the War Cross 1939-1945, the Foreign Theater Operations War Cross, and the prestigious Légion d’honneur (Legion of Honor).

On November 13, 1992, the vast camp occupied by the Foreign Legion Detachment in Mayotte (DLEM) was officially named “Quartier Cabaribère” in honor of the fallen officer and to mark the 25th anniversary of the Foreign Legion’s presence on the island.

3e REI - 3 REI - Raymond Cabaribère - 1954 - Foreign Legion Etrangere — Major *Raymond Cabaribère* after he escaped from the Viet Minh POW camp in Laos, February 1954. He was killed two months later.

DLEM - Foreign Legion Detachment - Mayotte - Dzaoudzi - headquarters - Quartier Cabaribère - entrance - 2017 — *Dzaoudzi*, entrance to the DLEM’s HQ, “Quartier Cabaribère”. The camp was named in honor of the fallen officer in 1992.

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