80 years ago: Foreign Legion’s last artillery batteries were disbanded

With the conflict in Ukraine, a long-neglected component of Western armies, artillery, has once again stepped to the fore. It might come as a surprise to many Foreign Legion enthusiasts that a 1920 law allowed the Foreign Legion to establish, along with a cavalry regiment, also a separate artillery regiment. Equally surprising might be the fact that, in 1941, the legionnaires probably served in as many as 11 artillery batteries at the same time. The last of these units were disbanded 80 years ago, in 1944.

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3e REI: Exercise Caraïbes 2024

In late May and early June 2024, the armed forces of Martinique and Guadeloupe, overseas departments of France in the eastern Caribbean Sea, were mobilized as part of the exercise Caraïbes 2024 (Caribbean 2024). The aim of this full-scale exercise was to train teams to intervene effectively in the event of a natural disaster in the French West Indies, where the hurricane season is slowly approaching. The men of the Foreign Legion’s 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment (3e REI) also participated.

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75 years ago: Foreign Legion’s first airborne unit was disbanded

75 years ago, in late May 1949, the first airborne unit of the French Foreign Legion was disbanded in Northern Vietnam, during the First Indochina War (1946-54). The Legion paratroopers had conducted operations around Hanoi, as well as in remote, forested areas along the Vietnam-China border. They were the first legionnaires to wear the green beret that was adopted by the entire Legion a decade later.

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