French Foreign Legion information. An online project dedicated to the famous Foreign Legion.
If you are interested in the French Foreign Legion, you can watch some rare and interesting French documentaries from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, recently posted on YT, showing the then Legion and legionnaires.
Read moreForeign Legion: Old documentaries – 1er RE, 13e DBLE, 1er REC, 2e REI
In late July 2020, a Change of Command ceremony took place at Camp Larzac, the military base of the 13th Foreign Legion Half Brigade (13e DBLE), currently the last surviving “half-brigade” (demi-brigade) within the French Army.
In July 2020, Krzysztof Schramm, a Polish historian and an honorary member of Poland’s French Foreign Legion Veterans and Friends’ Association released a second edition of memories of Zygmunt Jatczak, most likely the last-known surviving Polish veteran of the First Indochina War (1946-54).
Read moreZygmunt Jatczak & Krzysztof Schramm: Niczego nie żałuję (Je ne regrette rien)
In June 2020, the 4th Company of the 13th Foreign Legion Half Brigade (13e DBLE) carried out a training course in France’s tropical commando training center (CNEF) in Martinique. See some images.
As the other regiments of the French Foreign Legion in 2020, even the 13th Foreign Legion Half Brigade (13e DBLE) have deployed several of its companies overseas, including the “Cheetahs” of the 2nd Combat Company. The latter returned back to the former homeland of the 13e DBLE, Djibouti in the Horn of Africa. See some images.
In 2020, at least three compagnies of the 13th Foreign Legion Half Brigade (13e DBLE) are to be deployed overseas this year, according to their commanding officer, Colonel Jacques Bouffard. Two of them will serve in Africa.
Read more13e DBLE: Three companies to deploy overseas in 2020
The paratroopers of the French Foreign Legion, together with French elite counter-terrorism policemen and cavalrymen of the Legion’s 13th Half-brigade, participated in a hostage rescue mission 44 years ago, in early February 1976. The mission to rescue 31 French children kidnapped by local militants took place at Loyada, a small border village in then French Somaliland, today’s Djibouti (Horn of Africa). See more information.
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.
In late July 2019, marksmen of the French Foreign Legion’s 13th Half Brigade (13e DBLE) won the U.S. Army’s 2019 European Best Sniper Team Competition that took place at Grafenwoehr, Germany. The legionnaires became the winners among 32 teams from 16 countries being involved in the contest.
Read more13e DBLE: Foreign Legion marksmen win US Army Europe sniper contest
On the 14th July 2019, Foreign Legion regiments participated in ceremonies in their garrison towns to celebrate the French National Day (called Bastille Day in the English-speaking world). See some nice images.
Legionnaires of the 13th Foreign Legion Half Brigade (13e DBLE) are currently being deployed for four months to Réunion, an island and an overseas department of France in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar. They formed a rotational infantry company of the 2nd Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment (2e RPIMa) there, to maintain order in the region.