After a series of terrorist attacks in France in late 2020, a platoon of the 1st Foreign Engineer Regiment (1er REG) was put on alert. Not long afterwards, the unit reinforced French troops in Nice (southern France) to guard the city.
2e REI: 2021 Mission CORYMBE
In early February 2021, a new Mission CORYMBE began for legionnaires of the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e REI). The legionnaires will cruise along the coastline of West Africa, between Senegal and Gabon. The mission will last about two to three months.
Foreign Legion: 2020 Armistice Day
As every year since 1918, even on this 11 November the different regiments of the French Foreign Legion were commemorating the end of World War I and paying honor to the veterans and the dead. Known as Remembrance Day (or Veterans Day) in mostly English-speaking countries, the Armistice Day is highly regarded in France.
1er REC+1er REG: Visit from General Lardet
In late October 2020, the French Foreign Legion’s commander-in-chief, General Alain Lardet, came to visit the cavalrymen from the 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment (1er REC) at their Camp Carpiagne near Marseille and combat engineers from the 1st Foreign Engineer Regiment (1er REG) at their base in Laudun.
2020 Operation Amitie in Lebanon
In early August 2020, Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, was affected by devastating explosions. The center of the capital was heavily damaged; over 200 people died, more than 6,000 were wounded. In response to the disaster, France sent an important aid and military assistance to Lebanon in mid-August, boarded on a French ship Tonnerre and several aircraft, as part of Operation Amitie (Operation Friendship).
1er REG + 2e REG: Mission in Beirut
To reply to the disaster in Beirut, the legionnaires from the 1st Foreign Engineer Regiment (1er REG) and 2nd Foreign Engineer Regiment (2e REG) were alerted and sent to the capital of Lebanon. They arrived there on August 13.
Operation Barkhane: Immersion in the three-border region
See the French Army’s nice report on Foreign Legion military activities in the important three-border region of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, situated in the Sahel area of West Africa, around April-May 2020, aimed at local armed terrorist groups (GAT).
Read moreOperation Barkhane: Immersion in the three-border region
1er REG: Training for fresh legionnaires
In May 2020, fresh legionnaires recently arriving to the 1st Foreign Engineer Regiment (1er REG) after their basic training at Castelnaudary, they took part in an initial regimental instruction at Camp Caylus in southern France.
1er REG + 1er REC: Deployments in 2020
Like the other regiments of the French Foreign Legion, even the 1st Foreign Engineer Regiment (1er REG) and the 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment (1er REC) are to be largely deployed overseas this year.