The 30th of April 2023 marked the 160th anniversary of the 1863 Battle of Camerone, an epic moment in the history of the French Foreign Legion in which its 65 men faced some 2,000 Mexican adversaries. The famous battle is portrayed as a pure example of bravery and the determination to fight to the finish, and gave the Legion its character and esprit de corps. Therefore, Camerone Day became the most important holiday for all current or former members of this exceptional military unit. See 2023 Camerone Day pictures from several Legion regiments.
2022 Legion Christmas nativity scenes
Christmas Eve marks the second most important holiday within the French Foreign Legion, traditionally a pro-Catholic institution. Thus, for that day, legionnaires in all units of the Legion create original nativity scenes and compete to see which one is the nicest and most original. This Legion tradition is unique within the French Army.
2e REG: 2022 Saint Barbara Day
On December 8, 2022, the men of the 2nd Foreign Engineer Regiment (2e REG) celebrated 2022 Saint Barbara Day, their holiday. Saint Barbara (Sainte-Barbe in French) is known as the patron saint of French military engineers and firefighters.
2e REG: 2022 Mission Lynx in Estonia
Legionnaires of the French Foreign Legion’s 2nd Foreign Engineer Regiment (2e REG) are currently deployed to Estonia, a Baltic state in Northern Europe, for four months. They serve there as part of NATO’s Baltic enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) to protect and reassure NATO’s member state of its security.
1er RE, 2e REG: 2022 Bastille Day Military Parade in Marseille
See images from Marseille, Southern France, from July 14, 2022, when a Foreign Legion detachment paraded there. It consisted of elements provided by the same two regiments that also took part in the 2022 Bastille Day Military Parade in Paris on the same day: the 1st Foreign Regiment (1er RE) and the 2nd Foreign Engineer Regiment (2e REG).
Read more1er RE, 2e REG: 2022 Bastille Day Military Parade in Marseille
2022 Bastille Day Military Parade
The 14th of July marks the French national day, Bastille Day. As usual, a large military parade took place in Paris to celebrate that most important holiday. As every year, the French Foreign Legion participated. See images.
Foreign Legion: 2022 Camerone Day
On April 30, 2022, the French Foreign Legion commemorated the 159th anniversary of the Battle of Camerone, a crucial moment in their history. The battle is portrayed as a pure example of bravery and the determination to fight to the finish. Camerone Day is therefore the most important day of the year for all current or former legionnaires. After two years of involuntary banning, the French Foreign Legion was once again allowed to commemorate the event publicly. See 2022 Camerone Day images from several Legion regiments.
2e REG: March 2022 Mountain Training
The 2nd Foreign Engineer Regiment (2e REG), the youngest regiment of the French Foreign Legion, is a unit that trains its men for mountain warfare. See some nice images from the March 2022 training in the French Alps.
2e REG: Exercise Cerces 2021
In late November 2021, legionnaires from the 2nd Foreign Engineer Regiment (2e REG) of the French Foreign Legion participated in Cerces 2021, an annual mountain warfare exercise held in the French Alps in Savoie, a department in southeastern France.
Foreign Legion: 2021 Armistice Day
The 11th of November marks Armistice Day in France. That day the entire nation commemorate the end of hostilities of World War I. Thus last Thursday, on November 11, the French Foreign Legion – as well as the rest of the French Armed Forces – commemorated the 103rd Armistice Day, and remembered the 36,000 legionnaires and foreign volunteers being killed or wounded during the war. See the photos.
2e REG: 2021 Mine detection in Mali
In August 2021, a route clearance group of legionnaires from the French Foreign Legion’s 2nd Foreign Engineer Regiment (2e REG) was involved in a mine detection mission in Mali, West Africa, in support of a French military logistics convoy. One of them, a 21-year-old legionnaire named Oleksandr, from Eastern Europe, detected an explosive device set there by local terrorists.