The 11th of November marks in France the Armistice Day, when the entire nation commemorate the end of hostilities of World War I. As every year, even the French Foreign Legion units commemorated the 101st Armistice Day on November 11, 2019, and remembered the 36,000 legionnaires and foreign volunteers being killed or wounded during the war. See the photos.
DLEM: 1st Company jumping over Mayotte
In mid-September 2019, the 1st Company of the Foreign Legion Detachment in Mayotte (DLEM) jumped for the very first time over the Bandrélé beach in Mayotte, an island in the Indian Ocean and an overseas department and region of France.
2e REP: Saint Michael Day 2019
As every year since 1948, French Foreign Legion paratroopers celebrated the day of Saint Michael the Archangel, their patron. The annual ceremony took place at Camp Raffalli, the regiment’s headquarters located near Calvi, Corsica, on the 29th of September. This day also marks the regimental holiday. See photos.
2e REP: Sarajevo in Yugoslavia 1993
See a rare French Army documentary showing the Foreign Legion’s 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP) during their very first mission taking place in Europe. The sad FORPRONU (UNPROFOR) mission occurred in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina in then Yugoslavia, between December 1992 and July 1993. The second part of the interesting documentary is dedicated to the regiment – its history and its situation, training and military activities in the early 1990s.
Foreign Legion: 2019 Bastille Day
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.
2e REP: Jumping from Airbus A400M
In early July 2019, legionnaires of the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP), the only airborne unit of the French Foreign Legion, were jumping for the very first time from the Airbus A400M, a European modern four-engine military transport aircraft.
2e REP: Operation Barkhane in Mali 2019
See a nice French documentary presenting legionnaires-paratroopers from the Foreign Legion’s 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP) when being deployed in Mali (a country in West Africa) to participate there in the ongoing anti-terrorist Operation Barkhane.
41 years ago: Operation in Kolwezi started
In Corsica on May 17, 1978, legionnaires of the French Foreign Legion’s 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP) were put on alert. Two days later, they jumped over Kolwezi, a city located in then Zaire, Central Africa. They would rescue over 2,000 Europeans captured and held by local rebels. Thanks to the success of the operation and the then international media coverage, the regiment became popular across the world…