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 REP: 5th Company men train in Australia
In mid-August 2021, a detachment from the French Armed Forces in New Caledonia (FANC) went to Australia to participate in Exercise Diamond Dagger. The detachment is composed of two officers and 26 legionnaires from the French Foreign Legion’s 5th Company, 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP), the youngest combat company of the regiment, specialized in desert warfare. They have been to New Caledonia on the four-month Short-duration Mission (MCD).
2e REP: A rare 1992 documentary
See an exceptional documentary dedicated to the French Foreign Legion’s 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP), produced by the regiment itself in late 1992. Posted on the official channel of the Foreign Legion, the documentary covers the whole period of the 2e REP, since its creation until the early 1990s. It contains rare, interesting old images. Enjoy.
Documentary: 2e REP and Kolwezi 1978
Watch an old French documentary dedicated to the legionnaires from the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP) who participated in the 1978 Battle of Kolwezi in the then Republic of Zaire, Central Africa.
2e REP: 1st Company in New Caledonia 2021
Currently, legionnaires from the 1st Company of the French Foreign Legion’s 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP) are being deplyed to New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean, situated some 750 miles (1,200 km) east of Australia.
45 years ago: The very first anti-terrorist mission for the Foreign Legion
In early February 1976, two French Foreign Legion units participated in their very first anti-terrorist mission to rescue 31 French children kidnapped by Pan-Somali militants in the Horn of Africa. Although it was such an exceptional operation for them, the legionnaires did well.
Read more45 years ago: The very first anti-terrorist mission for the Foreign Legion
39th Anniversary: A Foreign Legion airborne platoon perished in Djibouti in February 1982
39 years ago, in early February 1982, a common French military exercise had to take place in Djibouti, a country in the Horn of Africa. A French Foreign Legion airborne platoon was to participate. The Legion paratroopers were ordered to carry out a routine training jump over a drop zone located nord-west of the capital. They boarded their aircraft and took off…
Read more39th Anniversary: A Foreign Legion airborne platoon perished in Djibouti in February 1982
2e REP: 2020 Wessex Storm in England
Between November 2 and December 12, 2020, yearly joint military manoeuvres called Wessex Storm take place on Salisbury Plain in Wessex, southern England. The six-week manoeuvres have to confirm the skills and readiness of the 2 PARA Battlegroup, the British Army’s leading response force, assigned to the 16 Air Assault Brigade. During the 2020 Wessex Storm exercise, a company of the French Foreign Legion’s 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP) and a US Army platoon have been included into the British battlegroup.
2e REP: 2020 Saint Michael Day kickboxing
In late September 2020, a regimental challenge was organized as usual at Calvi in Corsica by the Foreign Legion’s 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP). The challenge is a traditional part of the festivities in commemoration of Saint Michael the Archangel (the patron of all French paratroopers) whose feast falls on September 29. This day also marks the 2e REP’s holiday.