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.
38 years ago: 1982 Mont Garbi Accident
38 years ago, on 3 February 1982, a common French military exercise had to take place in Djibouti, a country in the Horn of Africa. In the morning, a French Foreign Legion airborne platoon were lined up at a French air base. It was their only 10th day in Africa. The Legion paratroopers were ordered to carry out a routine training jump over a drop zone located nord-west of the capital. The legionnaires boarded their aircraft and took off…
Foreign Legion: 2019 Armistice Day
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.