French Foreign Legion information. An online project dedicated to the famous Foreign Legion.
In early February 2025, a platoon of enlisted volunteers from the French Foreign Legion’s 4th Foreign Regiment (4e RE) completed their initial four-week instruction on a remote farm and were entitled to take the oath, earn the White kepi (Képi blanc), and be called legionnaires.
Read more4e RE: 2025 Remise de Kepi blanc in Avignonet-Lauragais
Christmas Eve marks the second most important holiday in the French Foreign Legion. Before the actual celebrations, each Foreign Legion regiment organizes Christmas challenges. The challenges help to maintain cohesion within the units and provide a bit of fun for their hard-working men. See several images taken in different Foreign Legion regiments during the Christmas challenges that took place in late 2024.
The 46th edition of the Foreign Legion Half Marathon (13 miles / 21 km) was held in Castelnaudary (Southern France) on Saturday, October 5, 2024. As usual, the sporting event was organized by the 4th Foreign Regiment (4e RE), training school of the Legion.
Every year, the 4th Foreign Regiment (4e RE) organizes an exceptional bycycle touring race. This unique event brings together passionate cyclists and supporters from different Foreign Legion regiments, united by a common goal: to support the veterans and wounded of the Legion. See a video.
With the conflict in Ukraine, a long-neglected component of Western armies, artillery, has once again stepped to the fore. It might come as a surprise to many Foreign Legion enthusiasts that a 1920 law allowed the Foreign Legion to establish, along with a cavalry regiment, also a separate artillery regiment. Equally surprising might be the fact that, in 1941, the legionnaires probably served in as many as 11 artillery batteries at the same time. The last of these units were disbanded 80 years ago, in 1944.
Read more80 years ago: Foreign Legion’s last artillery batteries were disbanded
See some images from the military exercise which was organized by the 4th Foreign Regiment (4e RE) in southern France in late May 2024.
60 years ago, deep in the Algerian Sahara in late April 1964, an entire Foreign Legion regiment was disbanded, victim of the reorganization of the French army after the end of the Algerian War (1956-62). Activated in French North Africa in late 1920 and given the nickname the “Regiment of Morocco,” its units fought in Morocco, Tunisia, Madagascar, Indochina, Mauritania, Spanish Sahara, and Algeria. In 1980, its number, history, and traditions were taken over by the training regiment of the Legion in Castelnaudary.
Read more60 years ago: Foreign Legion’s Regiment of Morocco was disbanded
On April 30, 2024, the French Foreign Legion celebrated the 161st anniversary of the 1863 Battle of Camerone, an epic moment in its history. The celebrations were held across the regiments in France and abroad. See images.
In early April 2024, a platoon of enlisted volunteers from the French Foreign Legion’s 4th Foreign Regiment (4e RE) completed the initial four-week instruction and were allowed to take the oath. The ceremony took place exceptionally on April 4 in Monaco, a sovereign city-state and constitutional monarchy located on the French Riviera. It was presided over by Prince Albert II, head of state, and General Youchtchenko, head of the Foreign Legion.
Watch a short documentary film produced by VA+, the online media branch of the Valeurs Actuelles (“Current Values”), a French conservative weekly magazine. The reporter, Antoine You, visited the 4th Foreign Regiment (4e RE) in Castelnaudary and tried to understand how the Foreign Legion integrates members of dozens of different nationalities coming from all over the world.
Read more4e RE: A 2023 short documentary on the Foreign Legion’s method of integration
In most English-speaking countries, November 11 is known as Veterans Day or Remembrance Day, honoring military veterans and those who have died in the line of duty. In France, this day is still known as Armistice Day, in memory of the 1918 armistice signed between the Allies and Germany that ended World War I. Since 2012, all those who died for France have also been commemorated during Armistice Day. The French Foreign Legion participates annually in those ceremonies. See images.