50 years ago, on May 24, 1976, a helicopter transporting Foreign Legion elements crashed during a military exercise in the Horn of Africa. Six legionnaires died immediately; another two died from their injuries later. At the time, this was the deadliest day for the Legion since the end of the Algerian War in 1962. Although largely forgotten today, even in France, this sad event and its victims should be remembered.
PHOTOS: A Legionnaire’s Photographs from My Tho, French Indochina, 1947–1949
This is a new part in our PHOTOS series. Once again, we turn to French Indochina — this time to southern Vietnam in the late 1940s. The photographs presented here were shared with us by a French reader whose grandfather, Emile Louis André, served there with the Foreign Legion. His granddaughter, Ms. Alcina Machado, provided some basic details about his service, while the rest had to be researched or pieced together from the photographs themselves. She also shared a few lines about her grandfather’s life, giving us a glimpse into the personal story of one of the tens of thousands of legionnaires who were deployed to the First Indochina War (1946–1954).
Read morePHOTOS: A Legionnaire’s Photographs from My Tho, French Indochina, 1947–1949
65 Years Ago: Military Revolt Failed
65 years ago, in late April 1961, a military revolt failed in Algeria, then an integral part of France in North Africa. The revolt became one of the most controversial events in France’s modern history. The Foreign Legion actively participated, and the consequences of this failed coup affected the Legion for many years to come.
55 Years Ago: A Campaign Ended in Africa
55 years ago, in late 1970, the last men of the French Foreign Legion returned from Central Africa, where they had been deployed as part of Operation Limousin in Chad – the first French operation of this scale since the end of the Algerian War. For the Legion, playing the leading role, it confirmed its ability to conduct prolonged interventions far from its bases, under demanding conditions and with limited resources. This website is the first medium, in France and beyond, to offer a complete and detailed study of the Legion’s involvement in this campaign.
155 years ago: A war ended in France
155 years ago, in mainland France in early 1871, a tragic conflict with German states ended. For the Foreign Legion, the war marked a significant moment: for the first time in their history, the legionnaires fought on French soil. However, they had to face harsh conditions, bitter cold, and a war that was already lost.
160 years ago: A tragic battle in Mexico
160 years ago, in northern Mexico in early March 1866, a column of legionnaires charged toward a fortified hacienda. What followed was one of the most controversial battles in the history of the Foreign Legion. A few hours later, nearly all men were dead or captured.
50 Years Ago: The Foreign Legion’s First Counterterrorism Operation
In early February 1976, two French Foreign Legion units participated in an counterterrorism operation to rescue 31 French children kidnapped by Somali militants in the Horn of Africa. The extraordinary operation constitutes a significant episode in the history of the French Foreign Legion.
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10 Years Ago: 2016 Mountain Training Tragedy at Valfréjus
Ten years ago, in January 2016, a group of 52 cadres and legionnaires from the French Foreign Legion’s 2nd Foreign Engineer Regiment (2e REG) arrived in the mountains near Valfréjus, a ski resort in the Savoie department in eastern France, for an initial mountain adaptation course. This is a routine training meant to prepare units for operations in harsh, high-altitude conditions. What began as a standard exercise, turned into the deadliest loss the regiment had faced since its creation.
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55 Years Ago: The Creation of the Only Combined Engineer–Legion Battalion Ever to Serve in France
55 years ago, in early January 1971, a combined battalion was formed to bring together Foreign Legion pioneers and sappers of the French Army Engineer Corps. Its mission was to build the largest live-fire military training range in Western Europe. The battalion later built or modernized several other French military training areas, which are still regularly used today – not only by legionnaires.
70 years ago: Foreign Legion airborne regiment was deactivated
70 years ago, in late November 1955, a Foreign Legion airborne regiment was deactivated in Algeria after training and supplying drafts for hard-fighting Legion parachute battalions in Indochina. Although a largely overlooked formation today, almost every Legion paratrooper who fought in the First Indochina War passed through its ranks.
Read more70 years ago: Foreign Legion airborne regiment was deactivated
100 years ago: A heroic battle in Lebanon
100 years ago, in the Middle East in late November 1925, the French Foreign Legion cavalrymen held a fortress in a Lebanese village, then besieged by thousands of Druze fighters. For the Legion cavalrymen, the battle became their own “Camerone”, a last-stand defense carried through to the very end.