In late July 2023, General Alain Lardet left after three years the Foreign Legion Command (COMLE) to be replaced by General Cyrille Youchtchenko, the new commander-in-chief of the Legion.
2022 Foreign Legion Veterans Institution
See a French Army official documentary dedicated to the Foreign Legion Disabled Veterans Institution (IILE) based at Puyloubier, Southern France. The documentary was published on the Army’s official YouTube channel in late 2022.
2022 Legion Christmas nativity scenes
Christmas Eve marks the second most important holiday within the French Foreign Legion, traditionally a pro-Catholic institution. Thus, for that day, legionnaires in all units of the Legion create original nativity scenes and compete to see which one is the nicest and most original. This Legion tradition is unique within the French Army.
140 years ago: A fierce battle with local rebels in North Africa
In North Africa in late April 1882, in a borderland territory which separated Algeria from Morocco, a surveying expedition under the command of Captain de Castries was returning from survey work at the Chott Tigri depression. Escorted by two companies of the Legion, the column was attacked by more than 2,000 local insurgents. The escort, whose strength was no more than 350 men, was fighting one against six. At the end of the seven-hour battle, two officers and 49 legionnaires had been killed.
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PHOTOS: Algerian War 1954-1962
Sixty years ago – on March 19, 1962 – the Algerian War ended. One of the decolonization movements that affected the Western empires after World War II, the Algerian War took place between 1954 and 1962 in Algeria, the then French department situated in North Africa. The war was fought between the French armed forces and the National Liberation Army (ALN), the armed wing of the National Liberation Front (FLN). The French Foreign Legion, firmly established in Algeria since 1831, took an important part in the conflict, as the main core of the French intervention forces. Officially, the Legion lost 65 officers, 278 NCOs, and 1,633 legionnaires in action. See over 30 iconic pictures to commemorate the war and those who fought in it on the Legion side.
French Foreign Legion and Ukraine
Last week, the commander-in-chief of the French Foreign Legion made an address to his Ukrainian legionnaires and their families, in view of the current sad conflict in their country.
History: Learn about the predecessor to the French Foreign Legion
Learn about an infantry regiment of the French Army consisting of foreign volunteers that served as the predecessor to the current French Foreign Legion. It was constituted by a 1815 royal decree, after the defeat of Napoleon I at Waterloo, to replace the eight foreign regiments serving in Napoleon’s army. After its dissolution in early 1831, the unit was replaced by the Foreign Legion.
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JOINING: PCR test no older than 24 hours is required to join the Foreign Legion
Since late January 2022, a new rule for joining the French Foreign Legion has been applied. A PCR test no older than 24 hours is required now to enter the recruting centers and begin the selection process. According to the recruiting officers of the Legion, this new rule applies for all candidates from all countries, regardless of the degree of risk of infection, even for vaccinated individuals and people who have recently recovered from Covid.
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Second World War: A little-known story about the very first para-legionnaires
Officially, the very first Foreign Legion airborne unit appeared during the First Indochina War in 1948. However, the history of the legionnaires paratroopers started much earlier: in North Africa during the Second World War.
Read moreSecond World War: A little-known story about the very first para-legionnaires