French Foreign Legion information. An online project dedicated to the famous Foreign Legion.
A new part of the PHOTOS series. Enjoy rare photographies which present the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Camerone that was commemorated in Aubagne in 1963, within the new HQ of the Foreign Legion and the 1st Foreign Regiment (1er RE). In fact, it was also the very first Camerone Day celebrated in France and not in Algeria’s Sidi Bel Abbes.
Read morePHOTOS: 100th Anniversary of the Battle of Camerone in Aubagne in 1963
PHOTOS series. See a set of rare pictures showing a peloton of the Algerian Mounted Company, the last mule-mounted company that served in France’s Algeria. The rare pictures belonged to Lieutenant Georges Mafteiu, the peloton leader, and were taken in the Algeria-Morocco borderlands in the early 1930s.
Read morePHOTOS: Lieutenant Mafteiu and Algerian Mounted Company in the early 1930s
Another part of the PHOTOS series. Enjoy beautiful photographies which show legionnaires in Syria. The rare pictures were taken mostly in 1930. At the time, the men served there with the 8th Battalion, 1st Foreign Infantry Regiment (1er REI, now 1er RE).
Another part of the PHOTOS series. Today, the article is dedicated to the color guard of the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e REI) in Algeria, North Africa, in the early 1900s; back then, the unit was still known as the 2nd Foreign Regiment (2e Etranger, 2e RE).
Read morePHOTOS: 2nd Foreign Regiment’s Color Guard in the early 1900s
Again the PHOTOS series. This time, a set of rare pictures of the 2nd Foreign Legion Medium Repair Company (2e CMRLE), one of the six maintenance & repair companies of the Legion that participated in the First Indochina War (1946-1954).
This time I would like to share with you a very rare picture showing a sergeant serving as a platoon leader with the 1st Legion Saharan Motorized Company (1re CSPL) in the Sahara of Eastern Algeria, in the late 1950s. The unit was stationed at Fort Flatters at the time, an old French military post located close to the border with Libya. What’s rare in that picture is the insignia/badge worn by this NCO, above the company one.
Read morePHOTOS: 1re CSPL Platoon Leader badge in the Saharan Desert in 1958
Today is exactly ten years and ten days since the first post was published on this website. This is the reason to share a slightly rarer picture in the PHOTOS series. Thus, here comes one of the rarest ones found in my archive.
Summer holidays are over and thus it’s time to share again some historical pictures of the French Foreign Legion. This time, those related to the pre-WWII 3rd Company, 4th Foreign Infantry Regiment (4e REI). A direct heir to the famous 3rd Company, 1st Battalion, Foreign Regiment that participated in the legendary 1863 Battle of Camerone.
Here is a small set of photos taken at Bou Sfer, Algeria, in late 1963. They present legionnaires of the prestigious 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP), stationed there at the time, during their advanced training.
Here is a small set of photos taken in Morocco, North Africa, in 1954. They are showing legionnaires of the 2nd Motorized Company (2e CP) of the Foreign Legion Moroccan Motorized Group (GPLEM) in Taroudant. The photos were provided to our website by Krzysztof Schramm, historian of the A.A.A.L.E. de Pologne veteran association and the author of I regret nothing.
Read morePHOTOS: 2nd Motorized Company GPLEM in Taroudant, Morocco, in 1954
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.