French Foreign Legion information. An online project dedicated to the famous Foreign Legion.
The latest part in our series on interesting photographs presents an exceptionally rare collection depicting members of the first officially established Saharan unit of the French Foreign Legion, spanning from mid-1939 to the weeks following the Allied landings in North Africa in late 1942. These images include the only publicly known photographs of a Foreign Legion Saharan unit taken before the Second World War.
Read morePHOTOS: Foreign Legion Saharan Battery from 1939 to 1942
On May 8, 2025, Foreign Legion units took part in the celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe. Honor guards from various regiments participated in ceremonies held primarily in their garrison towns, with several detachments also representing the Legion in other cities across their regions. Below are images from this year’s commemorations.
Between 1939 and 1945, the French Foreign Legion men saw nearly every front of the Second World War – from Norway and France to North Africa, the Middle East, Italy, mainland Europe, and the jungles of Indochina. They fought under both Vichy and Free French command in some of the war’s most challenging campaigns. Our new article traces the Legion’s complex role during the war, its internal transformations, battlefield engagements, and the legacy it carried into the postwar world.
Read more80 years ago: Second World War ended for legionnaires in Europe