French Foreign Legion information. An online project dedicated to the famous 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
Created in 1831, the French Foreign Legion is an integral part of the French (Land) Army (Armée de Terre) and thus an element of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces. In 2024, the Foreign Legion is composed of almost 9,500 officers, NCOs, and legionnaires, comprising around 150 nationalities from all over the world. They represent 12% of France’s Land Operational Force (FOT).
In November 2023, Brigadier-chief Manuel Da Costa left the French Foreign Legion, reaching the age limit of 62 years for an active soldier. With 44 years of service, this senior corporal was the longest-serving active member not only of the Legion, but also of the entire French Armed Forces.
For the French Foreign Legion, seen as a traditional pro-Catholic institution in France (unlike the rest of the French Army), Christmas Eve marks the second most important holiday. To celebrate it, legionnaires in all units of the Foreign Legion – regardless of their origin and religious – create nativity scenes (crèches) every year and compete to see which one is the nicest and most original. The scenes can be small, static ones, or performed live with hand-made scenery. This long-standing Legion tradition is unique within the French Army. If you are interested, see some of the nativity scenes created by legionnaires in December 2023.
Another year is coming to a close, having passed by at an unbelievably rapid pace. Another year in a row, the eleventh since 2012, when the FOREIGNLEGION INFO online project was launched. And thus, this is the right time for another annual summary.
I can’t believe it is again the end of the year. It seems like yesterday that I was posting the 2022 annual summary. I hope that all of you, dear readers, are ready to celebrate the coming Christmas festivities. On behalf of the whole FOREIGNLEGION INFO website, I sincerely thank you for your unwavering support, and wish you a merry Christmas (Joyeux Noël in France/the Legion) and happy and relaxing holidays, with a glass (or two) of something good to drink!
As usual, also this year the French Foreign Legion regiments organize sports competitions for its men, as part of the coming Christmas festivities. This includes the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e REI), which organized its Christmas cross country run this week, close to Nimes, its garrison in Southern France. See images.
75 years ago, in late 1948, another airborne unit of the Foreign Legion was officially activated in France’s North Africa. Like its older sister unit, even the new one was to take part in the First Indochina War (1946-1954) in Southeast Asia. It would distinguish itself and become the most decorated French Army battalion to have fought there. Subsequently, back in North Africa, the unit transformed into a regiment, which would later be known as one of the best trained and action-ready operational formations in the world.
Read more75 years ago: Second airborne unit of the Foreign Legion in North Africa was born
See an official reportage published by the French Army that covers the trip of a platoon with the 5th Company, 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP) to a remote village in New Caledonia, Pacific Ocean. The week-long trip occurred in September 2023, during the unit’s standard four-month deployment to this special overseas collectivity of France.
In early December 2023, French Foreign Legion combat engineers with the 1st Foreign Engineer Regiment (1er REG) and the 2nd Foreign Engineer Regiment (2e REG) commemorated once again their patron, Saint Barbara (Sainte Barbe in French).
The French Foreign Legion has published another useful video starring Major Gérald, the highest-ranking NCO serving as head of the Sports Office, 1st Foreign Regiment (1er RE) in Aubagne. In this new video, he shares his secret tips for better strengthening of abdominal muscles.
Read moreMajor Gérald: Secret tips for more effective abdominal exercises