French Foreign Legion information. An online project dedicated to the famous Foreign Legion.
In late February 1933, a violent battle took place in what was then the French protectorate in Morocco, during one of the last stages of France’s pacification of the country. Men from four mounted companies of the Foreign Legion actively participated in the battle.
Read more90 years ago: A violent battle took place in the mountains of Morocco
On March 1, 1948, on the road from Saigon to Dalat in French Indochina, a French military convoy was ambushed by the Viet Minh. As soon as the first shots were fired, Lieutenant Colonel Gabriel Brunet de Sairigné, a popular French Foreign Legion officer, was fatally wounded. In him, the French Army lost one of the youngest commanding officers in its history; he had just turned 35. The following article was written in his memory.
Read moreLieutenant Colonel Gabriel Brunet de Sairigné (1913 – 1948)
Another part of the PHOTOS series. Enjoy beautiful photographs of legionnaires in Syria. Most of these rare pictures were taken in 1930. At the time, the men were serving there with the 8th Battalion, 1st Foreign Infantry Regiment (1er REI, now 1er RE).
Between late January and mid-February 2023, men of the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e REI) were going through a tough training in the Creuse department in Central France, culminating in an open field exercise. See images.
Ten years ago, during a battle with local rebels in Mali, West Africa, Staff Sergeant Harold Vormezeele was killed. He was a member of the commando group with the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP).
Read more10 years ago: Staff Sergeant Harold Vormezeele was killed in Mali
In January 2023, a class of the Saint-Cyr Special Military School (ESM), France’s most prestigious military academy, partook in an exercise in Corsica. There, the future officers trained alongside legionnaires of the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP), also a prestigious unit within the French Army.
Before their deployment to Estonia, one of the Baltic states in Northeastern Europe, a company of the 13th Foreign Legion Demi-Brigade (13e DBLE) went through an intensive training in Germany, alongside their colleagues from the Queen’s Royal Hussars of the British Army, in January 2023. See the video.
Watch an awesome interview released by POVCAST in late January 2023, with Senior Corporal Johnny Leggett telling his experiences serving in the Foreign Legion, including his training and deployments. Born in Scotland, United Kingdom, Johnny joined the Legion in 1979, when he was 21, and left it after 15 years of service, in 1994.
In early February 1908, an unexpected severe snowstorm surprised a Foreign Legion company on the edge of the Sahara, during their march to a remote military post at the Algeria-Morocco border. Within hours, the unmerciful element decimated the unit. Many legionnaires died, others had to undergo amputation of their frozen extremities.
Read more115 years ago: Foreign Legion’s company decimated by a severe snowstorm
See a new video published by the official French Foreign Legion YT channel. It shows legionnaires of the 13th Foreign Legion Demi-Brigade (13e DBLE) during a winter training at Camp Larzac, their home base in Southern France.
Today, we present another part of the DOCUMENTS series. It’s a rare military service certificate issued more than a hundred years earlier than the previous certificate, in mid-1856, shortly after the end of the Crimean War.
Read moreDOCUMENTS: 1856 1er RLE 1st Foreign Legion Military service certificate