Legionnaires of the French Foreign Legion’s 2nd Foreign Engineer Regiment (2e REG) are currently deployed to Estonia, a Baltic state in Northern Europe, for four months. They serve there as part of NATO’s Baltic enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) to protect and reassure NATO’s member state of its security.
3e REI: 2022 Fourragere Day
As usual in September, the French Foreign Legion’s 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment (3e REI) celebrated the regimental holiday, called Fourragere Day. See the nice images of this important event.
PHOTOS: 1er RE Adjudants around 1900
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.
2e REP: 2022 Exercise Manticore
Between September 12 and October 10, 2022, the French Army is conducting a large-scale military exercise, called Manticore. It takes place in several departments of south-central France, including Aveyron and Puy-de-Dôme. Among the more than 3,000 soldiers participating in the exercise are legionnaires from the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP), the only airborne unit of the current French Foreign Legion.
90 years ago: The deadliest accident ever experienced by the Foreign Legion
90 years ago, on September 14, 1932, a disaster occurred in North Africa’s Algeria, home to the French Foreign Legion at the time. A train carrying a detachment of the 1st Foreign Regiment derailed and crashed into a ravine. Dozens of legionnaires were killed in the accident, more than two hundred legionnaires were wounded. Yet, the sad event has almost been forgotten.
Read more90 years ago: The deadliest accident ever experienced by the Foreign Legion
2e REI: 2022 Activities in Djibouti
Since June 2022, a company of the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e REI) is deployed to Djibouti, Horn of Africa, to form part of the French garrison there. See some images of the unit’s activities…
45 years ago: The last operational battalion of the Foreign Legion was disbanded
In 1969, the legionnaires deployed to Chad in Central Africa to carry out their first combat action since 1962, when the Algerian War ended. The events in Chad demonstrated that in the new post-colonial era and with a dramatically reduced army, France still needed forces capable of intervening rapidly everywhere around the world. And that the considerable downsizing the Foreign Legion after the war in Algeria was not the best idea. Thus, a new operational force consisting of legionnaires would be created in 1971 and serve until 1977…
Read more45 years ago: The last operational battalion of the Foreign Legion was disbanded
13e DBLE: 2022 Change of Command
At Camp Larzac, home to the 13th Foreign Legion Half Brigade (13e DBLE), a change of command ceremony took place on August 30, 2022. During the ceremony, Colonel Aubry was replaced by Colonel Thomas Riou who became the new commanding officer of the regiment.
PHOTOS: 3rd “Camerone” Company, 4e REI
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.
1er REC: First French Army operational unit to receive EBRC Jaguar vehicles
On 23 August 2022, the Foreign Legion’s 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment (1er REC) received officially their first EBRC Jaguar armored vehicles of the new generation. The regiment became the very first operational unit of the French Army to get them.
Read more1er REC: First French Army operational unit to receive EBRC Jaguar vehicles
2e REP: 5th Company men visited a local tribe in New Caledonia
The 5th Company of the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP), the only airborne unit of the current French Foreign Legion, has been deployed to New Caledonia since June 2022. In this special overseas collectivity of France located east of Australia, in the Pacific Ocean, the Legion paratroopers carry out several tasks.
Read more2e REP: 5th Company men visited a local tribe in New Caledonia