French Foreign Legion

The French Legion was created on March 9, 1831 by King Louis Philippe I on the basis of several predecessor regiments . One of these regiments was the Régiment de Hohenlohe under the command of the German prince and French marshal Ludwig Alois von Hohenlohe . This regiment fought for royalists in the Revolutionary Wars and later served the French king Charles X.

Since France planned the colonization of Algeria , it needed significant troops. At that time, many foreigners settled in France, and especially in Paris. With the creation of the Legion, King Louis-Philippe could receive the necessary troops and at the same time reduce the number of “undesirable” sections of the population in the country. Therefore, the next day he issued a law ( la Loi du 9 mars 1831 ) stating that a foreign legion can only be used outside of mainland France. The officers for the new unit were recruited from Napoleon's army, and the natives of Italy, Spain, Switzerland, other European countries, as well as the French, who had problems with the law, were recruited into the soldiers. Then the tradition was laid - not to ask for the name of the recruit.

In November 1854, the Legion took part in the battle of Inkerman in the Crimean War . He was involved in most French colonial wars, and later in peacekeeping missions. The Legion suffered the greatest defeat at the Battle of Dienbyenf (1954).

The day of the glory of the Foreign Legion was April 30, 1863 , when during the Mexican expedition the battle of Cameron took place . The company of legionnaires, under the command of Captain Danju, was tasked with reconnaissance of the Palo Verde area in anticipation of a convoy with guns, siege equipment and three million francs in cash intended for the French troops besieging Puebla . Having advanced after midnight on April 30, the legionnaires clashed with the Mexicans on the same morning. Realizing the indisputable advantage of the Mexicans (1,200 foot soldiers and 800 cavalrymen), Captain Danju and his people occupied a building in a village called Camaron . To ensure the safety of the convoy, the Mexicans needed to be held at all costs. Knowing that they are doomed and only a miracle can save them, the legionnaires gave the floor to stand to the end. For more than ten hours they resisted the army of Mexicans. Despite the proposals to surrender, the legionnaires preferred death to inglorious captivity. Their self-sacrifice allowed the convoy to freely reach Puebla .

Among the famous legionnaires of Russian origin are Zinovy ​​Peshkov ^[2] , Lieutenant General Boris Khreschatitsky ^[3] , writer and anarchist Samuel Schwarzburd ^[4] , future Soviet Minister of Defense Rodion Malinovsky ^[5] , writer Viktor Fink (author of the novel about the legion), Cossack poet Nikolai Turoverov (author of the poem cycle " Legion "). Legionnaires of Russian origin participating in the wars of the French Maghreb had contacts with the local Russian diaspora, participated in divine services and social initiatives of local Orthodox parishes, the question arose of appointing a special Orthodox chaplain for them ^{[6] [7] [8] [9]} .

From the founding until the end of the 1980s, more than 600,000 people from all over the world served under the green-red flag of the Foreign Legion. According to Colonel Morellon, more than 36,000 legionnaires fell in battle during this time.

Campaigns

The foreign legion took part in wars and operations in the following places:

• French Algeria : 1831-1882
• Spain : 1835-1839
• Crimean War : 1853-1856
• Italy : 1859
• Franco-Mexican War (including the Battle of Cameron ): 1863-1867
• Southern Oran ( Algeria ) ^[10] : 1882-1907
• Tonkin (Vietnam) ^[11] : 1883-1910
• Formosa ( Taiwan ) ^[10] : 1885
• Dahomey : 1892-1894
• Sudan ^[10] : 1893-1894
• Madagascar ^[11] : 1895-1901
• Morocco ^[10] : 1907-1914
• World War I : 1914-1918
• Middle East : 1914-1918
• Tonkin ( Vietnam ) ^[10] : 1914-1940
• Morocco ^[10] : 1920-1935
• National Liberation Uprising in Syria : 1925-1927
• World War II : 1939-1945
• Indochina war : 1945-1954
• Madagascar Uprising : 1947-1950
• Tunisia War of Independence: 1952-1954
• Morocco War of Independence: 1953-1956
• Algeria : 1954-1961
• The fight against the rebels in Zaire ^[11] : 1978
• Lebanon ^[11] : 1982-1983
• Gulf War , capture of Iraqi Al Salman airport: 1991
• UN Peacekeeping Operation in Somalia , Bosnia : 1992-1996
• Kosovo : 1999
• Mali : 2013
• Iraq : 2016

Today, the legion is used where the French state defends its interests within the framework of NATO or the European Union, has historical responsibilities (such as Côte d'Ivoire ) or where French citizens are in danger. He obeys, as in 1831, only one person: the French head of state, today - the president.

Nowadays, the legion is not used to wage war, as before, but mainly to prevent military operations within the framework of missions under the auspices of the UN or NATO (e.g., Bosnia , Kosovo , Afghanistan ), to maintain peace, to evacuate people from war regions, to provide humanitarian assistance, to restore infrastructure (for example, in Lebanon and after the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia ). Along with this, the legion is ready to conduct special operations, such as fighting in the jungle, at night, against terrorists and to free the hostages.

According to German sources, after World War II, 60 to 80% of the legionnaires were Germans ^{[12] [13] [14]} (although the famous military historian Bernard Fall believed that their number was unlikely to ever exceed 35% ^[15] ) in 2006, the Germans made up only 2% of the personnel. Eastern Europeans form the largest group (about one third) among the legionnaires. A quarter are South Americans. A fifth of the legionnaires are actually the French, who received a new identity (that is, name, documents, citizenship) and are now registered as Canadians, Belgians , Luxembourgers or Monegasques .

The Legion has 9 recruitment offices in France (PRLE), 1 pre-selection center in Paris (PILE Nord und Center de Présélection Nord) and a selection center in Oban ^[16] , which operate around the clock. Recruitment for serving in the Legion is prohibited in many countries.

Locations

In the 21st century, units of the legion were deployed in the following places:

• Mayotte Island ^[17] (Comoros)
• UAE ^[17] (Persian Gulf)
• Mururoro Atoll ^[18] (Pacific Ocean)
• Kourou ^[17] ( French Guiana )
• Corsica ^[17]
• France

The Legion consists of tank , infantry , combat engineer units and command. Currently, the Legion consists of seven regiments (including the famous 2nd Airborne Parachute, which includes the GCP Legion Special Forces), one half-brigade and one special unit, as well as a training regiment. The structure also includes the Pioneers of the French Foreign Legion - A ceremonial unit that opens the procession of the Foreign Legion in parades. Pioneers traditionally grow beards, wear aprons from bull skin at parades and carry hatchets on their shoulders.

• 1st Regiment (1 ^e RE), located in the city of Aubagne (Aubagne) 15 km from the city of Marseille (department of the Bouches du Rhone ). On the territory of this regiment is the command of the Foreign Legion (COMLE).
• 1st Cavalry Regiment (1 ^e REC, also known as the Armored Cavalry Foreign Regiment), Orange (Department of Vaucluse ). It is part of the 6th light tank brigade (6 ^e brigade légère blindée). It was originally created in 1921 on the basis of the cavalry of the White Army P.N. Wrangel ^[17] .
• 1st Engineer-Sapper Regiment (1 ^e REG), located on the territory of the commune of Lodan-L'Arduaz ( Vaucluse department ). It is part of the 6th light tank brigade .
• 2nd Engineer-Sapper Regiment (2 ^e REG), located in Saint-Christol (Vaucluse department). It is part of the 27th mining brigade (27e brigade d'infanterie de montagne).
• 2nd Infantry Regiment (2 ^e REI) in Nîmes ( Gard department). It is part of the 6th light tank brigade.
• 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment (3 ^e REI) in Kourou, overseas department of French Guiana . It is part of the French Forces in Guiana (FAG - Forces armées en Guyane).
• 4th Regiment (4 ^e RE) is located in Castelnaudary ( Aude department), a training regiment of the Foreign Legion.
• 2nd Parachute Airborne Regiment (2 ^e REP) in Calvi on about. Corsica ( Upper Corsica Department). It is part of the 11th paratrooper brigade (11 ^e brigade parachutiste). The first airborne units, such as 1ère Régiment Étranger de Parachutistes = 1 ^e REP, were already formed in 1948 in Philipville (now Skikda, Algeria) and fought in Indochina.
• 13th semi-brigade (13 ^e DBLE) in Larzac.
• Separate airborne assault company IL (DLEM) on the Comoros (Mayotte Island, Indian Ocean). It is part of the NE forces in the southern Indian Ocean (FAZSOI - Forces armées de la zone sud de l'océan Indien).

Pre-existing (disbanded) shelves:

• 5th Infantry Regiment (5 RE / 5RMP);
• 1st Parachute Airborne Regiment (1 ^er REP).

Unlike other French military units, only men between the ages of 17 and 40 can sign a contract for service in the legion ^[19] . The only exception is Susan Travers , a woman who officially served in the Foreign Legion with the rank of Adjutant Chef from the mid-1940s to the mid-1950s ^[20] . The first contract is signed for 5 years. Subsequent can be signed for a period of 6 months to 5 years. During the first five-year contract, the legionnaire has the opportunity to receive the rank of corporal , and later the sergeant. To become an officer, you must have French citizenship . The main officers are military personnel who have graduated from military schools and have chosen a legion to serve.

After three years of service, the legionnaire has the right to apply for French citizenship, or to obtain a residence permit at the end of the first contract. According to the law, unanimously adopted by the Senate in 1999, a legionnaire wounded during the fighting has the right to obtain French citizenship regardless of his term of service (Français par le sang versé). Legionnaires have the right to marry if they have restored their true identity (at the request, but not earlier than after one year of service) and have a sergeant rank (e.g. Sergent , Sergent-Chef , Adjudant ), or the rank of corporal Caporal , Caporal-Chef (at, minimum seven-year contract).

In connection with the pension reform that affected the entire French army and legion, including young people who decided to associate their fate with the legion, would have to serve 19 and a half years in order to receive a pension. For those who entered the service before 1996, this period was equal to fifteen years. A legionnaire who has served at least one contract may ask for a place in the house of the "veterans of the legion", founded in 1953 (during the Indochina war) for legionaries wounded in battle.

At the beginning of the history of the Legion, the identity of the volunteers was verified only superficially or not at all. Due to this, many criminals (including former SS servicemen) were able to escape from persecution by entering the Legion. Now candidates are checked for physical fitness, and as for security issues - if there are no problems with Interpol, a person may well be hired. These checks last for several days at a recruiting office, moreover, the candidate is not allowed any relations with the outside world, documents are selected at the entrance. At the end of the test, the candidate is either accepted or paid a small compensation (at the rate of about € 30 per day) ^[21] and denied admission. The legionnaire is optionally given the so-called Anonymat , which contains a new name and surname, new names of parents, place and date of birth. These data are entered in the official passport ( Carte d'identité militaire ) of the legionnaire. Upon leaving the Legion, a residence permit and the possibility of changing two letters in your last name are provided.

It is erroneous that legionnaires are ranked among mercenaries by international law ^{[22] [23]} .

A characteristic feature of the Legion is the absence of a large number of heavy weapons and armored vehicles. The main standard weapon is the FAMAS French assault rifle (German HK416 since 2017), Belgian machine guns FN Minimi , FN MAG or French AA-52 are used for fire support. Snipers use the French FR-F2 sniper rifle, or the American Barrett M82 large-caliber rifle. To combat the enemy’s armored vehicles, the legionnaires use the ATGM Milan . Also in service with the legionnaires is a 120 mm mortar MO-120-RT

Armored vehicles

• BMP AMX-10P - French infantry fighting vehicle of the 1970s. The main armament of the AMX-10R consists of a 20 mm M693 automatic gun mounted externally on the turret and a 7.62 mm machine gun paired with it.
• Wheel tank AMX-10RC - wheeled armored car , armed with a 105 mm rifled gun F2. Intends for the role of a reconnaissance vehicle, capable of also combating enemy armored vehicles .
• VAB armored personnel carrier - French armored personnel carrier, armed with one 7.62-mm machine gun

Foreign legionnaires can be recognized by their white headdress (“Képi blanc”), which, however, wears only ordinary personnel . The color of the beret in the Legion is green ( Béret vert ) and the badge ( Insigne béret ) is worn, as in the entire French army, on the right. The coat of arms of the Legion is a grenade with seven flames.

The colors of the legion are green and red. (Green symbolizes the country, red symbolizes blood. If the unit of the legion is in battle, then the triangular pennant of the Legion is hung so that the red side is at the top: “Blood on the country”).

The motto of the Legion: “The Legion is our fatherland” ( lat. Legio Patria Nostra ). For a more complete implementation of this slogan in the minds of every legionnaire, his contacts with the outside world in the first five years of service are limited and controlled - the Legion really becomes a family and home for the legionary.

In the French foreign legion, all military personnel, from an ordinary legionary to the general, wear the legendary Rangers boots, which have been produced at shoe factories in Marbot (Neuvic), Argueyrolles (Vitre), Bally (Moulins) and Tortora (Marseille) since 1952.

A feature of the Legion is the song " Le Boudin ", which, with the exception of the march, is always sung in the "at attention!" Another feature is the typical pace of marching legionnaires. While other army units march at a speed of 120 steps per minute, in the Legion they only do 88. This is due to the fact that in the African areas of deployment there were often sandy soils, which makes it difficult to march at a fast pace.

Although the number of Germans in the Foreign Legion is now small, due to the significant number of former legionnaires, in Germany there are dozens of clubs and organizations of former foreign legionnaires ( Amicale des Anciens de la Légion étrangère ), which mostly consist of legionnaires who served in Indochina and Algeria ^{[24 ]} .

They meet regularly, take care of tradition and go to various holidays in France. Most of these organizations accept people who have never served in the Legion. Deserters and expelled from the Legion are not accepted. For this reason, each new member (if it is a former legionnaire) is checked by the Fédération des Sociétés d'Anciens de la Légion Étrangère .

See also Category: French Foreign legion in popular culture

Legion veteran Percival Ren created a romanticized image of the legion that gained wide popularity in popular culture in his trilogy Beau Geste (1924), Beau Sabreur (1926) and Beau Ideal (1928). The first and most famous of these novels, “Handsome Gesture”, was translated into Russian in 1928 by S. Kolbasiev under the title “ Viking Funeral ”. In 1939, the novel was filmed in Hollywood (starring Gary Cooper ).

In the 1930s and 1940s, when this romantic image was most in demand, novels about the Foreign Legion were also written by Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan and The Foreign Legion from the series of books about Tarzan ), Jene Reito (The Invisible Legion ”And“ Three Musketeers in Africa ”) and Victor Fink (“ Foreign Legion ”). The neo-romantic poetic cycle of Turoverov dates back to the same time.

• Spanish legion
• Private military company

• Balmasov Sergey. Foreign Legion. M .: Yauza, 2004. ISBN 5-699-06982-8
• Jean Brunon Georges Manyou: The History of Elite Troops Foreign Legion 1831–1955 . - M .: Isographus, 2003.
• Zhuravlev V.V. Everyday life of the French Foreign Legion: “Come to me, Legion!” - M.: Young Guard, 2010. - 347 p. - ISBN 978-5-235-03355-9
• Paul Bonnecarrère: Frankreichs fremde Söhne - Fremdenlegionäre im Indochina-Krieg . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-613-01144-1
• Rajko Cibic: Geliebte gehasste Legion - Der abenteuerliche Lebensweg eines slowenischen Fremdenlegionärs . Verlag Lutz B. Damm, Jenbach 1996, ISBN 3-85298-020-8
• Pierre Dufour: La Légion en Algérie . Editions Lavauzelle, Panazol 2002, ISBN 2-7025-0613-5
• Pierre Dufour: La Légion étrangère 1939-1945 . Heimdal, Bayeux 2000, ISBN 2-84048-130-8
• Pierre Dufour: La Légion étrangère en Indochine 1945-1955 . Lavauzelle, Paris 2001, ISBN 2-7025-0483-3
• Dominique Farale: Mystérieuse Légion Etrangère de 1831 à nos jours . DIE Paris 2005, ISBN 2-914295-16-2
• Peter Hornung: Die Legion - Europas letzte Söldner . Meyster-Verlag, München 1982, ISBN 3-8131-8123-5
• Yers Keller, Frank Fosset: Frankreichs Elite - Legions-Paras und Kommandos, Gendarmerie-Sondereinsatzgruppen GIGN , Kampfschwimmerkommando Hubert . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-613-02103-X
• Peter Macdonald: Fremdenlegion - Ausbildung, Bewaffnung, Einsatz . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-613-01518-8
• Volker Mergenthaler: Völkerschau - Kannibalismus - Fremdenlegion. Zur Ästhetik der Transgression (1897-1936). Tübingen 2005, ISBN 3-484-15109-9
• Eckard Michels: Deutsche in der Fremdenlegion. 1870-1965, Mythen und Realitäten . Schöningh, Paderborn 2000, ISBN 3-506-74471-2
• Guido Schmidt: Der Cafard - Als Fallschirmjäger bei der Fremdenlegion . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-01795-4
• David Jordan: Die Geschichte der französischen Fremdenlegion von 1831 bis heute . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-7276-7157-2
• Blaise Cendrars: Wind der Welt. Abenteuer eines Lebens . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt / M. 1990, ISBN 3-518-40262-5
• Friedrich Glauser: Gourrama . Unionsverlag, Zürich 1999, ISBN 3-293-20148-2
• Ernst Jünger: Afrikanische Spiele
• Erich Krieger: Wohin führt dein Weg . Books on demand, Norderstedt 2002, ISBN 3-8311-4395-1
• Philip Rosenthal: Einmal Legionär . Goldmann, München 1987, ISBN 3-442-06679-4
• Peter Eggenberger: Mord in der Fremdenlegion . Appenzeller Verlag, ISBN 3-85882-298-1
• Simon Murray: Tagebuch eines Fremdenlegionärs . Verlag LB Damm, Jenbach 1994
• Zbigniew Truszczyński: Afrykańskie wędrówki z Legią Cudzoziemską . Bellona, ​​Warszawa 2002, ISBN 83-11-09386-5
• Jean Brunon and Georges Manyu: Foreign Legion 1831-1955. - M .: Isographus, 2003.

• Official website (fr.)
• Kepi ​​Blanc Magazine (Fr.)
• Recruitment Bureau
• Foreign Legion. Russian site .