French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion is a corps of the French Army created to allow foreign nationals into French service. The Legion was founded in 1831 and today consists of several specialties, namely infantry, cavalry, engineers, and airborne troops. It formed part of the Armée d'Afrique, French Army units associated with France's colonial project in North Africa, until the end of the Algerian War in 1962.
Legionnaires are today renowned as highly trained soldiers whose training focuses on traditional military skills and on the Legion's strong esprit de corps, as its men come from different countries with different cultures. Consequently, training is often described as not only physically challenging, but also very stressful psychologically. Legionnaires may apply for French citizenship after three years' service, or immediately after being wounded in the line of duty: This latter provision is known as "Français par le sang versé".
History
The Foreign Legion was created by Louis Philippe, the King of the French, on 10 March 1831 to allow the incorporation of foreign nationals into the French Army from the foreign regiments of the Kingdom of France. Recruits included soldiers from the recently disbanded Swiss and German foreign regiments of the Bourbon monarchy and also people from shady backgrounds. The Royal Ordinance for the establishment of the new regiment specified that the foreigners recruited could only serve outside France. The French expeditionary force that had occupied Algiers in 1830 was in need of reinforcements, and the Legion was accordingly transferred by sea in detachments from Toulon to Algeria.Since its establishment in 1831, the Legion has consisted of hundreds of thousands in active service at its peak, and suffered the aggregated loss of nearly 40,000 men in France, Morocco, Tunisia, Madagascar, West Africa, Mexico, Italy, Crimea, Spain, Indo-China, Norway, Syria, Chad, Zaïre, Lebanon, Central Africa, Gabon, Kuwait, Rwanda, Djibouti, former Yugoslavia, Somalia, the Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Afghanistan, Mali, as well as others. The Legion was primarily used to help protect and expand the French colonial empire during the 19th century. The Foreign Legion was initially stationed only in Algeria, where it took part in the Pacification of Algeria and destruction of the natural habitat of the colony. Subsequently, the Foreign Legion was deployed in a number of conflicts, including the First Carlist War in 1835, the Crimean War in 1854, the Second Italian War of Independence in 1859, the French intervention in Mexico in 1863, the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, the Tonkin Campaign and Sino-French War in 1883, supporting growth of the French colonial empire in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Second Franco-Dahomean War in 1892, the Second Madagascar expedition in 1895 and the Mandingo Wars in 1894. In World War I, the Foreign Legion fought in many critical battles on the Western Front. It played a smaller role in World War II than in World War I, however, participated in the Norwegian, Syrian and North African campaigns. During the First Indochina War, the Foreign Legion saw its numbers swell. In Vietnam, the Legion lost a large number of men in the catastrophic Battle of Dien Bien Phu against forces of the Viet Minh.
Subsequent military campaigns included those during the Suez Crisis, the Battle of Algiers and various offensives in Algeria launched by General Maurice Challe including Operation Oranie and Operation Jumelles. During the Algerian War of Independence, the Foreign Legion came close to being disbanded after some officers, men, and the highly decorated 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment took part in the Generals' putsch. In the 1960s and 1970s, Legion regiments had additional roles in sending units as a rapid deployment force to preserve French interests – in its former African colonies and in other nations as well; it also returned to its roots of being a unit always ready to be sent to conflict zones around the world.
Some notable operations include the Chadian–Libyan conflict in 1969–1972, 1978–1979, and 1983–1987; Kolwezi in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo in May 1978. In 1981, the 1st Foreign Regiment and Foreign Legion regiments took part in the Multinational Force in Lebanon. In 1990, Foreign Legion regiments were sent to the Persian Gulf and participated in Opération Daguet, part of Division Daguet. Following the Gulf War in the 1990s, the Foreign Legion helped with the evacuation of French citizens and foreigners in Rwanda, Gabon and Zaire. The Foreign Legion was also deployed to Cambodia, Somalia, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the mid-to late 1990s, the Foreign Legion was deployed to the Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville and in Kosovo. The French Foreign Legion also took part in operations in Rwanda in 1990–1994; and the Ivory Coast from 2002 to the present. In the 2000s, the Foreign Legion was deployed to Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, Opération Licorne in Ivory Coast, the EUFOR Tchad/RCA in Chad, and Operation Serval in the Northern Mali conflict.
As discussed [|below], other countries have attempted to emulate the French Foreign Legion model. The Foreign Legion was primarily used, as part of the Armée d'Afrique, to protect and expand the French colonial empire during the 19th century, but it also fought in almost all French wars including the Franco-Prussian War, World War I and World War II. The Foreign Legion has remained an important part of the French Army, and sea transport protected by the French Navy survived three Republics, the Second French Empire, two World Wars, the rise and fall of mass conscript armies, the dismantling of the French colonial empire, and the loss of the Foreign Legion's base, Algeria.
Conquest of Algeria 1830–1847
Created to fight "outside mainland France", the Foreign Legion was stationed in Algeria, where it took part in the Algerian genocide and destruction of the natural habitat of the colony, notably by drying the marshes in the region of Algiers. The Foreign Legion was initially divided into six "national battalions". Smaller national groups, such as ten Englishmen recorded in December 1832, appear to have been placed randomly.In late 1831, the first legionnaires landed in Algeria, the country that shaped its character and became the Foreign Legion's homeland for 130 years. The early years in Algeria were hard on the Legion because it was often sent to the worst postings and received the worst assignments, and its members were generally uninterested in the new colony of the French. The Legion served alongside the Battalions of Light Infantry of Africa, formed in 1832, which was a penal military unit made up of men with prison records who still had to do their military service or soldiers with serious disciplinary problems.
The Foreign Legion's first service in Algeria came to an end after only four years, as it was needed elsewhere.
Carlist War 1835–1839
The French government sent the Foreign Legion to Spain to support Isabella II's claim to the Spanish throne against her uncle. On 28 June 1835, the unit was handed over to the Spanish government. The Foreign Legion landed via sea at Tarragona on 17 August with around 1,400 who were quickly dubbed Los Argelinos by locals because of their previous posting.The Foreign Legion's commander immediately dissolved the national battalions to improve the esprit de corps. Later, he also created three squadrons of lancers and an artillery battery from the existing force to increase independence and flexibility. The Foreign Legion was dissolved on 8 December 1838, when it had dropped to only 500 men. The survivors returned to France, many reenlisting in the new Foreign Legion along with many of their former Carlist enemies.
Crimean War
On 9 June 1854, the French ship Jean Bart embarked four battalions of the Foreign Legion for the Crimean Peninsula. A further battalion was stationed at Gallipoli as brigade depot. Eight companies drawn from both regiments of the Foreign Legion took part in the Battle of Alma. Reinforcements by sea brought the Legion contingent up to brigade strength. As the "Foreign Brigade", it served in the Siege of Sevastopol, during the winter of 1854–1855.The lack of equipment was particularly challenging and cholera hit the Allied expeditionary force. Nevertheless, the "leather bellies", performed well. On 21 June 1855, the Third Battalion, left Corsica for Crimea.
On 8 September the final assault was launched on Sevastopol. Two days later, the Second Foreign Regiment with flags and band playing ahead, marched through the streets of Sevastopol. Although initial reservations had been expressed about whether the Legion should be used outside Africa, the Crimean experience established its suitability for service in European warfare, as well as making a cohesive single entity of what had previously been two separate foreign regiments. Legion casualties in the Crimea were 1,703 killed and wounded out of total French losses by battle and disease of 95,615.
Italian Campaign 1859
Like the rest of the "Army of Africa", the Foreign Legion provided detachments in the campaign of Italy. Two foreign regiments, grouped with the 2nd Regiment of Zouaves, were part of the Second Brigade of the Second Division of Mac Mahon's Corps. The Foreign Legion acquitted itself particularly well against the Austrians at the battle of Magenta and at the Battle of Solferino. Legion losses were significant and the 2nd Foreign Regiment lost Colonel Chabrière, its commanding officer. In gratitude, the city of Milan awarded, in 1909, the "commemorative medal of deliverance", which still adorns the regimental flags of the Second Regiment.Mexican Expedition 1863–1867
The 38,000 strong French expeditionary force dispatched to Mexico via sea between 1862 and 1863 included two battalions of the Foreign Legion, increased to six battalions by 1866. Small cavalry and artillery units were raised from legionnaires serving in Mexico. The original intention was that Foreign Legion units should remain in Mexico for up to six years to provide a core for the Imperial Mexican Army. However the Legion was withdrawn with the other French forces during February–March 1867.It was in Mexico on 30 April 1863 that the Legion earned its legendary status. A company led by Captain Jean Danjou, numbering 62 Legionnaires and 3 Legion officers, was escorting a convoy to the besieged city of Puebla when it was attacked and besieged by three thousand Mexican loyalists, organised in two battalions of infantry and cavalry, numbering 2,200 and 800 respectively. The Legion detachment under Danjou, Sous-Lieutenant, and Sous-Lieutenant made a stand in the Hacienda de la Trinidad – a farm near the village of Camarone. When only six survivors remained, out of ammunition, a bayonet assault was launched in which three of the six were killed. The remaining three wounded men were brought before the Mexican commander Colonel Milán, who allowed them to return to the French lines as an honor guard for the body of Danjou. The captain had a wooden hand, which was later returned to the Legion and is now kept in a case in the Legion Museum at Aubagne and paraded annually on Camerone Day. It is the Foreign Legion's most precious relic.
During the Mexican Campaign, 6,654 French died. Of these, 1,918 were from a single regiment of the Legion.