Foreign Legion

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. 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; it did, however, participate in the Norwegian, Syrian and North African campaigns. During the First Indochina War (1946–1954), 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 (1954–1962), the Foreign Legion came close to being disbanded after some officers, men, and the highly decorated 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment (1er REP) 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.

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" (Swiss, Poles, Germans, Italians, Spanish, and Dutch-Belgian). 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 (the Algerians) 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 (20 September 1854). 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" (the nickname given to the legionnaires by the Russians because of the large cartridge pouches that they wore attached to their waist-belts), 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 (4 June 1859) and at the Battle of Solferino (24 June). 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 Jean Vilain, and Sous-Lieutenant Clément Maudet 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.

Franco-Prussian War 1870

According to French law, the Foreign Legion was not to be used within Metropolitan France except in the case of a national invasion, and was consequently not a part of Napoleon III's Imperial Army that capitulated at Sedan. With the defeat of the Imperial Army, the Second French Empire fell and the Third Republic was created.

The new Third Republic was desperately short of trained soldiers following Sedan, so the Foreign Legion was ordered to provide a contingent. On 11 October 1870 two provisional battalions disembarked via sea at Toulon, the first time the Foreign Legion had been deployed in France itself. It attempted to lift the Siege of Paris by breaking through the German lines. It succeeded in retaking Orléans, but failed to break the siege. In January 1871, France capitulated but civil war soon broke out, which led to revolution and the short-lived Paris Commune. The Foreign Legion participated in the suppression of the Commune, which was crushed with great bloodshed.

Conquest of Northern Vietnam and Sino-French War 1883–1888

The Foreign Legion's First Battalion (Lieutenant-Colonel Donnier) sailed to Tonkin in late 1883, during the period of undeclared hostilities that preceded the Sino-French War (August 1884 to April 1885), and formed part of the attack column that stormed the western gate of Sơn Tây on 16 December. The Second and Third Infantry Battalions (chef de bataillon Diguet and Lieutenant-Colonel Schoeffer) were also deployed to Tonkin shortly afterwards, and were present in all the major campaigns of the Sino-French War. Two Foreign Legion companies led the defence at the celebrated Siege of Tuyên Quang (24 November 1884 to 3 March 1885). In January 1885 the Foreign Legion's 4th Battalion (chef de bataillon Vitalis) was deployed to the French bridgehead at Keelung (Jilong) in Formosa (Taiwan), where it took part in the later battles of the Keelung Campaign. The battalion played an important role in Colonel Jacques Duchesne's offensive in March 1885 that captured the key Chinese positions of La Table and Fort Bamboo and disengaged Keelung.

In December 1883, during a review of the Second Legion Battalion on the eve of its departure for Tonkin to take part in the Bắc Ninh Campaign, General François de Négrier pronounced a famous mot: Vous, légionnaires, vous êtes soldats pour mourir, et je vous envoie où l'on meurt! ('You, Legionnaires, you are soldiers in order to die, and I'm sending you to where one dies!')

Colonization of Africa

As part of the Army of Africa, the Foreign Legion contributed to the expansion of the French colonial empire in Sub-Saharan Africa. Simultaneously, the Legion took part to the pacification of Algeria, suppressing various tribal rebellions and razzias.

In 1892, King Béhanzin ordered his soldiers to attack villages near Grand Popo and Porto-Novo (in modern-day Benin) in an effort to reassert the older boundaries of Dahomey. King Béhanzin rejected complaints by the French, who proceeded to declare war.

A battalion, led by commandant Faurax Montier, was formed from two companies of the First Foreign Regiment and two others from the second regiment. From Cotonou, the legionnaires marched to seize Abomey, the capital of the Kingdom of Dahomey. Two and a half months were needed to reach the city, at the cost of repeated battles against the Dahomean warriors, especially the Amazons of the King. King Behanzin surrendered and was captured by the legionnaires in January 1894.

In 1895, a battalion formed by the First and Second Foreign Regiments was sent to the Kingdom of Madagascar as part of an expeditionary force whose mission was to conquer the island. The foreign battalion formed the backbone of the column launched on Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar. After a few skirmishes, Queen Ranavalona III promptly surrendered. The Foreign Legion lost 226 men, only a tenth of whom died during actual combat. Others, like much of the expeditionary force, died from tropical diseases. Despite the success of the expedition, the quelling of sporadic rebellions would take another eight years until 1905, when the island was completely pacified by the French under Joseph Gallieni. During that time, insurrections against the Malagasy Christians of the island, missionaries and foreigners were particularly terrible. Queen Ranavalona III was deposed in January 1897 and was exiled to Algiers in Algeria, where she died in 1917.

From 1882 until his capture, Samori Ture, ruler of the Wassoulou Empire, fought the French colonial army, defeating them on several occasions, including a notable victory at Woyowayanko (2 April 1882), in the face of French heavy artillery. Nonetheless, Samori was forced to sign several treaties ceding territory to the French between 1886 and 1889. Samori began a steady retreat, but the fall of other resistance armies, particularly Babemba Traoré at Sikasso, permitted the colonial army to launch a concentrated assault against his forces. A battalion of two companies from the 2nd Foreign Regiment was created in early 1894 to pacify the Niger. The Legionnaires' victory at the fortress of Ouilla and police patrols in the region accelerated the submission of the tribes. On 29 September 1898, Samori Ture was captured by the French Commandant Gouraud and exiled to Gabon, marking the end of the Wassoulou Empire.

Marching Regiments of the Foreign Legion

The annexation of Alsace and Lorraine by Germany in 1871 led to numerous volunteers from the two regions enlisting in the Foreign Legion, which gave them the option of French citizenship at the end of their service.

With the declaration of war on 29 July 1914, a call was made for foreigners residing in France to support their adopted country. While many would have preferred direct enlistment in the regular French Army, the only option immediately available was that of the Foreign Legion. On 3 August 1914 a reported 8,000 volunteers applied to enlist in the Paris recruiting office of the Legion.

In World War I, the Foreign Legion fought in many critical battles on the Western Front, including Artois, Champagne, Somme, Aisne, and Verdun (in 1917), and also suffered heavy casualties during 1918. The Foreign Legion was also in the Dardanelles and Macedonian front, and was highly decorated for its efforts. Many young foreigners volunteered for the Foreign Legion when the war broke out in 1914. There were marked differences between the idealistic volunteers of 1914 and the hardened men of the old Legion, making assimilation difficult. Nevertheless, the old and the new men of the Foreign Legion fought and died in vicious battles on the Western front, including Belloy-en-Santerre during the Battle of the Somme, where the poet Alan Seeger, after being mortally wounded by machine-gun fire, cheered on the rest of his advancing battalion.

While suffering heavy casualties on the Western Front the Legion had emerged from World War I with an enhanced reputation and as one of the most highly decorated units in the French Army. In 1919, the government of Spain raised the Spanish Foreign Legion and modeled it after the French Foreign Legion. General Jean Mordacq intended to rebuild the Foreign Legion as a larger military formation, doing away with the Legion's traditional role as a solely infantry formation. General Mordacq envisioned a Foreign Legion consisting not of regiments, but of divisions with cavalry, engineer, and artillery regiments in addition to the Legion's infantry mainstay. In 1920, decrees ordained the establishment of regiments of cavalry and artillery. Immediately following the armistice the Foreign Legion experienced an increase of enlistments. The Foreign Legion began the process of reorganizing and redeploying to Algeria.

First Indochina War 1946–1954

During the First Indochina War (1946–1954) the Foreign Legion saw its numbers swell due to the incorporation of World War II veterans. Although the Foreign Legion distinguished itself in a territory where it had served since the 1880s, it also suffered a heavy toll during this war. Some of the legionnaires, such as Stefan Kubiak, deserted and began fighting for the Việt Minh upon witnessing torture of Vietnamese peasants at the hands of French troops. Constantly being deployed in operations, units of the Legion suffered particularly heavy losses in the climactic Battle of Dien Bien Phu, before the fortified valley finally fell on 7 May 1954.

No fewer than 72,833 served in Indochina during the eight-year war. The Legion suffered the loss of 10,283 of its own men in combat: 309 officers, 1082 sous-officiers and 9092 legionnaires. While only one of several Legion units involved in Indochina, the 1st Foreign Parachute Battalion (1er BEP) particularly distinguished itself, while being annihilated twice. It was renamed the 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment (1er REP) after its third reformation.

The 1er BEP sailed to Indochina on 12 November 1948 and was then engaged in combat operations in Tonkin. On 17 November 1950 the battalion parachuted into That Khé and suffered heavy losses at Coc Xa, during the battle of Route Coloniale 4. Reconstituted on 1 March 1951, the battalion participated in combat operations at Cho Ben, on the Black River and in Annam. On 21 November 1953 the reconstituted 1er BEP was parachuted into Dien Bien Phu. In this battle, the unit lost 575 killed and missing. Reconstituted for the third time on 19 May 1954, the battalion left Indochina on 8 February 1955. The 1er BEP received five citations and the fourragère of the colors of the Médaille militaire for its service in Indochina. The 1er BEP became the 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment (1er REP) in Algeria on 1 September 1955.

Dien Bien Phu fell on 7 May 1954 at 17:30. The couple of hectares that were the battlefield today are corn fields surrounding a stele which commemorates the sacrifices of those who died there. While the garrison of Dien Bien Phu included French regular, North African, and locally recruited (Indochinese) units, the battle has become associated particularly with the paratroops of the Foreign Legion.

During the Indochina War, the Legion operated several armoured trains which were an enduring Rolling Symbol during the chartered course duration of French Indochina. The Legion also operated various Passage Companies relative to the continental conflicts at hand.

Algerian War 1954–1962

The Legion was heavily engaged in fighting against the National Liberation Front and the Armée de Libération Nationale (ALN). The main activity during the period 1954–1962 was as part of the operations of the 10th Parachute Division and 25th Parachute Division. The 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment, 1er REP, was under the command of the 10th Parachute Division (France), 10ème DP, and the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment, 2ème REP, was under the command of the 25th Parachute Division (France), 25ème DP. While both the 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment (1er REP), and the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2ème REP), were part of the operations of French parachute divisions (10ème DP and 25ème DP established in 1956), the Legion's 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment (1er REP), and the Legion's 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2ème REP), are older than the French divisions. The 1er REP was the former thrice-reconstituted 1st Foreign Parachute Battalion (1er BEP) and the 2ème REP was the former 2nd Foreign Parachute Battalion (2ème BEP). Both battalions were renamed and their Legionnaires transferred from Indochina on 1 August 1954 to Algeria by 1 November 1954. Both traced their origins to the Parachute Company of the 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment commanded by Legion Lieutenant Jacques Morin attached to the III/1er R.C.P.

With the start of the War in Algeria on 1 November 1954, the two foreign participating parachute battalions back from Indochina, the 1st Foreign Parachute Battalion (1er BEP, III Formation) and the 2nd Foreign Parachute Battalion (2ème BEP), were not part of any French parachute divisions yet and were not designated as regiments until September and 1 December 1955 respectively.

Main operations during the Algerian War included the Battle of Algiers and the Bataille of the Frontiers, fought by 60,000 soldiers including French and Legion paratroopers. For paratroopers of the Legion, the 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment (1er REP) and 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2ème REP), were the only known foreign active parachute regiments, exclusively commanded by Pierre Paul Jeanpierre for the 1er REP and the paratrooper commanders of the 2ème REP. The remainder of French paratrooper units of the French Armed Forces were commanded by Jacques Massu, Buchond, Marcel Bigeard, Paul Aussaresses. Other Legion offensives in the mountains in 1959 included operations Jumelles, Cigales, and Ariège in the Aures and the last in Kabylie.

The image of the Legion as a professional and non-political force was tarnished when the elite 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment 1er REP, which was also part of the 10th Parachute Division played a leading role in the generals' putsch of 1961 and was subsequently disbanded.

Post-colonial Africa

By the mid-1960s the Legion had lost its traditional and spiritual home in French Algeria and elite units had been dissolved. President de Gaulle considered disbanding it altogether but, being reminded of the Marching Regiments, and that the 13th Demi-Brigade was one of the first units to declare for him in 1940 and taking also into consideration the effective service of various Saharan units and performances of other Legions units, he chose instead to downsize the Legion from 40,000 to 8,000 men and relocate it to metropolitan France. Legion units continued to be assigned to overseas service, although not in North Africa (see below).

1962–present

In the early 1960s, and besides ongoing global rapid deployments, the Legion also stationed forces on various continents while operating different function units.

The main Disciplinary Company of the Foreign Legion (CDLE), based on rules and regulations set by général Rollet in 1931, received serious offenders sent from Legion regiments garrisoned or operating in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, the Levant and Tonkin (special section of the 5th Foreign Infantry Regiment and later in 1963, part of a Saharan disciplinary section unit of the 5e REI and 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment). It was dissolved on July 1, 1964.

From 1965 to 1967, the Legion operated several companies, including the 5th Heavy Weight Transport Company (CTGP), mainly in charge of evacuating the Sahara. The area of responsibility of some of these units extended from the confines of the in-between of the Sahara to the Mediterranean. Ongoing interventions and rapid deployments two years later and the following years included in part:

1969–1971 : Interventions in Chad

1978–present : Peacekeeping operations around the Mediterranean, including the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon during the Global War on Terror

1978–1978 : Battle of Kolwezi (Zaïre)

1981–1984 : Peacekeeping operations in Lebanon at the corps of the United Nations Multinational Force during the Lebanese Civil War along with the 31ème Brigade which included the 1st Foreign Regiment 1er RE. Operation Épaulard I was spearheaded by Lieutenant-colonel Bernard Janvier. The Multinational Force also included the British Armed Forces 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards, U.S. American contingents of United States Marine Corps and the United States Navy, the French Navy and 28 exclusive French Armed Forces regiments including French paratroopers regiments, companies, units of the 11th Parachute Brigade along with the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment 2e REP. The multinational force also included the Irish Armed Forces and units of the French National Gendarmerie, Italian paratroopers from the Folgore Brigade, and infantry units from the Bersaglieri regiments and Marines of the San Marco Battalion.

2001–present

2001–2014: Operation Enduring Freedom phase of the War in Afghanistan

2002–2003: Opération Licorne in Ivory Coast

2008: EUFOR Tchad/RCA in Chad

2013–2014: Operation Serval in the Northern Mali conflict

2015–present: Opération Sentinelle in Metropolitan France

Organization

Regarding the operational aspect, the units of the Legion belong to different brigades or territorial commands of the French Army. With regard to the administrative management (including recruitment, traditions and training), these units depend on the Foreign Legion Command (COMLE), which itself is subordinate to the Army.

The regiments are now mainly stationed in Metropolitan France, with some units in the overseas departments and territories (mainly in French Guiana).

Mainland France

1er Régiment Étranger (1er RE), based in Aubagne, France (HQ, selection and administration, other specific missions)

Pionniers Sections of Tradition

1er Régiment Étranger de Cavalerie (1er REC), based in Camp de Carpiagne, France

1er Régiment Étranger de Génie (1er REG), based in Laudun, France

Pionniers Groups

2e Régiment Étranger d'Infanterie (2ème REI), based in Nîmes, France

2e Régiment Étranger de Génie (2ème REG), based in St Christol, France

Pionniers Groups

2e Régiment Étranger de Parachutistes (2ème REP), based in Calvi, Corsica

4e Régiment Étranger (4èmeRE), based in Castelnaudary, France

Pionniers Groups

Groupement de Recrutement de la Légion Etrangère (G.R.L.E), based at Fort de Nogent, France

Current deployments

These are the following deployments:

Note: English names for countries or territories are in parentheses.

Opérations extérieures (other than at home bases or on standard duties)

Guyane (French Guiana) Mission de presence sur l'Oyapok – Protection – 3ème REI Protection CSG; 2ème REP / CEA; 2ème REI / 4ème compagnie

Mayotte Prevention DLEM Mission de souveraineté

Gabon Prevention 2ème REP / 3ème compagnie – 4ème compagnie

DINOPS, PCG and Commandos

2ème REP Commando Parachute Group (GCP); Pathfinders qualified in Direct Actions, Special Reconnaissance and IMEX.

1er Régiment Étranger de Génie 1er REG; Parachute Underwater Demolition P.C.G Teams (Combat Engineer Divers, French: Plongeurs Commando group)

2e Régiment Étranger de Génie 2ème REG; Parachute Underwater Demolition P.C.G Teams (Combat Engineer Divers, French: Plongeurs du Combat du Génie) and Mountain Commando Group (GCM) in some cases as double specialties.

Composition

The Legionnaires are an integral part of the French Army. Today, they constitute some 7–8% of its strength (or 11% of the Ground Operational Forces, FOT, French Army operational units).

The Foreign Legion is the only unit of the French Army open to people of any nationality. Most legionnaires still come from European countries but a growing percentage comes from Latin America and Asia. Most of the Foreign Legion's commissioned officers are French with approximately 10% being Legionnaires who have risen through the ranks.

Members come from 140 countries. In the past, legionnaires were forced to enlist under a pseudonym ("declared identity"). This policy was designed to allow recruits who wanted to restart their lives to enlist. The Legion held the belief that it was fairer to make all new recruits use declared identities. French citizens can enlist under a declared, fictitious, foreign citizenship (generally, a francophone one, often that of Belgium, Canada, or Switzerland). As of 20 September 2010, new recruits may enlist under their real identities or under declared identities. Recruits who do enlist with declared identities may, after one year's service, regularise their situations under their true identities. After serving in the Foreign Legion for three years, a legionnaire may apply for French citizenship. He must be serving under his real name, must have no problems with the authorities, and must have served with "honour and fidelity".

The Foreign Legion does not accept women in its ranks, however, there has been one official female legionnaire, Susan Travers, an Englishwoman who joined the Free French Forces during World War II. She became a member of the Foreign Legion after the war, and subsequently served in Vietnam during the First Indochina War. In October 2000, it was announced women would no longer be barred from service. However, this announcement was retracted one month later and blamed on a "miscommunication"; a spokesman confirmed the policy barring women from the Legion would remain unchanged.

Membership by country

As of 2008, legionnaires came from 140 countries. The majority of enlisted men originate from outside France, while the majority of the officer corps consists of Frenchmen. Many recruits originate from Eastern Europe and Latin America. Neil Tweedie of The Daily Telegraph said that Germany traditionally provided many recruits, "somewhat ironically given the Legion's bloody role in two world wars."

As of 2024, Belarusian and Russian citizens are no longer allowed to join the legion due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Original nationalities of the Foreign Legion reflect events in history at the time they joined. Many former Wehrmacht personnel joined in the wake of World War II as many soldiers returning to civilian life found it hard to find reliable employment. Jean-Denis Lepage reports that "The Foreign Legion discreetly recruited from German P.O.W. camps", but adds that the number of these recruits has been subsequently exaggerated. Bernard B. Fall, who was a supporter of the French government, writing in the context of the First Indochina War, questioned the notion that the Foreign Legion was mainly German at that time, calling it:

[a] canard...with the sub-variant that all those Germans were at least SS generals and other much wanted war criminals. As a rule, and in order to prevent any particular nation from making the Foreign Legion into a Praetorian Guard, any particular national component is kept at about 25 percent of the total. Even supposing (and this was the case, of course) that the French recruiters, in the eagerness for candidates would sign up Germans enlisting as Swiss, Austrian, Scandinavian and other nationalities of related ethnic background, it is unlikely that the number of Germans in the Foreign Legion ever exceeded 35 percent. Thus, without making an allowance for losses, rotation, discharges, etc., the maximum number of Germans fighting in Indochina at any one time reached perhaps 7,000 out of 278,000. As to the ex-Nazis, the early arrivals contained a number of them, none of whom were known to be war criminals. French intelligence saw to that.

Since, in view of the rugged Indochinese climate, older men without previous tropical experience constituted more a liability than an asset, the average age of the Foreign Legion enlistees was about 23. At the time of the battle of Dien Bien Phu, any legionnaire of that age group was at the worst, in his "Hitler Youth" shorts when the [Third] Reich collapsed.

Countries that allow post-Foreign Legion contract

In the European Union framework, post Legion enlistment is less clear. Denmark, Norway, Germany and Portugal allow post-Legion enlistment. The European Union twin threads seem to be recognized dual nationality status or restricting constitutional article.

The United States allows post-Legion enlistment in its National Guard of career soldiers (up to the rank of captain) who are Green Card holders.

Israel allows post-Legion enlistment.

One of the biggest national groups in the Legion are Poles. Polish law allows service in a foreign army, but only after written permission from the Polish Ministry of National Defence.

Recruitment process

Basic training

While all rank and file members of the Legion are required to serve under "Foreign Status" (à titre étranger), even if they are French nationals, non-commissioned and commissioned officers can serve under either French or Foreign Status. Foreign Status NCOs and officers are exclusively promoted from the ranks and represent 10% of the officers corps of the Legion. French Status officers are either members of other units of the French Army attached to the Legion or promoted Legionnaires who have chosen to become French nationals.

Basic training for the Foreign Legion is conducted in the 4th Foreign Regiment. This is an operational combat regiment which provides a training course of 15–17 weeks, before recruits are assigned to their operational units:

Initial training of 4–6 weeks at "The Farm" (La Ferme) – introduction to military lifestyle; outdoor and field activities.

Képi Blanc March (Marche Képi Blanc) – a 50-kilometer two-day march (25 km per day) in full kit, followed by the Képi Blanc ceremony on the 3rd day.

Technical and practical training (alternating with barracks and field training) – three weeks.

Mountain training (at Formiguères in the French Pyrenees) – one week.

Technical and practical training (alternating barracks and field training) – three weeks.

Examinations and obtention of the elementary technical certificate (CTE) – one week.

Raid March (Marche Raid) – a 120-kilometer final march, which must be completed in three days.

Light vehicle drivers education (drivers license) – one week.

Return to Aubagne before reporting to the assigned operational regiment – one week.

Traditions

As the Foreign Legion is composed of soldiers of different nationalities and backgrounds, it is necessary to develop an esprit de corps, which is achieved through the development of camaraderie, specific traditions, the loyalty of its legionnaires, the quality of their training, and the pride of being a soldier in an elite unit.

Code of honour

The "Legionnaire's Code of Honour" is the Legion's creed, recited in French only. The Code of Honour was adopted in the 1980s.

Mottos

In contrast to all other French Army units, the motto embroidered on the Foreign Legion's regimental flags is not Honneur et Patrie (Honour and Fatherland) but Honneur et Fidélité (Honour and Fidelity).

Legio Patria Nostra (in French La Légion est notre Patrie, in English The Legion is our Fatherland) is the Latin motto of the Foreign Legion. The adoption of the Foreign Legion as a new "Fatherland" does not imply the repudiation by the legionnaire of his original nationality. The Foreign Legion is required to obtain the agreement of any legionnaire before he is placed in any situation where he might have to serve against his country of birth.

1er R.E: Honneur et Fidélité

G.R.L.E: Honneur et Fidélité

1er REC: Honneur et Fidélité and Nec Pluribus Impar (No other equal)

2e REP: Honneur et Fidélité and More Majorum (in the manner, ways and traditions of our veterans foreign regiments)

2e REI: Honneur et Fidélité and Être prêt (Be ready)

2e REG: Honneur et Fidélité and Rien n'empêche (Nothing prevents)

3e REI: Honneur et Fidélité and Legio Patria Nostra

4e R.E: Honneur et Fidélité and Creuset de la Légion et Régiment des fortes têtes (The crucible of the Legion and the strong right minded regiment)

1e REG: Honneur et Fidélité and Ad Unum (All to one end – for the regiment until the last one)

13e DBLE: Honneur et Fidélité and More Majorum (in the manner, ways and traditions of our veterans foreign regiments)

Insignia

The Legion's emblem consists of a flaming heraldic grenade in the shape of a French fleur-de-lis.

Ranks

All volunteers in the Foreign Legion begin their careers as basic legionnaires with one in four eventually becoming a sous-officier (non-commissioned officer). On joining, a new recruit receives a monthly salary of €1,572 in addition to food and lodgings. He is also given his own new rifle, which according to the lore of the Legion must never be left on a battlefield. Promotion is concurrent with the ranks in the French Army.

Non-commissioned and warrant officers

A dress uniform's insignia is composed of three components; rank emblem, regimental patch, and seniority chevrons. In the one pictured, the three upward pointing gold chevrons indicate a Sergent-chef. The diamond-shaped regimental patch (Écusson) is formed of three green diamond shapes surrounding a grenade emblem, with the three diamonds indicating a Colonial unit, in comparison to one diamond for a unit of Regulars, or two diamonds for a Reserves unit. The Légion grenade emblem has seven flames rather than the usual five, and the two downward pointing seniority chevrons indicate at least 10 years of service. Some Caporals-Chef may have as many as six seniority chevrons for 30 or more years of service. This style of insignia is worn only on the left sleeve of the dress uniform, while a similar-sized insignia without the regimental diamond and seniority chevrons is worn on the right sleeve. An exception exists for the right sleeve insignia for the Pioneer units, which incorporates a gold or green Pioneer emblem, depending on rank, but not the seniority chevrons, which are worn on the left sleeve insignia below the regimental diamond as previously described.

Sous-officiers (NCOs) including warrant officers account for 25% of the current Foreign Legion's total manpower.

Commissioned officers

Most officers are regulars of the French Army though roughly 10% are former non-commissioned officers promoted from the ranks.

Seniority chevrons

The Foreign Legion uses gold coloured chevrons (chevrons d'ancienneté) pointed downward to indicate seniority. Worn by ordinary legionnaires and non-commissioned officers beneath the rank insignia and regimental emblem only on the left sleeve of the dress uniform, each chevron denotes five years of service in the Legion. Seniority chevrons are not worn by commissioned officers.

Honorary ranks

Honorary ranks have been awarded by the French Army to individuals credited with exceptional acts of courage since 1796. In the Foreign Legion, General Paul-Frédéric Rollet introduced the practice of awarding honorary Legion ranks to distinguished individuals, both civilian and military, in the early 20th century.

Recipients of these honorary appointments had participated with units of the Legion on active service in an exemplary manner, or had rendered exceptional service to the Legion in non-combat situations. More than 1,200 individuals have been granted honorary ranks in the Legion pour services éminent. The majority of these awards have been made to military personnel in wartime, earning titles such as Legionnaire d'Honneur or Sergent-Chef de Légion d'honneur, while other recipients have included nurses, journalists, painters, and ministers who have rendered meritorious service to the Foreign Legion.

Pioneers

The Pionniers (pioneers) are the combat engineers and a traditional unit of the Foreign Legion. The sapper traditionally sport large beards, wear leather aprons and gloves and hold axes. The sappers were very common in European armies during the Napoleonic Era but progressively disappeared during the 19th century. The French Army, including the Legion disbanded its regimental sapper platoons in 1870. However, in 1931 one of a number of traditions restored to mark the hundredth anniversary of the Legion's founding was the reestablishment of its bearded Pionniers.

In the French Army, since the 18th century, every infantry regiment included a small detachment of pioneers. In addition to undertaking road building and entrenchment work, such units were tasked with using their axes and shovels to clear obstacles under enemy fire opening the way for the rest of the infantry. The danger of such missions was recognised by allowing certain privileges, such as being authorised to wear beards.

The current pioneer platoon of the Foreign Legion is provided by the Legion depot and headquarters regiment for public ceremonies. The unit has reintroduced the symbols of the Napoleonic sappers: the beard, the axe, the leather apron, the crossed-axes insignia and the leather gloves. When parades of the Foreign Legion are opened by this unit, it is to commemorate the traditional role of the sappers "opening the way" for the troops.

Marching cadences and songs

Also notable is the marching pace of the Foreign Legion. In comparison to the 116-step-per-minute pace of other French units, the Foreign Legion has an 88-step-per-minute marching speed. It is also referred to by Legionnaires as the "crawl". This can be seen at ceremonial parades and public displays attended by the Foreign Legion, particularly while parading in Paris on 14 July (Bastille Day Military Parade). Because of the impressively slow pace, the Foreign Legion is always the last unit marching in any parade. The Foreign Legion is normally accompanied by its own band, which traditionally plays the march of any one of the Foreign Legion's regiments, except that of the unit actually on parade. The regimental song of each unit and "Le Boudin" is sung by legionnaires standing at attention. Also, because the Foreign Legion must always stay together, it does not break formation into two when approaching the presidential grandstand, as other French military units do, in order to preserve the unity of the Legion.

Contrary to popular belief, the adoption of the Foreign Legion's slow marching speed was not due to a need to preserve energy and fluids during long marches under the hot Algerian sun. Its exact origins are unclear, but the official explanation is that although the pace regulation does not seem to have been instituted before 1945, it hails back to the slow marching pace of the Ancien Régime, and its reintroduction was a "return to traditional roots". This was in fact, the march step of the Foreign Legion's ancestor units – the Régiments Étrangers or Foreign Regiments of the Ancien Régime French Army, the Grande Armée's foreign units, and the pre-1831 foreign regiments.

Marching songs

"Le Boudin" is the marching song of the Foreign Legion.

Uniform

From its foundation until World War I the Foreign Legion normally wore the uniform of the French line infantry for parade with a few special distinctions. Essentially this consisted of a dark blue coat (later tunic) worn with red trousers. The field uniform was often modified under the influence of the extremes of climate and terrain in which the Foreign Legion served. Shakos were soon replaced by the light cloth kepi, which was far more suitable for North African conditions. The practice of wearing heavy capotes (greatcoats) on the march and vestes (short hip-length jackets) as working dress in barracks was followed by the Foreign Legion from its establishment.

One short lived aberration was the wearing of green uniforms in 1856 by Foreign Legion units recruited in Switzerland for service in the Crimean War. In the Crimea itself (1854–1859) a hooded coat and red or blue waist sashes were adopted for winter dress, while during the Mexican Intervention (1863–1865) straw hats or sombreros were sometimes substituted for the kepi. When the latter was worn it was usually covered with a white "havelock" (linen cover) – the predecessor of the white kepi that was to become a symbol of the Foreign Legion. Foreign Legion units serving in France during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 were distinguishable only by minor details of insignia from the bulk of the French infantry. However subsequent colonial campaigns saw an increasing use of special garments for hot weather wear such as collarless keo blouses in Tonkin 1884–1885, khaki drill jackets in Dahomey (1892) and drab covered topees worn with all-white fatigue dress in Madagascar (1895).

In the early 20th century the legionnaire wore a red kepi with blue band and piping, dark blue tunic with red collar, red cuff patches, and red trousers. Distinctive features were the green epaulettes (replacing the red of the line) worn with red woollen fringes; plus the embroidered Legion badge of a red flaming grenade, worn on the kepi front instead of a regimental number. In the field a light khaki cover was worn over the kepi, sometimes with a protective neck curtain attached. The standard medium-blue double breasted greatcoat (capote) of the French infantry was worn, usually buttoned back to free the legs for marching. From the 1830s the legionnaires had worn a broad blue woollen sash around the waist, like other European units of the French Army of Africa (such as the Zouaves or the Chasseurs d'Afrique), while indigenous units of the Army of Africa (spahis and tirailleurs) wore red sashes. White linen trousers tucked into short leather leggings were substituted for red serge in hot weather. This was the origin of the "Beau Geste" image.

Equipment

The Legion is basically equipped with the same equipment as similar units elsewhere in the French Army. These include:

The FAMAS assault rifle, a French-made automatic bullpup-style rifle, chambered in the 5.56×45mm NATO round. The FAMAS is being replaced by the Heckler & Koch HK416. The 13e DBLE, was the first French Army regiment to use the new rifle.

The SPECTRA is a ballistic helmet, designed by the French military, fitted with real-time positioning and information system, and with light amplifiers for night vision.

The FÉLIN suit, an infantry combat system that combines ample pouches, reinforced body protections and a portable electronic platform.

Command

Legacy

Beyond its reputation as an elite unit often engaged in serious fighting, the recruitment practices of the Foreign Legion have also led to a somewhat romanticised view of it being a place for disgraced or "wronged" men looking to leave behind their old lives and start new ones. This view of the legion has been used for dramatic effect in many films, not the least of which are the several versions of Beau Geste, whose author P.C. Wren claimed, not without dispute, to have served in the legion himself. In Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, Sebastian Flyte's German companion, Kurt, has dishonourably left the Foreign Legion. Three songs by Edith Piaf, most notably "Non, je ne regrette rien" (No, I regret nothing), became associated with the legion, during the 1960s when members of the Legion were accused of being implicated in a failed coup d'état during the Algerian War. Today it is still a popular Legion "chant" sung when on parade, adapting it to their unique marching cadence of 88 steps to the minute. Various fictional portrayals and references to the legion have been made over the years, such as in film, television, music, video games and art. The comic strip Crock, which depicted life in the legion, ran from 1975 to 2012.

Emulation by other countries

The Ever Victorious Army was the name given to a Chinese imperial army in the late 19th century. Commanded by Frederick Townsend Ward, the new force originally comprised about 200 mostly European mercenaries, recruited in the Shanghai area from sailors, deserters and adventurers. Many were dismissed in the summer of 1861, but the remainder became the officers of the Chinese soldiers recruited mainly in and around Sungkiang (Songjiang). The Chinese troops were increased to 3,000 by May 1862, all equipped with Western firearms and equipment by the British authorities in Shanghai. Throughout its four-year existence the Ever Victorious Army was mainly to operate within a thirty-mile radius of Shanghai. It was disbanded in May 1864 with 104 foreign officers and 2,288 Chinese soldiers being paid off. The bulk of the artillery and some infantry transferred to the Chinese Imperial forces. It was the first Chinese army trained in European techniques, tactics, and strategy.

In Israel, Mahal (Hebrew: מח"ל, an acronym for Mitnadvei Ḥutz LaAretz, which means Volunteers from outside the Land [of Israel]) is a term designating non-Israelis serving in the Israeli military. The term originates with the approximately 4,000 both Jewish and non-Jewish volunteers who went to Israel to fight in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War including Aliyah Bet. The original Mahalniks were mostly World War II veterans who had previously served in the American and British armed forces.

Today, there is a program, Garin Tzabar, within the Israeli Ministry of Defense that administers the enlistment of non-Israeli citizens in the country's armed forces. Programs enable foreigners to join the Israel Defense Forces if they are of Jewish descent (which is defined as at least one grandparent).

During the Rhodesian Bush War of the 1960s and 1970s, the Rhodesian Security Forces enlisted volunteers from overseas on the same pay and conditions of service as locally based regulars. The vast majority of the Rhodesian Army's foreigners joined the Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI), a heliborne commando regiment with a glamorous international reputation; this unit became colloquially known as the "Rhodesian foreign legion" as a result, even though foreigners never made up more than about a third of its men. According to Chris Cocks, an RLI veteran, "the RLI was a mirror of the French Foreign Legion, in that recruiters paid little heed as to a man's past and asked no questions. ... And like the Foreign Legion, once in the ranks, a man's past was irrelevant." Just as French Foreign Legionnaires must speak French, the Rhodesian Army required its foreigners to be English-speakers. Many of them were professional soldiers, attracted by the regiment's reputation—mostly former British soldiers, or Vietnam veterans from the United States, Australian and New Zealand forces—and these became a key part of the unit. Others, with no military experience, were often motivated to join the Rhodesian Army by their opposition to communism, or a desire for adventure or to escape the past.

Notable members

The following is a list of notable people who are or were members of the Foreign Legion:

Avraham Golan, security contractor

Jean Danjou – Commander at the Battle of Camarón.

Mamady Doumbouya – Guinean military officer who led the 2021 Guinean coup d'état and is currently President of Guinea

Roger Faulques

Peter I of Serbia

Ante Gotovina

Ante Roso

Aarne Juutilainen

Taylor Cavanaugh

Jean-Marie Le Pen

Patrice MacMahon

Peter Ortiz

George Edward Massee

Alan Seeger

Charles Sweeny

Susan Travers

Aly Khan

Ernst Jünger

Henri, Count of Paris (1908–1999)

Prince Aage, Count of Rosenborg – A Danish Prince who served in the Foreign Legion and died with the rank of lieutenant-colonel.

Louis, Prince Napoléon

Željko Glasnović