The French Foreign Legion (French: Légion étrangère ) is a unique unit in the French Army, established in 1831. The legion was specifically created for foreign nationals wishing to serve in the French Armed Forces, but commanded by French officers. However, it is also open to French citizens, who amount to 24% of recruits. After the July Revolution of 1830, foreigners were forbidden to enlist in the French Army, and so the Legion was created to allow France a way around this restriction. The Legion was also seen as a convenient way to dispose of numerous recently-displaced foreign nationals (many of whom were thought to hold revolutionary political beliefs) by sending them to Algeria to help in the conquest.
The Legion was primarily used 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 and both World Wars. The Foreign Legion has remained an important part of the French Army, surviving three Republics, one empire, two World Wars, the rise and fall of mass conscript armies, the dismantling of the French colonial empire and the French loss of the legion's homeland, Algeria.
The Legion is today known as an elite military unit whose training focuses not only on traditional military skills but also on its strong esprit de corps . As its men come from different countries with different cultures, this is a widely accepted solution to strengthen them enough to work as a team. Consequently, training is often described as not only physically challenging, but also extremely psychologically stressful.
Officially, there has been only one woman member, Englishwoman Susan Travers.
History
Main article: History of the French Foreign LegionThe French Foreign Legion was created by Louis Philippe, then King of the French, on 10 March 1831. The direct reason was that foreigners were forbidden to serve in the French Army after the 1830 July Revolution. The purpose of the Legion was to remove disruptive elements from society and put them to use fighting the enemies of France. Recruits included failed revolutionaries from the rest of Europe, soldiers from the disbanded foreign regiments, and troublemakers in general, both foreign and French. Algeria was designated as the Legion's home. As the colony was proving to be a very unpopular posting with regular regiments in the French Army, the introduction of the Legion was well received.
In late 1831, the first Legionnaires landed in Algeria, the country that would be the Legion's homeland for 130 years and shape its character. The early years in Algeria were hard for Legionnaires because they were often sent to the worst postings, received the worst assignments and were generally uninterested in the new colony of the French. The Legion's first service in Algeria came to an end after only four years, since it was needed elsewhere.
Spain
Main article: First Carlist WarTo support Isabella's claim to the Spanish throne against her uncle, the French government decided to send the Legion to Spain. On 28 June 1835, the unit was handed over to the Spanish government. The Legion landed at Tarragona on 17 August with around 4,000 men who were quickly dubbed Los Argelinos (the Algerians) by locals because of their previous posting.
The 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 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 Legion along with many of their former Carlist enemies.
Mexico
Main article: Battle of CamarónIt was in Mexico on 30 April 1863 that the Legion earned its legendary status. A company led by Capitaine Danjou, numbering 62 soldiers and 3 officers, was escorting a convoy to the besieged city of Puebla when it was attacked and besieged by two thousand revolutionaries, organised in three battalions of infantry and cavalry, numbering 1,200 and 800 respectively. The patrol was forced to make a defence in Hacienda Camarón, and despite the hopelessness of the situation, fought nearly to the last man. When only six survivors remained, out of ammunition, a bayonet charge was conducted in which three of the six were killed. The remaining three were brought before the Mexican general, who allowed them to return to France as an honour guard for the body of Capitaine Danjou. The captain had a wooden hand which was stolen during the battle; it was later returned to the Legion and is now kept in a case in the Foreign Legion museum at Aubagne, and paraded annually on Camerone Day. It is the Legion's most precious relic.
Franco-Prussian War
Main article: Franco-Prussian WarAccording to French law, the 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 in the Franco-Prussian War, so the Legion was ordered to provide a contingent. On 11 October 1870 two provisional battalions disembarked at Toulon, the first time the Legion had been deployed in France itself. They attempted to lift the Siege of Paris by breaking through the German lines. They succeeded in re-taking Orléans, but failed to break the siege.
19th century colonial warfare
During the Third Republic, the Legion played a major role in French colonial expansion. They fought in North Africa (where they established their headquarters at Sidi Bel Abbès in Algeria), Benin, Madagascar, Indochina and Taiwan.
Tonkin campaign and Sino-French War
The Legion's 1st Battalion (Lieutenant-Colonel Donnier) was sent to Tonkin in the autumn of 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 Son Tay on 16 December. The 2nd and 3rd 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 Legion companies led the defence at the celebrated Siege of Tuyen Quang (24 November 1884 to 3 March 1885). In January 1885 the 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 2nd Legion Battalion on the eve of its departure for Tonkin to take part in the Bac 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! ('Legionnaires, you became soldiers in order to die, and I'm taking you to a place where you can die!')
World War I
In World War I, the Legion fought in many critical battles of the war, on the Western Front including Artois, Champagne, Somme, Aisne, Verdun (in 1917) and also suffered heavy casualties during 1918. The Legion was also in the Dardanelles and Macedonian front, and the Legion was highly decorated for its efforts. Many young foreigners, including Americans like Fred Zinn, volunteered for the Legion when the war broke out in 1914. There were marked differences between such idealistic volunteers as the poet Alan Seeger and the hardened mercenaries of the old Legion, making assimilation difficult. Nevertheless, the old and the new men of the Legion fought and died in vicious battles on the Western front, including Belloy-en-Santerre during the Battle of the Somme, where Seeger, after being mortally wounded by machine gun fire, cheered on the rest of his advancing battalion.
As most European countries and the US were drawn into the War, many of the newer "duration only" volunteers who managed to survive the first years of the war were generally released from the Legion to join their respective national armies. Citizens of the Central Powers serving with the Legion on the outbreak of war were normally posted to garrisons in North Africa to avoid problems of divided loyalties.
Between the World Wars
In 1932, the Legion comprised 30,000 men in 6 multi-battalion regiments:
- 1st - Algeria and Syria
- 2d, 3d, and 4th - Morocco
- 5th - Indochina
- 1st Cavalry - Tunisia and Morocco.
World War II
The Foreign Legion played a smaller role in World War II, though having a
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