French Foreign Legion today
The French Foreign Legion is a unique elite military unit that is part of the French armed forces. To date, it has more than 8 thousands of legionnaires who represent the 136 states of the world, including France. One for all of them is the ministry of France in a high professional level.
The creation of the Legion is associated with the name of King Louis Philippe I, who in 1831 year signed a decree on the creation of a single military unit, which should include several active regiments. The main objective of the new formation was to perform combat missions outside the French borders. For command, officers from Napoleon’s army were recruited, and soldiers were taken not only from Italy, Spain or Switzerland, but also French subjects who had certain problems with the law. Thus, the French government got rid of potentially dangerous people, who not only had significant combat experience, but also could use it in conditions of political instability inside the state.
This policy of the king was very logical. The fact is that the legionnaires were preparing for a large-scale campaign to colonize Algeria, which required a large number of troops. But at the same time, France could not send its subjects to Africa. That is why foreigners living in the vicinity of Paris were recruited into the legion.
At about the same time, it was necessary to create a tradition not to ask the real names of new soldiers. Many desperate people had the opportunity to start life anew, getting rid of the criminal past.
Today, the rules of the Legion also allow anonymous reception of soldiers. As before, volunteers do not ask for their name or country of residence. After a few years of service, each legionary has the opportunity to acquire French citizenship and begin an entirely new life with a new name.
It should be noted that the first rule of the legionnaires is to never give up. This tradition began in the 1863 year, when three legionnaires held more than 2 thousands of well-armed soldiers of the Mexican army. But, taken prisoner, thanks to their courage and valor, they were soon released with honors.
As at the time of its foundation, the French Legion is under the direct control of the head of state.
The modern Foreign Legion consists of tank, infantry and sapper units. Its structure includes 7 regiments, including the famous paratrooper with special forces GCP, one special detachment, one semi-brigade and one training regiment.
Legion units are stationed in the Comoros (Mayotte Island), in Northeast Africa (Djibouti), in Corsica, in French Guiana (Kourou), and also directly in France.
A feature of the French Legion is that women are not allowed into it. Contracts are granted exclusively to men aged 18-40 years. The initial contract is for 5 years. All subsequent contracts can be concluded for periods from six months to 10 years. In the first five years, you can achieve the title of corporal, but only a person with French citizenship can become an officer. The main part of the officers of the unit are, as a rule, professional soldiers who graduated from military educational institutions and chose a legion as a duty station.
Since in many countries of the world mercenary is considered a criminal offense, the recruitment points exist exclusively in France. For everyone who wants to join the Legion, testing is carried out, which includes three stages: psychotechnical, physical and medical. In addition, an interview is conducted separately with each recruit, during which you must clearly and truthfully tell your biography. The interview is conducted in three stages, and each new stage is a repetition of the previous one. Thus, a peculiar check "for lice" is carried out.
Foreign volunteers can be easily recognized by their white headgear, although only ordinary soldiers wear it. The subdivision colors are green and red.
Today, around 7 and a half thousand soldiers serve in the legion. The training of soldiers allows them to conduct operations in the jungle, at night. They are trained to conduct special operations to neutralize terrorists and rescue hostages. The main task of foreign players today is to prevent hostilities. They are called to carry out the evacuation of the population from the combat zone, to render humanitarian aid, to restore the infrastructure in the regions of natural disasters.
So, there is information that the French Foreign Legion provided strong support for the ground operation during the events in Libya. In August, 2011, the legionnaires managed to eliminate the fuel and food supply base, which was the main one for Gadhafi’s troops. According to some reports, several of the legion’s mouths were thrown into Livia from Tunisia or Algeria. A little wound, in the area of Az-Zawiya, the Foreign Legion, with minor losses, managed to break into the city center, providing free access to it for fighters from Benghazi. The Legion Command was counting on raising the Berber population for the uprising, but this was not possible.
The participation of the French Legion in the Libyan war is strongly denied by the official authorities of France, despite the fact that the press is actively discussing this issue. This position of Paris is understandable, since any invasion of Libyan territory would contradict the UN resolution regarding this state, which refers only to the closure of airspace. A similar situation had already happened before, when, in 1978, in Zaire, the French government recognized that the Foreign Legion took part in a military conflict only after the legionaries had fulfilled their mission.
The Arab Spring showed that foreign troops are present in many conflict zones. In addition to Libya, the French Legion took part in the hostilities in Syria. Thus, 150 was arrested in Homs, and in Zadabani, 120 of French legionnaires, mostly paratroopers and snipers. And although no one can confirm that they were legionnaires, such an assumption is quite logical, since this unit is staffed not only from France, but also from other countries. Thus, France again has the opportunity to assert that French citizens are not present in Syria.
Another place where the French Foreign Legion has also been noted is the conflict that erupted in Côte d'Ivoire. One gets the impression that France has set itself the goal of creating the most aggressive image for itself on the entire European continent. Very often Paris starts the game "big", regardless of the interests of its allies in the North Atlantic alliance. So, in April 2011, French paratroopers occupied the airport of the economic capital of Côte d'Ivoire, Abidjan. Thus, the total number of the French military corps stationed there was about 1400 people.
The total number of the UN peacekeeping contingent in this country is 9 thousand people, of which there were only 900 French people. France independently made a decision to increase the size of its military corps, without coordinating actions with the UN leadership. The basis of the French military corps is the military of the Foreign Legion, who have been taking part in Operation Unicorn for several years. In addition, the French government announced that the contingent that arrived in Côte d'Ivoire is coordinating with the unoci troops, thus actually recognizing that in addition to the "Unicorn", France is also conducting its own independent operation in the country.
Thus, the French Foreign Legion is sent to areas where France seeks to protect its interests within or under the guise of the European Union or the North Atlantic Alliance, as well as where certain historical duties or threats to the lives of French citizens.
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