The 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP), the only paratrooper regiment of the Foreign Legion still in activity, is one of the four infantry regiments of the 11th Parachute Brigade.
He has been stationed at the Raffalli camp in Calvi since his arrival from Bou-Sfer (Algeria) in June 1967.
Parachute regiment, it is nevertheless equipped with VAB (armoured forward vehicles). It is the only regiment in the brigade to train its own personnel in parachute techniques thanks to its jump training center.
Coming from the 2nd Foreign Parachute Battalion which served in Indochina, it is the regiment which distinguished itself in Algeria and, closer to us, in Kolwezi (Zaire) during Operation Bonite in 1978. Participating in all overseas operations since the 1970s, it has been screened in particular in Chad, Lebanon, in the former Yugoslavia from 1992, in Djibouti, Rwanda, the Central African Republic and Gabon. In 1997, he was engaged in Congo-Brazzaville during Operation Pelican. In 2002-2003, on the occasion of the start of Operation Licorne, the regiment was engaged in Côte d'Ivoire. More recently, in 2010, he joined the Afghan theater within the La Fayette brigade (or Task force La Fayette) as GTIA Surobi, code Battle Group Altor.
Creation and different denominations
October 1, 1948:creation in Sétif of the 2nd Foreign Parachute Battalion (2e BEP),
June 1, 1954, annihilated at the Battle of Diên Biên Phu, the battalion was recreated under the same name from its rear base and the 3e BEP.
On December 1, 1955, the 2e BEP became the 2e REP, its current name. It is thus the heir of the 2e BEP, but also incorporates elements of the 3e REP, dissolved in 1955.
History of garrisons, campaigns and battles
1948-1955 the 2nd BEP in Indochina
The 2nd BEP was officially created in Algeria in Sétif on October 1, 1948. It originally comprised a CCB and three combat companies.
The battalion embarked in Mers el-Kébir on January 13, 1949 aboard the Maréchal Joffre, destination Indochina, and disembarked in Saigon on February 9.
At the instigation of General de Lattre de Tassigny, the new civilian and military commander of Indochina, the 3rd combat company was replaced in early 1951 by the 2nd CIPLE (Indochinese parachute company of the Foreign Legion) made up mainly of Vietnamese. In June, a fourth company will be formed (walking company).
The battalion, which will intervene mainly in Tonkin and northern Annam, will particularly distinguish itself during the battle of Nghia Lo in October 1951. It will lose its corps commander, the squadron leader Rémy Raffalli, on September 10, 1952 and will be destroyed during of the Battle of Diên Biên Phu from April 12 to May 7, 1954.
The 2e BEP was reconstituted on June 1, 1954 with the personnel of the 3e REP from Algeria.
The 2nd BEP embarked on the Pasteur in Saigon on November 1, 1955.
1954-1962 Events in Algeria
When the 2nd BEP leaves the Far East on November 1, 1955. Its pennant has six palms and the fourragère in the colors of the Legion of Honor. He lost 1,500 officers, non-commissioned officers and legionnaires, including a corps commander. On December 1, 1955, the 2nd BEP became the 2nd foreign parachute regiment (2nd REP). During his first engagement, on January 5, he laments his first death, but the outlaws (HLL) lose 22 of their own. Gathered in Philippeville, the companies shine in the sector.
From March to June, two units operate in the Aures. April 30 is marked by a hard fight, in Douar Ouled Fathma. He receives his flag on June 5. In November, the regiment changes sector. The PC settles in Tébessa. In operational reserve, the regiment's mission is to monitor the Algerian-Tunisian border. The year 1956 ended with a balance sheet totaling 900 rebels killed, 500 prisoners and numerous war materials recovered. He lost 38 of his own, fallen in battle.
In April 1957, he returned to Philippeville. On May 30, he left his garrison for El Milia to ensure the security of the Collo peninsula and the Jijel region. In August, he returned to Tebessa for a series of operations on the border where 35 rebels were killed but six legionnaires were killed. On December 18, the regiment destroyed a katiba in Jebel Hamimat Guerra. The rebels deplore 45 killed. In 1960, the regiment was scattered in different garrisons:Chekfa, Souk el Tleta, borj Chahna, Beni Siar and Philippeville at Camp Pehau. During the 1st quarter the "Operation Turquoise", occupies the regiment which deplores four killed, eight wounded but the enemy leaves 24 HLL killed, 2 prisoners, 5 fugitives killed and 17 suspects arrested. A 20 mm cannon is recovered, 1 MP, 10 war rifles an AP and many ammunition are destroyed. Some secondary operations are set up such as "Saxophone" on January 26 and 27, "Clarinette" (3 HLL killed and one prisoner), "Basson I" on February 20 and 21, "Basson II" on March 8 and 9, (six HLL killed and 24 suspects arrested), Zacharie” (1 boss killed by suicide and 2 fugitives killed) from March 15 to 17, “Victorien” (four fugitives killed) then in the 2nd quarter, “Turquoise”, with secondary operations “Fish "(two HLL killed eight suspects arrested, April 1 and 2, "Basson III" (three HLL killed a fugitive shot, April 19, an officer and two legionnaires are killed in an ambush. After "Turquoise", follows "Opaline in June.
In the early days of 1958, the 2e REP accelerated the pace of combat. On April 26 and 27, he knocked out 209 HLLs in the Beni Sbihi region, recovering a strong arsenal including 3 machine guns. On the 30th, the Camerone celebrations gave way to a series of closures to intercept a band of rebels towards Souk Ahras. 84 of them are killed. In January 1959, the regiment moved to Guelma, in operational reserve for the East Constantinois zone. On March 1, he destroyed a katiba in Gambetta. On June 23, another katiba was dismantled. 29 HLL are killed and 10 prisoners. In the 3rd quarter, the “Precious Stones” operations were launched. The West of Constantine is raked. The toll is very heavy:229 HLL killed, 99 prisoners, but 11 legionnaires fell in the Field of Honor. In January 1960, the 2nd REP, within the 25th DP operated in the Djidjelli sector. This is the "Turquoise" operation, a secondary operation of the "Gemstones" operation. On September 23, the regiment returned to its rear base in Philippeville before joining Bou Hammama where the "Ariège" operation began and which concerned the regions of Biskra and Kenchela. Before leaving the Aurès, the 2nd REP inflicts a final defeat on the rebels in Jebel Chelia, resulting in 53 HLL killed. On December 28, the regiment moved to Oran then Tlemcen where it arrived on December 30.
On May 1, 1961, after the dissolution of its brother regiment:the 1st REP, it remained the only heir unit of all the para-legion units created since 1948. As the executives and legionnaires of the regiment like to say, it is " The second of no one".
Made available to the West Oran area to reinforce the Algerian-Moroccan dam, he remained there until January 28, when he returned to his rear base. The operations, the police rounds and then the presence continued in the regions of La Calle, El Milia, Philippeville until March 18, 1962, the date of the ceasefire that the regiment learned of at Telergma. In less than seven years, more than 4,000 rebels were put out of action and nearly 4,000 individual weapons and more than 200 collective weapons were seized.
The regiment left the Constantinois on August 30, 1962, after an almost continuous presence of 6 years in the same region. On September 16, it regroups at Bou Sfer in the enclave of the strategic base of Mers el-Kébir.
1962-1967 the transition
From 1962 and the signing of the Évian agreements, the French army gradually left Algeria to be repatriated to a garrison in metropolitan France. The Foreign Legion is no exception and its units are beginning, for the first time in their history, to garrison in mainland France.
For the 2nd REP, this move will be done gradually between 1965 and 1967. From its new garrison of Bou-Sfer, the last French base on Algerian territory, the regiment will send units to prepare the new district, located in Calvi, in Corsica. This area is the former base of the 1st Shock Battalion of the 11th Shock Parachute Demi-Brigade, disbanded in 1963.
The complete move of the regiment will be effective in 1967.
This period, the first period of peace in the history of the regiment after 14 years of existence, is synonymous with great idleness and a significant drop in morale among the legionnaires. These, on the strength of their military victories in Indochina and on North African territory, must face political decisions that they find difficult to understand. Moreover, the dissolution of their "sister regiment", the 1erREP, following the generals' putsch, left room for great disarray.
In addition, the regiment, quartered in a camp, from which it has no right to leave, surrounded on all sides by the Algerian army against which it had just waged 8 years of war, no longer carries out operational activities. . Training and routine sap the spirit of legionnaires.
It was at this time, at the instigation of Colonel Caillaud, that the companies began to specialize in a particular combat:anti-tank combat for the 1st, mountain for the 2nd, amphibious for the 3rd and destruction for the 4th.
1967-1978 the Kolwezi clash
Chad 1969-1970
Operation Tacaud 1978
Operation Bonite (Kolwezi) 1978
1978-2008 foreign operations
In 1994, the COMPARA (parachute company) that the REP was arming in Djibouti (13th DBLE) was dissolved. Nevertheless, the 2nd REP continued to provide a "captive" tour every year until the closure of the 13th on June 13, 2011.
Operation Manta in Chad in 1983 and 1984
FMSB in Lebanon in 1982 then UNIFIL
Operation Sparrowhawk since 1986 (still relevant in 2008)
Operation Iskoutir in Djibouti from 1992 to 1999
UN 1992 Sarajevo (Bosnia)
Operation Noroit in Rwanda in 1990 and 1992
Operation Almandin in the Central African Republic in 1996
SFOR and IFOR in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1995-1996
Operation Pelican in the Republic of Congo in 1997
KFOR in Kosovo in 2000
Operation Unicorn in the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire in 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2010
Operation Serval in Mali in 2013, then Barkhane in the Sahelo-Saharan strip in 2015.
2008 to present
The configuration of the REP did not fundamentally change until 2010 and the regiment continued to be engaged in theaters of external operations, such as Afghanistan (ISAF in O.M.L.T. in 2008 and 2012, in GTIA (Altor in 2010) and SGTIA (Ba cum in 2011) within the La Fayette Brigade.
In January 2011, the Calvi4 defense base was created. Colonel Plessy is the first commander of the so-called type 1 defense base, while being the corps commander of the 2nd REP. Some of the services that belonged to the regiment (human resources, financial administration, life support, common support) are now affiliated with the army support chain. The CAS legionnaires now arm the support group of this defense base and ensure the functioning of the 2nd REP and the units attached to the base.
This reorganization does not impact the operational capacity of the regiment which continues to send units on short-term missions to Djibouti (until the departure of the 13th DBLE in 2011), Gabon, New Caledonia and, from 2012 , United Arab Emirates.
In 2012, one of the units projected to the United Arab Emirates participated in the protection of the French military hospital during Operation Tamour in Jordan.
On the night of January 27 to 28, 2013, a company from the 2nd REP parachuted into the city of Timbuktu, as part of Operation Serval in Mali, a first since Operation Bonite (Kolwezi) in 1978.
Between April 7 and April 13, 2015, 3 sections of the regiment jumped into northern Niger.
Traditions
Currency
More majorum (In the way of the ancients)
Singing
Marching Song:The Marching Legion
Decorations
His flag is decorated:
From the Croix de guerre for external theaters of operations, with six palms (six citations to the order of the army) obtained during the Indochina campaign;
The 6 palms obtained during 'the same campaign gives the regiment the right to wear the red fourragère, in the colors of the Legion of Honor ribbon with olive in the colors of the TOE War Cross;
De la Croix of Military Valor with palms with citations for:
the intervention in Loyada (Djibouti, border with Somalia) in 1976 and Kolwezi in 1978,
the interventions in Afghanistan as part of the ISAF (2 palms)
the jump over Timbuktu during Operation Serval (in 2013)
The attribution of two citations for the same theater confers the right to wear the fourragère in the colors of the Cross of Military Valor (from July 2013) and the olive in the colors of the Military Medal for all four quotes.
TOE War Cross
Fourragère in the colors of the Legion of Honor ribbon
Leaders
2nd BEP
1948:Captain Solnon
1950:Captain Dussert
1950:Raffalli squadron leader
1952:Bloch battalion commander
1953:Major Merglen
1953:Major Liesenfelt
1954:Captain Vial
1954:Major Masselot
2nd REP
1955:Lieutenant-Colonel Devismes
1958:Major Masselot
1958:Colonel Lefort
1960:Lieutenant-Colonel Darmuzai
1961:lieutenant-colonel Chenel
1963:lieutenant-colonel Caillaud
1965:lieutenant-colonel Arnaud de Foïard
1967:lieutenant-colonel Lacaze
1970:lieutenant-colonel Dupoux
1972:lieutenant-colonel Goupil
1974:Lieutenant-Colonel Brette
1976:Colonel Erulin
1978:Lieutenant-Colonel Roué
1980:Colonel Guignon
1982:lieutenant-colonel Janvier
1984:colonel Germanos
1986:colonel Wabinski
1988:colonel Coevoet
1990:Colonel Gau sserès
1992:Colonel Poulet
1994:Colonel Dary
1996:Colonel Puga
1998 :lieutenant-colonel Prevost
2000 :colonel Bouquin
2002 :colonel Maurin
2004 :colonel Paulet
2006:Colonel Houdet
2008:Colonel Bellot des Minières
2010:Colonel Plessy
2012:Colonel Desmeulles
2014:Colonel Meunier
Achievements
The regiment distinguished itself in combat:
In Indochina from 1948 to 1954
In Algeria from 1954 to 1962
In Chad (Operation Tacaud) in 1969
In Djibouti ( Loyada's intervention on the Somali border) in 1976
In Zaire (Operation Bonite Kolwezi) in 1978
In Chad (Operation Manta - fighting in N'Djamena) in 1990
In Iraq (GCP - operation Daguet) in 1991
In Somalia (operation Oryx) in 1992
In Rwanda (operation Noroit) in 1990 and 1992
In the Central African Republic (operation Almandin) in 1996
In Congo-Brazzaville (operation Pelican) in 1997
In Côte d'Ivoire (Operation Licorne) in 2002
In the Central African Republic (GCP - Birao) in 2006
In Afghanistan (Operation Pamir) in 2010 and 2011.
In Mali during Operation Serval a legionnaire was killed in action on 02/19/2013.
The 2nd REP was also deployed in 1982 in Lebanon (Operation Epaulard), in Gabon (Operation Shark) in 1990, in Djibouti (Operation Iskoutir), in Bosnia (Sarajevo 1992, FRR 1995, KFOR 1999), in Kosovo (Operation Trident in 2000), as an interposition or evacuation force.
Personalities who served in the regiment
Battalion Commander Morin, behind the creation of the Legion's parachute units
Colonel Philippe Erulin - Corps Commander during Operation Bonite in Kolwezi
Squadron leader Rémy Raffalli, killed in action
Adrien Jaulmes, 1CIE platoon leader, journalist at Le Figaro, 2002 Albert-Londres prize
Raymond Muelle , French paratrooper officer and writer
Simon Murray
Anthony Hunter-Choat
Current organization (2012)
The 2nd foreign parachute regiment has four combat companies, a lighting and support company, a command and logistics company, an administration and support company arming the Defense Base support group which is attached, as well as a maintenance company. The regiment also has a reserve company. The overall strength is approximately 1,130 men.
The CCL or command and logistics company, brings together all the operational services necessary for the command of the regiment in projection (communications, instruction operations office, medical service, transport section, maintenance, etc.). Its mission is also to train young legionnaires from training with a view to obtaining the military parachutist certificate (BPM).
The CMR, regimental maintenance company or 5th company of maintenance. Created in 1994, it provides support for the regiment's equipment and all the military organizations stationed in Corsica. It is armed, in certain maintenance specialties, by Army personnel belonging to the general regime.
The 1st company:originally specialized in night combat, the 1st company is now specialized in combat in localities, in urban areas and in crowd control.
The 2nd company:specialized in mountain combat. The executives are specialized in this field within the EMHM (High Mountain Military School) in Chamonix. The unit takes advantage of its chalet at Vergio to train in the mountains, especially on the GR20.
The 3rd company:specialized in amphibious combat and more particularly the seizure of bridgeheads. Some personnel are trained as Army divers. This company relies on its amphibious center to perfect its training.
The 4th company:specialized in precision shooting and the use of explosives, this company excels in breaking combat on enemy rear.
The CEA or lighting and support company. It brings together within it the support of the regiment, which can be placed directly under the command of the corps commander. It consists of a regimental reconnaissance section (SRR), an anti-tank section (SAC, equipped with Milan missiles), a sniper section (STE, equipped with 12.7 mm PGM rifles ) and the parachute commando section belonging to the Parachute Commando Group (GCP).
The CAS or administration and support company. It equips the Calvi Defense Base Support Group, which brings together all the services responsible for the general administration and common support of the Calvi Defense Base (Human Resources Department, Administrative and Financial Department, Social Environment Office and human, infrastructure section, mess circle, etc.).
The UIR, reserve intervention company (or 6th Company). Heir to the traditions of the 173rd infantry regiment (regiment stationed in Corsica), it allows, among other things, to arm forest fire surveillance patrols in Corsica when Hephaestus alerts are triggered.
All combat companies are made up of a command section, a support section (81 mm LLR mortars and Milan anti-tank missiles) and 3 combat sections.
The 2nd REP has a mountain chalet located at the Vergio pass, not far from Monte Cinto, an amphibious training center in the bay of Calvi as well as a local combat village located at Camp Frasselli, on the town of Bonifacio, in the extreme south of Corsica.