The French Foreign Legion has had a long and unique history amongst the units of the French Army. It was historically formed of expatriate enlisted personnel led by French officers. Founded by a royal ordinance issued by King Louis Philippe of France on March 9, 1831, with the aim of bolstering the strength of the French Army while also finding a use for the influx of refugees inundating France at the time. The Foreign Legion subsequently found a permanent home in the ranks of the French military. The Foreign Legion's history spans across the Conquest of Algeria, the Franco-Prussian War, numerous colonial exploits, both World Wars, the First Indochina War, and the Algerian War.
Background
The French had a history of employing regiments of foreign soldiers from an early date: such as Louis XI's creation of the Scottish Guards in the 15th century. Later kings, from Francois I to Louis XVI made use of both German and Swiss Regiments. Even after the Revolution, the National Assembly in June 1792 created a Foreign Volunteer Legion and in the Revolutionary Wars Dutch, Italian, and Polish soldiers were employed. Napoleon employed Hanoverian, Portuguese, and Spanish Legions, and Poles from the Vistula region.The French Foreign Legion by John Robert Young, Italy CN 8607
Following the fall of Napoleon in 1815, surviving units amalgamated under the title of the "Royal Foreign Legion", renamed in 1821 as the "Regiment of Hohenlohe" which was disbanded in 1831 at the instigation of the Foreign Legion.
Formation of the Legion On March 9, 1831, the Foreign Legion was created by a royal ordinance issued by King Louis Philippe, at the suggestion of Minister of War Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult. Nine days later, on March 18, 1831, an additional directive was issued restricting membership in the newly formed Legion of foreigners. The latter directive reflected the initial purpose of the Foreign Legion as a mechanism to lessen the potential disruption to the provisional French government and the newly enthroned House of Orléans posed by the large influx of foreigners following the collapse of the Bourbon Restoration in the previous year's July Revolution.Porch, Douglas (1992).The French Foreign Legion: The Complete History of the Legendary Fighting Force, pp. 2–4. HarperCollins, New York. . Some of these foreigners in France were the remnants of regiments formed during the campaigns of Napoleon of Germans, Swedes, Poles, Hungarians, and others. These foreign veterans had been left with little means and professional military training which proved to be of concern to the French government. Many had flocked to France following the July Revolution or came to France following failures of the revolutionary or independence movements throughout Europe; in addition to an influx of idealistic revolutionaries and nationalists, France also became home to large numbers of immigrants who had removed from their countries of origin for economic or personal reasons. This influx of foreigners had become a significant burden for the newly established French government's administrative capabilities; for example during March 1831 a depot established in Langres, France to accommodate these recent immigrants had been inundated to the point of overstretch.Jordan, David (2005). The History of the French Foreign Legion: From 1831 to Present, p. 8. Lyons Press, London. . Furthermore, French military operations in Algeria, which had commenced under Charles X, had proven unpopular with portions of the French populace as the campaign, despite its initial success, had become bogged down in the occupation of that country. The formation of the Foreign Legion would help address the domestic threat of dissidents fomenting political instability while contributing to government's colonial endeavors in Algeria.
As part of the Provisional Government's policy of removing potential dissidents from France, upon enlistment recruits were guaranteed anonymity as a condition of their service; information provided to the legion was accepted on face value.Lepage, Jean-Denis G. G. (2008). The French Foreign Legion: An Illustrated History. pp. 11–13. MacFarland & Sons, Jefferson. This was the beginning of what would become the tradition of enlisting volunteers under the anonymat. Officially enlistment of French nationals in the Legion was forbidden, so many French criminals who enlisted during this time claimed that they were French-speaking Swiss or Walloons. Such enlistments were not within the proposed scope of the Foreign Legion, however the Provisional Government proved not terribly distressed by the voluntary removal of members of a troublesome social element at a time when its control of the nation was less than concrete.
The formation of the Foreign Legion was fraught with difficulties from the outset.
The officer corps of the Foreign Legion comprised an assortment of Napoleonic-era officers, expatriate officers, and younger, more recently commissioned French officers. The Napoleonic-era officers were able to return to the French Army from semi-retired status following the July Revolution. Many Napoleonic-era veterans were forced into semi-retirement on half-pay by the Bourbon Dynasty which viewed their loyalty suspect and perceived these veterans as a threat.Jordan 2005, p. 8. However, during the interim many of these officers' martial skills had deteriorated in sixteen idle years. Officers of foreign extraction were mostly of Swiss, German, and Polish origin. Some of these officers came from units such as the Hohenlohe Regiment, an expatriate formation similar to the Foreign Legion. Many newly commissioned French officers in the Foreign Legion proved less than competent; since it was widely understood that the Foreign Legion was raised for service outside Metropolitan France, the postings entailed were viewed with little enthusiasm by many officers and the prospect of leading an émigré unit into combat had little allure to many capable officers. In additions to the problems within the Foreign Legion's officer cadre, the Foreign Legion lacked experienced non-commissioned officers and efforts to recruit veteran NCOs from retirement were largely unsuccessful.Porch p. 8 Non-commissioned officers by necessity were selected from the enlisted ranks; these men often proved ill-suited to the responsibilities of NCOs. At its inception the Foreign Legion was organized into a single regiment of seven battalions. Each battalion followed the form of a battalion of a regular French line infantry battalion; each battalion had eight companies of 112 men each. Each battalion was formed of men of specific nationalities or linguistic groups; the 1st Battalion was composed of veterans of the Swiss Guards and the Hohenlohe Regiment, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions were composed of Swiss and German volunteers, the 4th Battalion consisted of those of Spanish extraction, the 5th Battalion consisted mostly of a mixture of Sardinians and Italians, the 6th Battalion was formed of Belgians and Dutch, and the 7th Battalion consisted of volunteers of Polish origin.
As Algeria proved an unpopular posting with regular French Army regiments, the arrival of the Foreign Legion was welcomed.
First operations in Algeria
The Foreign Legion was first deployed to Algeria with the battalions of the legion arriving in batches between 1831 and 1832. In late 1831, the first legionnaires, members of the 1st Battalion, landed in Algeria. This battalion set about building a barracks and other facilities for the regiment's garrison in addition to draining a nearby marsh and constructing a road in the area.Jordan p. 11 Upon arriving in Algeria most of the Legion was stationed around Algiers; however the 4th Battalion was dispatched west of Algiers to help secure Oran while the 6th Battalion was dispatched east to assist in the occupation of Bône. On April 1, 1832, the Legion's new commander, Colonel Michel Combe, who was himself an ardent advocate of the role of light infantry in the French Army having previously established the Chasseurs à pied.Porch p. 15 Colonel Combe arrived in Algeria carrying the Legion's regimental colors which had been presented to the Legion by order of King Louis Philippe. Upon taking command, Colonel Combe did much to improve the regiment's reputation among the higher echelons of command by increasingly volunteering his regiment for engineering duties at a time they were seen as largely unfit for combat duty owing to the chronic discipline and organization problems it suffered. This allowed Colonel Combe and, perhaps more importantly, his cadre of NCOs to bring the regiment into rank and file discipline while still being of use to the occupation effort.
The Legion first entered combat when elements of the 3rd Battalions entered combat at the Battle of Maison Carrée approximately ten kilometers outside of Algiers, near the present-day area of El Harach. The French army of occupation was attempting secure the small strip of coast under French control with the construction of a series of blockhouses and other fortifications along its perimeter.Windrow, Martin. (1971). The French Foreign Legion (Men-at-Arms) p. 6. Osprey, Oxford. . The 3rd Battalion was deployed in the forward-most areas of French control, subjecting it to the dangers of raids by Algerians nomads, in particular the El Ouiffa tribe which was operating out of that area. The El Ouiffa tribe was responsible for numerous killings and other acts of lawlessness in the area and their presence had begun to demoralize the 3rd Battalion. Low morale and the constant stress of operating exposed to local attack had led to the beginning of desertions from the 3rd Battalion. The elements of the 1st and 3rd battalions involved in the action seized the buildings in the area occupied by the El Ouiffa tribe.
In Bône, the 6th Battalion, composed of Italians and Sardinians, performed admirably despite an outbreak of cholera throughout the battalion with all of companies still engaging in combat as part of the 2nd Brigade of the Army of Africa.
With the Spanish Civil War looming in 1834, Spain requested that the French government disband the 4th Battalion of the Legion, which consisted primarily of Spaniards, so that they might return to their homeland in the service of the standing government.Jordan p. 15 The 7th Battalion, composed of Polish volunteers, was thereafter re-designated as the 4th Battalion.
The elements of the Legion stationed across Algeria had been redeployed to Palma in the Balearic Islands by the beginning of August 1835. On September 16, 1835, after assembling as a whole unit for the first time the Foreign Legion departed for Spain.Azan, Paul. (1907). La Légion Étrangère en Espagne, 1835–1838. H. Charles-Lavauzelle, Paris.
The Foreign Legion in Spain
In order to support Isabella's claim to the Spanish throne against her uncle, the French government decided to send the Legion to Spain and so, on June 28, 1835, the Legion was handed over to the Spanish government. This had the added benefit that in the event that France decided to remove itself from the conflict in Spain, the government would not have to deal with the issue of extricating Frenchmen from conflict. The Legion disembarked at the port of Tarragona in Catalonia on 17 August with around 4,100 men. The calling them Los Argelinos (the Algerians) due to their previous posting. Upon his arrival Colonel Bernelle was granted the rank Marshall of the Royal Armies of Her Majestsy Isabelle II.Lepage p. 17