French Foreign Legion

French Foreign Legion
Légion étrangère
The Foreign Legion's grenade emblem
Active	10 March 1831 – present
Country	France
Branch	French Army
Type	Assault troops Light Infantry Foreign legion
Role	Land warfare Expeditionary warfare Airborne forces Special Operations Capable
Size	9,000 soldiers
Nickname(s)	La Légion "The Legion"
Patron	Saint Anthony[1]
Motto(s)	Honneur et Fidélité Legio Patria Nostra[2]
Branch colours Colour of Beret	Red and Green   Green[3][4]
March	Le Boudin[5]
Anniversaries	Camerone Day (30 April)
Engagements	French conquest of Algeria First Carlist War Crimean War Second Italian War of Independence French intervention in Mexico French campaign against Korea Franco-Prussian War Sino-French War Second Franco-Dahomean War Second Madagascar expedition Mandingo Wars World War I Levant Campaign Rif War World War II Syria–Lebanon Campaign First Indochina War Algerian War Chadian-Libyan conflict Shaba II Lebanese Civil War 1975–1990 United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (1978–present)[6] Multinational Force in Lebanon 1982–1984 Gulf War War on terror (2001–2008) Operation Enduring Freedom War in Afghanistan First Ivorian Civil War Second Ivorian Civil War Northern Mali conflict Central African Republic Civil War (2012–2021) Central African Republic conflict (2013–2014) Operation Sangaris (2013–2016) European Union Military Operation in the Central African Republic (2014–2015)
Website	legion-etrangere.com (official website) legion-recrute.com (official recruitment website)
Commanders
Commander	Brigadier General Cyrille Youchtchenko[7]
Notable commanders	Général Paul-Frédéric Rollet
Insignia
Non-ceremonial flag
Abbreviation	FFL (English) L.É. (French)

The French Foreign Legion (French: Légion étrangère) is an elite corps of the French Army that consists of several specialties: infantry, cavalry, engineers, and airborne troops.^[8] It was created in 1831 to allow foreign nationals into the French Army.^[9] It formed part of the Armée d’Afrique, the French Army's units associated with France's colonial project in North Africa, until the end of the Algerian War in 1962.^[10]

Legionnaires are highly trained soldiers and the French Foreign Legion is unique in that it is open to foreign recruits willing to serve in the French Armed Forces. The Legion is known today as a unit whose training focuses on traditional military skills and on its strong esprit de corps, as its men come from different countries with different cultures. Consequently, training is often described as not only physically challenging, but also very stressful psychologically. Legionnaires may apply for French citizenship after three years' service, or immediately after being wounded during a battle for France under a provision known as "Français par le sang versé" ("French by spilled blood").^[11]