Moroccan Division (France)

This article is about the French infantry division from World War I. For the Second World War division, see 1st Moroccan Division (1939).

1st Moroccan Division
or Moroccan Division
(1re Division Marocaine)
ActiveAugust 1914 – January 1927
Country France
AllegianceFrance
BranchFrench Army
TypeInfantry Division
RoleInfantry
Motto(s)Sans Peur Sans Pitié (Fr)
بلا خوف ولا شفقة (Ar)

(Topping a Crescent equally as inscribed in French and Arabic, Moroccan Division Memorial)

without Fear without Pity (Eng)
Engagements

1914 – Bataille de la Fosse-à-l'Eau
(French: Bataille de la Fosse-à-l'Eau)
1914 – First Battle of the Marne (Bataille des Marais de Saint-Gond)
(French: Bataille des Marais de Saint-Gond)
1915 – Bataille de l'Artois
1915 – 2e Bataille de Champagne
1916 – Bataille de la Somme
1917 – Bataille des monts de Champagne
1917 – Bataille de Verdun
1918 – Bataille de l'Aisne
1918 – Offensive des Cent-Jours

(Bataille de Vauxaillon)
(French: Bataille de Vauxaillon)
Insignia
Marching Division of MoroccoDivision de Marche du Maroc (D.M du Maroc)
1st Moroccan DivisionDivision Marocaine
1re Division Marocaine
(D.M, 1re D.M)

The Moroccan Division (French: Division marocaine, 1re D.M) or the 1st Moroccan Division of 1914, initially the Marching Division of Morocco (French: « Division de Marche du Maroc »D.M du Maroc) was an infantry division of France's Army of Africa (French: Armée d'Afrique) which participated in World War I.

During the major engagements of the Division, the composition of the latter consisted of, half of Maghrebi soldiers (Algerian and Tunisian Tirailleurs)[1] and the other half made of "European" soldiers (Marsouins ex-Infantry Colonial Troops, Zouaves and Legionnaires), the Moroccan Division illustrated capability in the First Battle of the Marne in September and the Second Battle of Artois of May 1915 where for the first time, a French division pierced the front.[2]

The Moroccan Division was one of the most decorated units of the French Army and all its regiments were cited at the orders of the armed forces at the end of the conflict.[3] The Moroccan Division was the only division of all French regimental colours to be decorated with the légion d’honneur throughout the course of World War I.[4]

The four principal units which composed formation of the Moroccan Division between 1914 and 1918 were the Marching Regiment of the Foreign Legion RMLE, the 4th Marching Tirailleurs Regiment 4e RTT, the 7th Marching Tirailleurs Regiment 7e RTA and 8th Marching Zouaves Regiment 8e RZ, all awarded the French fourragere with colours of the légion d’honneur at the end of the conflict.

  1. ^ "The regiments de marche were in fact formed from the Algerian and Tunisian battalions serving in Morocco at the time and not from Moroccans. These latter were to be found in the third independent brigade, the Brigade des Chasseurs Indigenes, known from September 1914 as the Brigade Marocaine, as its units were Moroccan, the future Tirailleurs Marocains", Anthony Clayton, France, Soldiers, and Africa, Brassey&s Defence Publ., 1988, p.96
  2. ^ « ... Le 9 mai 1915, les régiments de la division marocaine s’élançant à 10 heures des tranchées de Berthonval et brisant de haute lutte la résistance des allemands atteignirent d’un bond la côte 140, leur objectif, rompant pour la première fois le front ennemi »
  3. ^ Marc Michel, L'Afrique dans l'engrenage de la Grande Guerre, 1914–1918, Karthala, 2013, p.103
  4. ^ 4e R.T.T; 7e R.T.A; the R.M.L.E; 8e R.Z; Bulletin des lois de la République française, Imprimerie Royale, 1919, pp.2023–2035