Editing French Foreign Legion (section)

===Marching Regiments of the Foreign Legion===
{{Main|Joseph Joffre|Ferdinand Foch|Moroccan Division (France)}}

[[File:RMLE - 1918.jpg|thumb|right|Review of the [[Marching Regiment of the Foreign Legion]], RMLE at the end of November 1918]]

====World War I 1914–1918====
{{Main|1st Foreign Regiment|Marching Regiment of the Foreign Legion|Paul-Frédéric Rollet}}

[[File:Americans in French Foreign Legion 1916.jpg|thumb|left|Americans in the Foreign Legion, 1916]]
[[File:Alan seeger foreign legion.jpg|thumb|upright=0.55|American poet [[Alan Seeger]] (1888–1916),<br /> in his [[Marching Regiment of the Foreign Legion|Marching Regiment]] uniform]]
The annexation of [[Alsace]] and [[Lorraine]] by Germany in 1871 led to numerous volunteers from the two regions enlisting in the Foreign Legion, which gave them the option of French citizenship at the end of their service.<ref name="legion-etrangere.com">{{citation  |url=http://www.legion-etrangere.com/mdl/info_seul.php?id=413&block=17&titre=legio-patria-nostra |work= Official Website of General Command of Foreign Legion |title= (C.O.M.L.E), Editorial of C.O.M.L.E in ''Képi Blanc''}}</ref>

With the declaration of war on 29 July 1914, a call was made for foreigners residing in France to support their adopted country. While many would have preferred direct enlistment in the regular French Army, the only option immediately available was that of the Foreign Legion. On 3 August 1914 a reported 8,000 volunteers applied to enlist in the Paris recruiting office of the Legion.

In World War I, the Foreign Legion fought in many critical battles on the Western Front, including [[Second Battle of Artois|Artois]], [[Second Battle of Champagne|Champagne]], [[Battle of the Somme|Somme]], [[Second Battle of the Aisne|Aisne]], and [[Battle of Verdun|Verdun]] (in 1917), and also suffered heavy casualties during 1918. The Foreign Legion was also in the [[Gallipoli Campaign|Dardanelles]] and [[Macedonian front (World War I)|Macedonian front]], and was highly decorated for its efforts. Many young foreigners volunteered for the Foreign Legion when the war broke out in 1914. There were marked differences between the idealistic volunteers of 1914 and the hardened men of the old Legion, making assimilation difficult. Nevertheless, the old and the new men of the Foreign Legion fought and died in vicious battles on the Western front, including [[Belloy-en-Santerre]] during the [[Battle of the Somme]], where the poet [[Alan Seeger]], after being mortally wounded by machine-gun fire, cheered on the rest of his advancing battalion.<ref>Shortly before his death, Seeger wrote, "I have a rendez-vous with Death, at some disputed barricade. ... And I to my pledged word am true, I shall not fail that rendezvous."</ref>

====Interwar period 1918–1939====
{{Main|1st Foreign Regiment|Paul-Frédéric Rollet|Marching Regiment of the Foreign Legion|}}
[[File:Paul-Frédéric Rollet.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Paul-Frédéric Rollet]] (1875–1941)<br />''[[Foreign Legion Command|The Father of the Legion]]'']]

While suffering heavy casualties on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] the [[Marching Regiment of the Foreign Legion|Legion]] had emerged from World War I with an enhanced reputation and as one of the most highly decorated units in the [[French Army]].<ref name="RifPorch1">Porch pp. 382–383</ref> In 1919, the government of Spain raised the [[Spanish Legion|Spanish Foreign Legion]] and modeled it after the French Foreign Legion.<ref name=RifPorch1 /> General [[Jean Jules Henri Mordacq|Jean Mordacq]] intended to rebuild the Foreign Legion as a larger military formation, doing away with the legion's traditional role as a solely infantry formation.<ref name=RifPorch1 /> General Mordacq envisioned a Foreign Legion consisting not of regiments, but of divisions with cavalry, engineer, and artillery regiments in addition to the legion's infantry mainstay.<ref name=RifPorch1 /> In 1920, decrees ordained the establishment of regiments of cavalry and artillery.<ref name=RifPorch1 /> Immediately following the [[armistice]] the Foreign Legion experienced an increase of enlistments.<ref name="RifWindrow1">Windrow</ref> The Foreign Legion began the process of reorganizing and redeploying to Algeria.<ref name=RifPorch1 />

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-00723, Marokko, Fremdenlegionäre.jpg|thumb|Legionnaires in Morocco, c.&nbsp;1920]]

The Legion played a major part in the [[Rif War]] of 1920–25. In 1932, the Foreign Legion consisted of 30,000 men, serving in six multi-battalion regiments including the [[1st Foreign Regiment (France)|1st Foreign Infantry Regiment]] 1<sup>er</sup> REI – [[Algeria]], [[Syria]] and [[Lebanon]]; [[2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (France)|2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment]] 2<sup>ème</sup> REI, [[3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment]] 3<sup>ème</sup> REI, and [[4th Foreign Regiment (France)|4th Foreign Infantry Regiment]] 4<sup>ème</sup> REI – [[Morocco]], Lebanon; [[5th Foreign Infantry Regiment|5th Foreign Infantry]] 5<sup>ème</sup> REI – [[Indochina]]; and [[1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment]] 1<sup>er</sup> REC – Lebanon, [[Tunisia]] and Morocco.
In 1931, [[Général]] [[Paul-Frédéric Rollet]] assumed the role of [[Inspection of the Foreign Legion|1st Inspector of the Foreign Legion]], a post created at his initiative. While serving as [[colonel]] of the 1st Foreign Infantry Regiment (1925–1931), [[Paul-Frédéric Rollet|Rollet]] was responsible for planning the centennial celebrations of the Legion's foundation; scheduling this event for [[Battle of Camarón|Camarón]] Day 30 April 1931. He was subsequently credited with creating much of the modern mystique of the Legion by restoring or creating many of its traditions.

====World War II 1939–1945====
{{Main|Jean de Lattre de Tassigny|Marching Regiment of the Foreign Legion|Raoul Magrin-Vernerey}}

[[File:Free French Foreign Legionnairs.jpg|thumb|[[Free France|Free French]] Legionnaires assaulting an [[Axis powers|Axis]] strong point at the [[battle of Bir Hakeim]], 1942]]

The Foreign Legion played a smaller role in [[World War II]] in mainland Europe than in World War I, though it saw involvement in many exterior theatres of operations, notably [[French Navy|sea-transport protection]] through to the [[Norwegian campaign|Norwegian]], [[Syria–Lebanon campaign|Syria-Lebanon]], and [[North African campaign]]s. The [[13th Demi-Brigade of the Foreign Legion|13th Demi-Brigade]], formed for service in Norway, found itself in the UK at the time of the [[Armistice of 22 June 1940|French Armistice]] (June 1940), was deployed to the British 8th Army in North Africa and distinguished itself in the [[Battle of Bir Hakeim]] (1942). Reflecting the divisions of the time, part of the Foreign Legion joined the [[Free French Forces|Free French]] movement while another part served the [[Vichy France|Vichy]] government. Germany incorporated German legionnaires into the [[Wehrmacht]]'s [[90th Light Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)|90th Light Infantry Division]] in North Africa.<ref name="LJohn_Pg199">{{cite book|last= Littlejohn|first= David |title= Foreign Legions of the Third Reich: Volume 1: Norway, Denmark and France|year=1979|publisher= R. James Bender|location=San Jose|isbn=0912138173|page=199}}</ref>

The [[Syria–Lebanon Campaign]] of June 1941 saw legionnaire fighting legionnaire as the [[13th Demi-Brigade of the Foreign Legion|13<sup>e</sup> D.B.L.E]] clashed with the [[6th Foreign Infantry Regiment]] 6<sup>e</sup> REI at [[Battle of Damascus (1941)|Damascus]]. Nevertheless, many legionnaires of the 6th Foreign Infantry Regiment 6<sup>e</sup> (dissolved on 31 December 1941) integrated into the [[Marching Regiment of the Foreign Legion]] R.M.L.E in 1942. Later, a thousand of the rank-and-file of the [[Vichy France|Vichy Legion]] unit joined the 13<sup>e</sup> D.B.L.E. of the [[Free French]] forces which were also part (as of September 1944) of [[Jean de Lattre de Tassigny]]'s successful amalgam of the French Liberation Army ({{langx|fr|[[Armée française de la Libération]]}}), the (400,000 men) amalgam consisted of the [[Armistice Army]], the [[Free France|Free French Forces]] and the [[French Forces of the Interior]] which formed Army B and later became part of the [[First Army (France)|French 1st Army]] with forces also issued from the [[French Resistance]].

==== Alsace-Lorraine ====
{{Main|Alsace-Lorraine}}

Following World War II, many French-speaking former German soldiers joined the Foreign Legion to pursue a military career, an option no longer possible in Germany, including French German soldiers of [[Malgré-nous]]. It would have been considered problematic if the men from [[Alsace-Lorraine]] had not spoken French. These French-speaking former German soldiers made up as much as 60 percent of the Legion during the war in Indochina. Contrary to popular belief however, French policy was to exclude former members of the [[Waffen-SS]], and candidates for induction were refused if they exhibited the tell-tale blood type tattoo, or even a scar that might be masking it.<ref name="DPorch">{{cite book|last=Porch|first=Douglas|title=The French Foreign Legion: A Complete History of the Legendary Fighting Force|year=1991|publisher=HarperCollins Canada, Limited|isbn=978-1616080686|page=531}}</ref>

The high percentage of Germans was contrary to normal policy concerning a single dominant nationality, and in more recent times Germans have made up a much smaller percentage of the Foreign Legion's composition.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://secretdefense.blogs.liberation.fr/defense/2008/11/la-lgion-saccro.html|title=Secret Défense – La Légion étrangère s'accroche à ses effectifs – Libération.fr|author=Jean-Dominique Merchet|work=liberation.fr|access-date=6 November 2008|archive-date=11 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141211121609/http://secretdefense.blogs.liberation.fr/defense/2008/11/la-lgion-saccro.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>