Editing French Foreign Legion (section)

====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]].