13th Demi-Brigade of the Foreign Legion
| 13th Half-Brigade of the Foreign Legion (13e Demi-Brigade de Légion Étrangère) |
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|---|---|
Badge of the 13th Foreign Legion Demi-Brigade
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| Active | 20 February 1940 – present |
| Country |
 France
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| Allegiance |
 French Foreign Legion
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| Branch |
French Army
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| Type | Mechanized Infantry |
| Role | Security Assistance Desert Warfare |
| Part of | 6th Light Armoured Brigade 6e BLB |
| Garrison/HQ | Camp Larzac |
| Nickname(s) | The Demi Brigade (English) Phalange Magnifique (Magnificent Phalanx) |
| Motto(s) | More Majorum (after the custom (or manner) of our ancestors) |
| March |
Nos képis blancs (Sous le soleil brulant d'Afrique) |
| Anniversaries | Camerone Day (April 30) and Christmas |
| Engagements |
World War II *Battles of Narvik *Battle of Dakar *Battle of Gabon *Battle of Keren *Syria-Lebanon Campaign *Battle of Bir Hakeim *Second Battle of El Alamein *Tunisia Campaign *Italian Campaign *Operation Dragoon *Bataille des Vosges *Colmar Pocket *Western Allied invasion of Germany First Indochina War *Battle of Hoa Binh *Battle of Dien Bien Phu Algerian War *Operation Jumelles Global War on Terrorism (2001–present) |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander |
Colonel Nicolas HEUZE |
| Notable commanders |
Raoul Magrin-Vernerey Dimitri Amilakvari Gabriel Brunet de Sairigné Jules Gaucher Bernard Saint-Hillier |
| Insignia | |
| Insignia of the 13 Demi Brigade |  |
| Abbreviation | 13e DBLE |
The 13th Demi-Brigade of Foreign Legion (French: 13e Demi-Brigade de Légion Étrangère, 13e DBLE), was created in 1940, and, with the Senegalese Tirailleur Regiment of Tchad (French: , RTST), one of the two regiments which rallied as a constituted unit of the Free French Forces (FFL). From the coast of Norway to Bir Hakeim, to Africa then the Alsace, while passing by the Levant and parts of Europe, the 13th Demi-Brigade would be part of most of the major campaigns of armed forces of France during the Second World War.
After having been engaged in Indochina from 1946 to 1954, the 13e DBLE joined Algeria, and left in 1962. The 13e DBLE was based until 2011 at quartier Général Monclar in Djibouti, in virtue of an accord between France and the Republic of Djibouti in 1977. During 2011, the structure of the unit was altered at the occasion of the move to the United Arab Emirates. In 2016, the unit garrisoned at camp Larzac.
Like all outre-mer units, the 13e DBLE was composed in part of permanent and in another part of units in short duration (French: mission de courte durée, MCD) of four months. The particularity of this Phalange Magnifique was that unit's personnel in MCD are almost all issued from the French Foreign Legion. The vast desert spaces and facilities of inter-arm cooperation allowed a qualitative training of various units. Accordingly, units were able to further specialize their desert combat functions.
In 2016, the 13e DBLE joined Camp du Larzac to integrate the 6th Light Armoured Brigade. Accordingly, the unit found back again the national territory which was left at creation in 1940. For the anecdote, it was in the same camp that the unit was formed (and took its designation on March 27, 1940) by regrouping elements coming in from North Africa.
This unit of the Legion was created on March 1, 1940 within the cadre of the Franco-British expeditionary corps destined to intervene initially in Finland. The first denomination of this unit was 13th Marching Demi-Brigade of the Foreign Legion (13e DBMLE).
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Wikipedia