2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment

2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e régiment étranger d'infanterie)
Regimental badge of 2ème REI
Active	3 Apr 1841 – 1 Apr 1943 1 Aug 1945 – 1 Jan 1968 1 Sept 1972 – Present
Country	France
Allegiance	French Foreign Legion
Branch	French Army
Type	Infantry
Role	Mechanized infantry
Size	1230 men
Part of	31e Brigade (1981-1984) 6th Light Armoured Division (1990-1991) 6th Light Armored Brigade (1999-present)
Garrison/HQ	Nîmes, France
Nickname(s)	2e Étranger
Motto(s)	Être prêt ("Be ready")
Colors	Green and Red
March	Anne-Marie du "2"
Mascot(s)	Tapanar (mule)
Anniversaries	Camerone Day (April 30) and El-Moungar day (2 September)
Engagements	Pacification of Algeria Crimean War Second Italian War of Independence French intervention in Mexico Franco-Prussian War Sino-French War Second Franco-Dahomean War Second Madagascar expedition Maroc 1907–1913–1921–1934 World War I Rif War World War II First Indochina War Algerian War Chadian–Libyan conflict Lebanon 1982–1984 Gulf War Yugoslavia Wars Rwandan Civil War War in Afghanistan First Ivorian Civil War Second Ivorian Civil War Northern Mali conflict Central African Republic conflict (2012–present)
Commanders
Current commander	Colonel Valéry PUTZ
Notable commanders	François Certain Canrobert Patrice MacMahon
Insignia
Insignia of the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment
Abbreviation	2ème REI

31^e Brigade
(1981-1984)
6th Light Armoured Division
(1990-1991)

The 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (French: 2^e Régiment Étranger d'Infanterie, 2^e REI) is an infantry regiment of the French Foreign Legion. The regiment is one of two mechanized infantry regiments of the 6th Light Armoured Brigade The regiment is currently stationed at Quartier Colonel Marie Louis Henry de Granet-Lacroix de Chabrières; named in honor of Colonel de Chabrières who was shot in the chest while leading a charge of the regiment. Quartier Colonel Chabrières is situated in Nimes, a historical Roman city, in the south of France.

As a mobile infantry regiment, the 2^ème REI may undertake any mission being allocated to. The Regiment has responsibility for field testing new equipment for the French Army as a whole.

From 1841–1907 legionnaires from the 2nd Regiment where deployed in Algeria. In the early twentieth century, France faced numerous incidents, attacks and looting by uncontrolled armed groups, in the newly occupied areas in the south of Oran (Algeria). Under the command of General Lyautey, the French army's mission was to protect these areas newly controlled in the west of Algeria, near the poorly defined Moroccan boundaries.

This loose boundary, between French Algeria and the Sultanate of Morocco, promotes incursions and attacks perpetrated by Moroccan tribesmen.

On 17 August 1903, the first battle of the South-Oranese campaign took place in Taghit, where French Foreign legionnaires were assailed by a contingent of more than 1,000 well-equipped Berbers. For 3 days, the legionnaires repelled repeated attacks of an enemy more than 10 times higher in number, and inflicted huge losses on the attackers, forcing them finally into a hasty retreat.

A few months after the Battle of Taghit, 148 legionnaires of the 22nd mounted company, from the 2^ème REI, commanded by Captain Vauchez and Lieutenant Selchauhansen, 20 Spahis and two Mokhaznis were escorting a supply convoy, when they were ambushed at 9:30 am on 2 September by 3,000 Moroccans marauders. The half-company had halted to eat, no sentries had been posted and only a few cavalry pickets had been placed.