science

Saharan Companies of the French Foreign Legion

Saharan Companies of the French Foreign Legion is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Saharan Companies of the French Foreign Legion rather than just read about it. In short: The Saharan Mounted Companies of the Foreign Legion consisted of legionnaires of various nationalities and races transferred from the existing Foreign Legion infantry and cavalry regiments. These units were different from the Saharan Méharistes Companies (a separate camel corps with Arab/Berbers personnel recruited from Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, with French officers).

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Reference excerpt

The Saharan Mounted Companies of the Foreign Legion consisted of legionnaires of various nationalities and races transferred from the existing Foreign Legion infantry and cavalry regiments. These units were different from the Saharan Méharistes Companies (a separate camel corps with Arab/Berbers personnel recruited from Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, with French officers).

History since 1800 A camel regiment (Régiment de Dromadaires) was created by Napoleon Bonaparte during the Egyptian Campaign in 1799 and 1801. Following the French occupation of Algeria, the use of mules and camels for military purposes was trialled between 1843 and 1848. Mules continued to be used for carrying supplies but no operational requirements justifying the employment of camels emerged until French expansion reached the boundaries of the Sahara. The first military-mule units were created in 1885, during the occupation of South-Oran. They were organized in units of 250 men, each divided into two platoons of two section. Each mule was shared between two soldiers, carrying their equipment as well as one man at a time. The pair of soldiers would alternate between riding and walking, for long-distance marches. The mule companies were established as permanent units in 1901 at the initiative of Commandant François-Henry Laperrine. Their designations, numbers and areas of operation changed with time. These mule units were generally employed as and where needed, and were not permanently stationed in specific territories. The law of March 30, 1902 created five Saharan companies. Three other companies formed of four platoons each already existed in the French Levant as well as nomadic groups in French West Africa. The latter were based respectively at Fort-Polignac (Tassili), Tindouff, El Oued, Adrar, and Tamanrasset. These mule and camel companies were commanded by officers of the Indigenous Affairs Bureau and depended on the directorate of the infantry. Each of the Méhariste (camel mounted) units included 68 dromedaries (Méharis). However, several Mounted Saharan Companies where created at Ouargla, Columb-Becharm and Ain Sefra, Laghouat and Sebha for Mounted Saharan Companies of the Foreign Legion (CSPLE). Later, these companies were merged to form four distinct companies of Mounted Saharan Companies of the Foreign Legion (CSPL). Although it had no connection with the Foreign Legion, a Méharistes Company was also created in 1921 in Palmyra during the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon under the designation of 1st Méhariste Company of the Levant. Recruited from locally recruited personnel with mostly French officers, the company became in 1936 the 1st Light Desert Company (French: 1ére Compagnie Légère du Désert) and was dissolved in June 1945.

Saharan units of the Foreign Legion

1st company On November 1, 1940, the Automobile Company of the 1st Foreign Infantry Regiment (1er REI) became an autonomous unit, designated as the Mounted Saharan Company of the Legion (Compagnie Saharienne Portée de la Légion, CSPL). The company first garrisoned at Tabelbala then Aïn Sefra from March 1944. On March 15, 1946, the company formed two new companies being the 1st Mounted Saharan Company of the Legion (1reCSPL) and the 2nd Mounted Saharan Company of the Legion (2eCSPL). The 1st Mounted Saharan Company of the Legion (1re CSPL) garrisoned at Fort-Flatters in 1955 then at Ksar El Hirane in 1960. On January 1, 1961, the 1st Mounted Saharan Company of the Legion (1re Compagnie Saharienne Portée de la Légion, 1re CSPL) became the 1st Mounted Saharan Squadron of the Foreign Legion (1er Escadron Saharien Porté de la Légion Etrangère, 1er ESPLE).

1st squadron Equipped with light armor (French: Véhicule militaire blindé), the squadron was assimilated to a unit of the Armored Corps (French: Arme blindée et cavalerie) within armament. This unit formed a corps and was independent at the same title of an actual regiment, much as its equipment as well as its missions. The squadron was stationed at ksar El Hirane, near Laghouat and mounted police patrols in the desert as well launched raids on spotted positions of the enemy. In 1961, following the generals putsch, the 1st Mounted Saharan Squadron of the Foreign Legion was charged with guarding arrested civilian and military participants, before their repatriation to France. In August 1962, the 1st Mounted Saharan Squadron of the Foreign Legion (French: 1er Escadron Saharien Porté de la Légion Etrangère, 1er ESPLE) lost three men in action, including lieutenant Gélas. These were the last French fatalities of the Algerian War. Stationed at Reggane and at Aoulef since July 1962, the squadron was dissolved and integrated into the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e REI) on March 1, 1963. On this date the newly integrated squadron became the regiment's 7th mounted company (French: 7e compagnie portée). Commandants of 1re ESPLE

Capitaine Gaud: January 1, 1961 - May 18, 1961 Lieutenant Lajouaine: May 18, 1961 - end of June 1961 (interim) Capitaine Vonderheyden : End of June 1961 - March 1, 1963 Capitaine Sukic : May 1, 1962 - March 1, 1963

2nd company The 2nd Mounted Saharan Company of the Legion (French: 2e Compagnie Saharienne Portée de la Légion, 2e CSPL) was created on March 15, 1946 by doubling the Mounted Saharan Company of the Legion (CSPL) and garrisoned at Ouargla, then in 1948 garrisoned at Laghouat. In 1954, the company intervened in Gafsa in Tunisia then participated to the war in Algeria. Dissolved on March 31, 1963, the company became the 1st mounted company of the 4th Foreign Infantry Regiment (4e REI).

3rd company The 3rd Mounted Saharan Company of the Legion (French: 2e Compagnie Saharienne Portée de la Légion, 3e CSPL) was created on February 1, 1949 in French Algeria at Sidi-bel-Abbas and garrisoned at Fort Leclerc near the oasis of Sebha where the latter was charged with the surveillance of Fezzan until 1956 before rejoining the department of the Oasis. The unit was dissolved on March 31, 1963 and the company became the 7th then 3rd mounted company of the 4th Foreign Infantry Regiment (4e REI). The poet Pierre-Eugène Bourgin (French: Pierre-Eugène Bourgin) who signed his work under the pseudonym Von Palaïeff, served in this unit.

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Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Saharan Companies of the French Foreign Legion

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Saharan Companies of the French Foreign Legion claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Saharan Companies of the French Foreign Legion before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Saharan Companies of the French Foreign Legion ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Saharan Companies of the French Foreign Legion

In research: Saharan Companies of the French Foreign Legion appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Saharan Companies of the French Foreign Legion in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Saharan Companies of the French Foreign Legion is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Companies of the French Foreign Legion, Desert warfare, Military of French Algeria, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Saharan Companies of the French Foreign Legion outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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Frequently asked questions

What is Saharan Companies of the French Foreign Legion in simple terms?

Why does Saharan Companies of the French Foreign Legion matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

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Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

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It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Saharan Companies of the French Foreign Legion.