The 13th Foreign Legion Demi-Brigade (13e DBLE) is the only combined arms unit of the Foreign Legion. Created in 1940, it is the only regiment in formed units to join the Free French Forces (FFL). From the coasts of Norway to the sands of Bir Hakeim, from Eritrea to Alsace, via Syria and Italy, it was part of all the campaigns of the Second World War.
The 13th DBLE left Algeria in 1962. It was based until 2011 at the Monclar headquarters in Djibouti, under an agreement between France and the Republic of Djibouti after the accession of this country to independence in 1977. During the summer of 2011, the structure of the regiment was significantly overhauled on the occasion of its move to the United Arab Emirates.
Like all overseas units, the 13th DBLE is made up partly of permanent staff and partly of units on short-term missions (MCD of 4 months). The particularity of the Falange Magnificent is that its personnel in MCD are almost all from the Foreign Legion. The large desert spaces and the facilities for joint cooperation allow quality training for the units on site. They can thus become hardened in combat in desert areas.
Creation and different denominations
This Legion unit was created on March 1, 1940 as part of the Franco-English expeditionary force intended to intervene initially in Finland. Its first denomination is 13th Marching Demi-Brigade of the Foreign Legion (13e DBMLE).
On July 1, 1940, the 1st battalion, 900 men, formed the 14th DBMLE in England within the FFL while the rest of the demi-brigade, 800 men mainly from the 2nd battalion, returned to Morocco and kept the name of 13th DBMLE .
On November 4, 1940, the Moroccan demi-brigade was disbanded, allowing the troops remaining in England to revert to the name of 13e DBLE.
History of campaigns, battles and garrisons
World War II
The unit is formed in North Africa from volunteers from other foreign units stationed there. It was then commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Raoul Magrin-Vernerey and initially comprised two battalions:
The 1st Battalion - CBA Guéninchault - Sidi bel-Abbès
The 2nd Battalion - CBA Boyer-Ressès - Fez
From May 13, 1940, she fought her first battles in Norway with General Béthouart's troops, where she captured Bjervik and then Narvik. The operation was a success but events in France forced her to be repatriated to France. The losses in Norway are 8 officers and 93 legionnaires including CBA Guéninchault.
The 13th DBLE landed in Brittany on June 4 with a view to forming the backbone of a Breton redoubt in mid-June. However, faced with the German advance, it was caught in the turmoil of the debacle. On June 21, the survivors of the demi-brigade managed to embark and reach Scotland. Those troops who did not hear the call of June 18 found other units of the Norwegian Expeditionary Force in the Trentham area. Those in the know only hear about the June 18 appeal in the following days, in the British press or by hearsay.
Adhering to this appeal, Captain Pierre Kœnig, deputy to Lieutenant-Colonel Raoul Magrin-Vernerey, convinced him to go to London, where they had a meeting with General De Gaulle. Magrin-Vernerey met General Antoine Béthouart, head of the Norwegian Expeditionary Force, who allowed him to meet his men at the Trentham Park camp on the evening of June 30. Out of 1,619 legionnaires present on June 28, a little less than 900 joined Free France, the others joined Morocco under the command of General Béthouard.
Then joining the camp of Aldershot, where they were grouped together with the Free French Forces, the 13th DBLE takes part in the July 14 parade in London.
The unit of the Free French Forces temporarily took, between July 1 and November 2, 1940, the name of 14th Foreign Legion demi-brigade, it was made up of:
a staff (with a command company and a regimental machine company) commanded by the CBA Cazaud
3 combat units
1 combat unit accompaniment
It was then strong with 25 officers, 102 non-commissioned officers and 702 non-commissioned members.
At the end of September 1940, the unit took part in Operation Menace against Dakar. Following the failure of the landing in Senegal, she ended up landing, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Cazaud, in French Equatorial Africa to participate, in November 1940, in the Gabon campaign and the rallying of the region to Free France, under the command of General de Larminat.
It then resumed its original name and, within the French Brigade in the Orient, circumnavigated Africa and landed in Port Sudan on February 12, 19415 to take part in the fighting in Eritrea against the Italian army. The brigade distinguished itself during the battle of Keren, on March 27, 1941, then of Massaoua on April 8, 1941).
During the following May, the unit moved to Palestine and the Qastina camp to participate in the Syria Campaign. The demi-brigade entered Syria on June 8 and after heavy fighting entered Damascus on June 21.
On September 6, 1941, Lieutenant-Colonel Prince Amilakvari took command of the unit.
In December, the 2nd (commander René Babonneau) and 3rd battalions left for North Africa where the unit, within the Koenig Brigade, faced the forces of the Afrika Korps.
Promoted battalion commander in September 1941, an excellent trainer of men, René Babonneau took command of the 2nd battalion which, at Bir Hakeim, on May 27, 1942, repelled the attack of more than 70 tanks of the Ariete Division, destroying 356 His battalion receives a citation at the order of the army. Staying behind to ensure the withdrawal, when leaving Bir Hakeim by force, on the night of June 10 to 11, 1942, he was taken prisoner and transferred to Italy, from where he tried to escape by twice.
From May to June 1942, part of the unit was covered in glory at the Battle of Bir-Hakeim. This was an opportunity for Pierre Messmer, captain and company commander, to later write a book:The Lost Patrol. Then the "13" takes part in the second battle of El Alamein, where its leader is killed.
When the 1st DFL was set up in early 1943, the DBLE disappeared as a troop corps and its three units (the 1st BLE, 2nd BLE and the 13th anti-tank company) were incorporated into the division's 1st brigade.
It then fought in the French Expeditionary Force in Italy and then landed in Provence as part of Operation Dragoon in mid-August 1944. The demi-brigade took part in the liberation of France within the 1st French Army, notably in the course of the Battle of the Vosges.
On April 6, 1945, the unit was awarded the Croix de la Liberation.
Indochina War
Designated to be part of the French expeditionary force in the Far East, the 13th DBLE disembarked from the SS Ormonde on February 6, 1946 in Saigon and settled in the north of the city, in the Gia Dinh -Thu Duc - Hoc Mon triangle.
Operations begin, with June 19, 1946, the first combat at Mat Cat (Cochinchina). The 13th DBLE is engaged from the borders of Siam to Tourane, passing through the Plain of Reeds. His battalions are scattered.
The 1st Battalion in Cambodia pursues the Khmer Issarak, who are taking refuge in Siam.
The 2nd Battalion in Center Annam defends Tourane, frees Hué and sets up a series of posts around Quang Nam.
The 3rd battalion faces the hard fighting of Cochinchina, where daily ambushes alternate with actions of force.
The 13th DBLE took part in operations “Vega”, “Dragon II and III”, “Geneviève”, “Jonquille”, “Canigou”… Opponents often left many fighters there, as in Largauze on March 26, 1949. In 1950, the 13th DBLE, assembled in Cochinchina, receives a 4th battalion as reinforcements. She is designated to join the units whose mission is to clean the Plain of Reeds, the "cursed plain".
The pace of operations increases with the start of the dry season:“Potager”, “Normandy”, “Ramadan”, “Trois Provinces”, “Tulipes”, “Ulysse 3”, “Neptune”, “Revenche”. After this operation, the 13th DBLE is split again. Three battalions remain in Cochinchina where they participate in various operations "Araba", "Mandarine", "Pamplemousse", "Caiman".
On January 31, 1953, the 4th battalion was dissolved and the 3rd battalion was transformed into an itinerant battalion:it found itself in Tonkin, then in Hué, Na Sam, Xoang Xa, Than Hoa, in a series of hard fights.
Anecdotes
On September 29, 1946, the “indigenous” interpreter from the Trunq Chan post mixed datura with food:47 legionnaires were in a coma, but eight others fortunately preferred to take a shower before the meal. Seeing the state of their comrades, they asked for help and thus prevented the attack.
A year later, on August 19, 1947, another session of collective poisoning at the Ben Muong post . Armed with previous experience, the enemies cut the telephone wires and put the datura in the coffee. But a sergeant and four legionnaires did not have time to drink it when the attack broke out. One of them crosses the enemy lines unnoticed while the others stand up to the 150 attackers, not too aggressive, it is true, because they are convinced that they have only to wait to win without losses. A few hours later reinforcements arrived and the attackers became besieged.
On April 24, 1947, the sentry at the “Franchini” post saw a group of French soldiers arriving, pushing a bound prisoner in front of them. The sentry lets them into the post, but inside, at a sign from the would-be prisoner, they open fire, killing the seven legionnaires and four garrison partisans.
April 1948, a VM agent is arrested who offers legionnaires lighters. The price is very interesting, and yet it is not a bargain. The cotton is replaced by gun-cotton intended to explode at the first spark. But the lighters are sold without a stone, the seller claims to have run out of them and when a legionnaire takes one out of his pocket to try, the seller tries to run away.
Fights
The 13th DBLE was attacked at Ca Mau by 700 fighters on June 13, 1947.
At Cau Xang nine legionnaires defended the guard tower, to the death.
On August 23, 1947, the intervention company of the 3rd battalion was surprised by a numerically superior enemy. The legionnaires form the square and repel all attacks by singing the "Boudin". When the relief column arrived, the post deplored one killed and four wounded, but the enemy withdrew with three carts full of dead or wounded.
On March 1, 1948, a convoy of leave and escorted civilians takes the road from Saigon to Dalat and is ambushed. Lieutenant-Colonel de Sairigné, commanding officer of the 13th DBLE was killed among the first. The adversaries seize 134 civilians to serve as shields. The pursuit only results in the recovery of some of the hostages that the enemy is forced to abandon.
Ðien Biên Phu
At the end of 1953, the 13th DBLE gathered in Tonkin, the 2nd battalion in the Delta, the 1st and 3rd were at the battle of Ðien Biên Phu, where they held “Claudine” and “Béatrice” respectively. On the evening of March 13, 1954, after five attacks, "Béatrice" was submerged. The 3rd Battalion is dead and with it Lieutenant-Colonel Gaucher, its commanding officer. The survivors barely reached the strength of a company and at the rear base efforts were made to reconstitute the battalion, but time would run out. On May 7, everything is over. The camp of Diên Biên Phu is submerged and the 1st battalion disappears in its turn. The pennants of his units are destroyed in the last minutes. Only a few fragments of that of the 2nd company could be brought back to Sidi bel-Abbès by the legionnaires who shared it before falling into enemy hands. The war is over. The 13th DBLE deplores 80 officers, 307 non-commissioned officers, 2,334 legionnaires out of action.
War in Algeria
In 1955, the 13th DBLE returned to the African continent. Engaged in law enforcement operations in Algeria, the regiment landed in Tunis on June 28, 1955. Based in Guelma, it shines in the Constantinois, from North to South, in the Nememcha. He finds "caches", but no fighters. It is then the time of "pacification".
The 13th DBLE builds or restores posts:Khsirane is the first of a long series. The fight continues in the djebels, marked by very hard fights:Zaouia, Bou Zakadane, Ouindj, djebel Seike... In July 1957, a group of ALN fighters is destroyed.
Leaving the Nemenchtas, the 13th DBLE, reduced to two battalions, set up in the Aurès. The arid and desolate peaks give way to wooded massifs. At the beginning of 1958, three fights against the ALN fighters of Amrani's band forced the latter to refuse contact and to react with violence on the civilian population. Nearly 800 families come, in the middle of winter, to gather around the Bou Hamama post[ref. necessary]. On May 7, 1958, after a skirmish in Wadi Kelaa, Amrani's body, surrounded by those of his snipers, was found on the ground.
In October 1958, the 13th DBLE became an intervention regiment. It is then divided into eight combat companies, including the mounted company and the support company, employed, with some exceptions, like the companies of riflemen-acrobats. Two tactical staffs (EMT) headed several companies on demand. In general, the first three were subordinate to FEMTI, the 4, 5 and 6 to FEMT2, the CP and CA often being in support of one or the other EMT. The theoretical strength is 1,778 men, i.e. 57 officers, 249 non-commissioned officers, 1,472 troops. It was achieved for the officers thanks to a dozen conscripts, including three from the Health Service, but lower by a few dozen for the non-commissioned officers and the legionnaires. He had a small harka, which will be dissolved on June 1, 1961.
His itinerant mission takes him throughout Algeria, in a series of operations:"Emeraude", "Dordogne", "Georgevie", "Isère". From Kabylie to the peaks of the Atlas, from Algiers to the Challe Line called "East Dam" to the Tunisian border, then again in the Aurès where, on February 10, 1961, it put out of action 49 fighters from Willaya 1 and recover 29 weapons. She then returned to the famous "Duckbill", on the East Dam, where operations, patrols and ambushes followed one another until the end of the fighting in March 1962.
At the independence of Algeria, the regiment left 214 graves there
In 1958, the Humane Society of England awarded a medal to the Harka of the 13th DBLE who collected a starving donkey "Bambi", doomed to certain death. A photo showing a legionnaire carrying Bambi on his back during a unit trip was published on Paris Match and made the front page of several newspapers.
1962-1977
A first detachment joined Bougie to embark, at the end of April 1962, bound for the French Somali Coast (current Republic of Djibouti). Gradually, the other units will follow. The flag arrives in the territory on October 15 of the same year. The companies disembark one after the other at their new place of residence. Having never known peace during its first twenty-two years of existence, the "13" will finally be able to justify the reputation of builder that exists in any legionnaire.
It builds or improves existing positions.
The CCAS settles in Gabode,
the 1st company in Dikhil
the 2nd in Gabode (Works company)
the 3rd to Ali Sabieh and
4th to Holl-Holl.
E.R. (Reconnaissance Squadron) to Oueah
At that time, the strength of the regiment almost reached that of a large battalion. On October 1, 1968, the regiment set up a reconnaissance squadron. The 1st company gives him its place of establishment and leaves to settle in Dikhil. The 2nd company leaves Obock, takes the name of 2nd works company (2nd CT) and joins the staff and the CCAS in Gabode, district of Djibouti.
On August 25, 1966, the President of the Republic, General de Gaulle, visited the territory. The units of the regiment in parade dress render him the honours. Following the appearance of banners demanding the independence of the territory, demonstrations were triggered and three sections of the 2nd company intervened in parade dress around 8 and 10 p.m. A dozen officers and legionnaires were injured in the clashes which officially caused thirty-six injuries among the police and nineteen among the demonstrators.
The next day, after the death of two demonstrators in the morning, at 2 p.m., the corps commander received the order to evacuate Place Lagarde where General de Gaulle was to deliver a speech. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th companies as well as two sections of the CCAS are designated. The place is cleared in twenty-five minutes from 4:20 p.m. The clashes continue at the level of the "Bender" blocked by the police forces reinforced by the Legion. In total, there would have been one death and forty-six injuries among the police, three deaths and two hundred and thirty-eight injuries among the demonstrators.
The following days, one covers -fire is set up on the “indigenous town”, which is squared and searched by the patrols. From September 14, the "13" and the 5th RIAOM set up a dam that surrounded the city to filter the entrances and exits. Composed of rows of barbed wire (“ribard”) and watchtowers over 14 kilometers long, it was maintained until independence and even beyond. The number of people killed trying to cross it remains undetermined.
On March 20, 1967, the day after a referendum on the autonomy of the territory, independence demonstrations were again repressed by the men of the 3rd company. The end of the year 1967 and the year 1968 will still be the occasion of many tensions and operations to maintain order.
In 1976 the regiment and in particular the reconnaissance squadron intervened during the Loyada affair.
1977 to 2011
After the independence of the Republic of Djibouti (1977), the 13th DBLE regularly participates in military or humanitarian missions for the benefit of the territory or in the Horn of Africa.
In 1979, the 4th company was disbanded. His position in Holl-Holl was ceded to the AND (Djiboutian National Army). The regiment only retained the 3rd company, the 2nd CT, the CCAS, the squadron and the rotating company of the 2nd REP (detached company for 4 months), based in Arta.
Operational commitments follow one another. In May 1991, the regiment ensured control of the country's borders, which were overwhelmed by a massive influx of refugees from Ethiopia and collected, received and disarmed an Ethiopian division (Operation Godoria). In March 1992, it will be Operation Iskoutir. In December 1992, it was Operation Oryx, in Somalia, then a few months later, Operation UNOSOM II, where the legionnaires of the 13th served for the first time in their history under the blue helmet of the UN. In June 1994, the 3rd company was dispatched to Rwanda as part of Operation Turquoise and the regiment also took part in Operation Diapason in Yemen. That same year, in May, the COMPARA (parachute company), stationed in Arta and armed by the 2nd REP, was dissolved.
To all these operations should be added the occasional aid provided by the regiment to the young Republic during the natural disasters that regularly shook it. The legionnaires will thus intervene within the framework of the measures taken in the face of the floods but also in the face of the drought, to come to the aid of a population which has been hard hit each time. The 2nd CT is regularly called upon to carry out various works and constructions on the territory. The Legion's commemorative stones mark the efforts of a section that has worked for the benefit of the community on the territory's roads.
In addition to this last specificity, the 2nd CT will take the name of 2nd CAT (support and works company) by equipping itself with two support sections, one composed of 6 mortars of 120 mm and the other of 8 positions. shooting Milan.
This company was disbanded in 1998 to make way for a rotating engineering company armed with legionnaires from the 1st REG and then the 2nd REG.
In 2000, it was the turn of the 3rd infantry company to disappear, also replaced by a "rotating" unit armed alternately by units of the 2e REI and 2e REP. This last infantry unit of the 13th had a unique character. Indeed, like the companies of the 2nd REP, each of its sections had a specialty. The command section had a group of 81 mm mortars. The 1st section perfected its know-how in the field of sabotage and the handling of explosives. The 2nd section brought together the reconnaissance swimmers who were responsible for infiltration missions by sea using the inflatable boat or the flipper. The 3rd section brought together the snipers of the regiment and had Barret and FRF2. Finally, the 4th section had 5 VABs, two of which were equipped with 20 m/m guns.
In 2001, the FFD maintenance company was attached to the Demi-Brigade.
In 2002, elements of the regiment were sent to the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire as part of Operation Licorne.
After an intervention of a humanitarian nature, where an engineer section was sent to Indonesia in 2005 (Operation Béryx), to provide assistance and aid to the victims of the tsunami, the 13th resumed operations in March 2007. The tactical staff, the infantry company and an engineering detachment are urgently sent to the north of the Central African Republic to secure and stem the spread of violence in the area of the three borders (Chad, CAR, Sudan) in Birao.
In addition, the unit's legionnaires have been, since the early 2000s, regularly engaged in the form of DIO (operational instruction detachments) for the benefit of neighboring countries (Ethiopia, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, etc. .)
from 2011 to the present day
On July 31, 2011, the 13th DBLE left Djibouti to establish itself in Abu Dhabi in the French military establishment in the United Arab Emirates.
This move was the occasion for a profound restructuring, the unit going from the status of a combined arms operational combat unit to that of a support unit for projected forces. It nevertheless continues to be a bridgehead for operations in the region (Operation Tamour in 2012).
Traditions
Currency
More Majorum (In the way of the ancestors)
Flag
In the folds of the flag, are inscribed the names of the following battles:
CAMERONE 1863,
BJERWIK-NARVIK 1940,
KEREN MASSAOUA 1941,
BIR HAKEIM 1942,
EL ALAMEIN 1942,
ROME 1944,
COLMAR 1945,
AUTHION 1945,
INDOCHINE 1945 - 1954,
AFN 1952 - 196215.
Singing
Our White Kepis (Under the burning African sun)
Decorations
Liberation Cross
War Cross 39-45
TOE War Cross
Flag of the 13th DBLE
Fodder in the colors of the Liberation Cross ribbon
Fodder in the colors of the Military Medal ribbon
The flag is subject to the following citations and decorations:
the Cross of Liberation
4 citations to the order of the army with award of the War Cross 1939-1945.
4 citations to the order of the army with award of the War Cross for External Theaters of Operations
Officer's Cross in the Order of June 27 (Order of Djiboutian Independence)16.
His men are authorized to wear:
the fourragère in the colors of the Military Medal ribbon as a reward for citations obtained on the Croix de guerre
the fourragère in the colors of the ribbon of the Croix de la libération17
Leaders
February 1940:Lieutenant-Colonel Raoul Magrin-Vernerey
September 16, 1940:Lieutenant-Colonel Alfred Cazaud
October 1, 1941:Lieutenant-Colonel Prince Dimitri Amilakvari, MPLF
October 24, 1942:Major Gabriel Bablon
October 17, 1944:Major Paul Arnault
March 25, 1945:Lieutenant- Colonel Bernard Saint-Hillier
January 1, 1946:Lieutenant-Colonel Gabriel Bablon
August 21, 1946:Lieutenant-Colonel Gabriel Brunet de Sairigné, MPLF
March 4, 1948:Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Arnault
April 1, 1949:Lieutenant-Colonel René Morel
April 10, 1951:Lieutenant-Colonel Pierre Clément
September 1, 1952:Lieutenant-Colonel Henri Guigard
September 1, 1953:Lieutenant-Colonel Jules Gaucher, MPLF
March 19, 1954:Lieutenant-Colonel Maurice Lemeunier
May 13, 1954:Lieutenant-Colonel Ange Rossi
April 30, 1956:Lieutenant- Colonel Louis Marguet
January 6, 1957:Lieutenant-Colonel Maurice Senges
December 8, 1958:Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Roux
February 7 1961:Lieutenant-Colonel Albéric Vaillant
July 11, 1961:Lieutenant-Colonel Claude Dupuy de Querezieux
August 24, 1962:Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Lacôte
May 13, 1965:Lieutenant-Colonel Hugues Geoffrey
July 14, 1968:Lieutenant-Colonel Gustave Foureau
July 14, 1970:Lieutenant-Colonel Alexis Buonfils
July 18, 1972:Lieutenant-Colonel Jacques Petré
August 12, 1974:Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Lardry
August 16, 1976:Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Claude Coullon
July 17, 1978:Lieutenant-Colonel Ghislain Gillet
August 17, 1980:Lieutenant-Colonel Jean -Claude Loridon
August 19, 1982:Lieutenant-Colonel Jean Vialle
August 17, 1984:Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Rideau
July 31 1986:Lieutenant-Colonel Claude Champeau
July 31, 1988:Lieutenant-Colonel Bruno Le Flem
1990:Colonel Antoine Ibanez
1992 :Colonel Jean-Pierre Pérez
1994 :Lieutenant-Colonel Emmanuel Beth
1996 :Lieutenant-Colonel Daniel Nougayrède
1998 :L lieutenant-colonel Debleds
2000:Colonel Jean Maurin
2002:Colonel Chavancy
2004:Lieutenant-colonel Henri Billaudel
July 29, 2006:Colonel Marchand
July 31, 2008:Colonel Thierry Burkhard
from July 27, 2010 to July 21, 2011:Colonel Cyril Youchtchenko
from July 21, 2011 to July 30, 2013:Colonel Tony Maffeis
since July 30, 2013:Colonel Nicolas HEUZE
Achievements
World War II
Battle of Narvik
El-Alamein
Bir Hakeim
Liberation of Autun
Pocket of Colmar
Reduction of German pockets in the Authion massif
Indochina War
Battle of Ðien Biên Phu
Algerian War
Interventions en Somalie en 1992-1993, (Opération Oryx et Opération Restore Hope)
Organisation en juin 2001
Avant de changer de format et de s’implanter aux EAU, la 13e Demi-brigade de Légion étrangère était une unité combattante à vocation interarmes composée d’environ 800 hommes dont 320 permanents.
La CCS ou Compagnie de Commandement et de Soutien, est mixte, composée de légionnaires en MCD et de permanents. Elle regroupe tous les services projetables, nécessaire au commandement du régiment (transmissions, bureau opération, infirmiers, section transport, etc.). Elle arme aussi le CECAP (Centre d’entraînement au combat d’Arta Plage) qui organise les stages d’aguerrissement au milieu désertique et enseigne les savoir-faire tactiques propres au combat en zone désertique. Il forme les unités des FFDJ (Forces Françaises Stationnées à Djibouti), mais aussi les officiers de l’école d’application de l’infanterie ainsi que des unités étrangères.
La CM ou Compagnie de Maintenance. Cette compagnie est doublement mixte puisqu’elle compte en son sein à la fois des légionnaires et des soldats de l’arme du matériel, en MCD ou en poste permanent. Elle assure la maintenance de toutes les unités de l’armée de Terre présentes sur le territoire.
L’ER ou Escadron de Reconnaissance (unité élémentaire permanente). L’escadron, formé essentiellement de légionnaires en provenance du 1er REC est stationné en poste isolé, au poste Brunet de Sairigné, à Oueah, à 40 km de Djibouti depuis 1968. Il est équipé de blindés légers à roues de type ERC-90 Sagaie et de véhicules légers tout-terrains P4. Il est autonome sur le plan de la vie courante, de l’entretien de ses matériels et de son infrastructure.
La Compagnie d’Infanterie. Armée alternativement par une compagnie du 2e REI ou du 2e REP, elle est équipée de VAB(véhicules de l’avant blindé) et de VLRA (véhicules légers de reconnaissance et d’appui). Elle est constituée d’une section commandement, d’une section d’appui (un groupe de mortier de 81 mm et un groupe de missiles Milan) et de trois sections de combat.
La Compagnie de Génie. Provenant du 1er ou du 2e REG elle est composée d’une section de commandement, de trois sections de génie combat, d’une section appui et d’une section travaux. Cette dernière est en général chargée de le remise en état des routes ou pistes d’aérodromes sur le territoire. Il arrive qu’une de ces sections passe toute sa MCD dans le désert, sous tente, à tracer une piste, dans la plus pure tradition des légionnaires bâtisseurs.
Organisation depuis 2011
L’unité est devenue, en 2011, le corps support du Groupement terre de l’IMF EAU. Elle se décompose en une unité de support (noyau dur de l’unité) ainsi que d’unités envoyées sur place en missions de courte durée (4 mois) décomposées comme suit :
entre 80 et 100 hommes issus des unités de Légion étrangère au titre des éléments supports
une compagnie d’infanterie Légion (fournie alternativement par le 2e REP et le 2e REI)
une unité d’artillerie armant les CAESAR
une unité d’infanterie armant les Véhicule blindé de combat d’infanterie
Personnalités ayant servi au sein de l’unité
Général Marie-Pierre Kœnig, élevé à la dignité de Maréchal de France à titre posthume en 1984, capitaine à la 13e DBLE au début de la Seconde Guerre mondiale.
Général Raoul Magrin-Vernerey, premier commandant de la demi-brigade, puis de la brigade française libre d’Orient en Érythrée et du bataillon français de l’ONU durant la guerre de Corée.
Général d’armée Jean Simon, capitaine à la 13e DBLE au début en 1940, chancelier de l’ordre de la Libération, médaillé militaire comme général.
Prince de Géorgie Dimitri Amilakvari, tué à la tête de la demi-brigade le 4 octobre 1942.
Pierre Messmer, Premier ministre, ministre de la défense, académicien, capitaine au début de la Seconde Guerre mondiale
Jacques Pâris de Bollardière
Bernard Saint-Hillier
Susan Travers
Roger Barberot
Général André Lalande, nommé chef de bataillon du 1er bataillon de la Phalange magnifique en juin 1943, Compagnon de la Libération
Général Hugues Geoffrey alias Hugo Gottlieb (ancien légionnaire), chef de corps de 1965 à 1967
Général René Imbot, lieutenant et capitaine à la 13e DBLE
Sergent-chef Siegfried Freytag, as de l’aviation allemande (102 victoires) sert à la 13e DBLE à Djibouti
lieutenant-colonel Jacques Hogard