History

An assault engineer unit, the 1st Foreign Engineer Regiment was created in 1984 under the name 6th Foreign Engineer Regiment (6e REG). It became the 1st REG in 1999, when a second Foreign Legion engineer regiment was established. It carries out missions in mobility support, counter-mobility, and emergency deployment support. It is also capable of direct participation in close combat, notably within the framework of amphibious operations.

Extensive operational experience

In 2003 and 2004, the regiment was deployed in Côte d’Ivoire, providing companies as part of Operation LICORNE, and in Kosovo, where it formed the engineer battalion (BATGEN) and then the support battalion. In 2006, the 1st REG was engaged in Côte d’Ivoire and in Lebanon, ahead of the deployments of the reinforced UNIFIL. From the summer of 2007, the regiment supplied numerous personnel to reinforce OMLTs (Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams) and engineer companies in Afghanistan. In early 2009, the regiment took part in Operation Épervier in Chad. Finally, from 1999 to 2011, it regularly manned the engineer company of the 13th Demi-Brigade of the Foreign Legion (13e DBLE) in Djibouti.

The 1st REG has carried out numerous humanitarian interventions: its legionnaires operated in Somalia, Rwanda, the Central African Republic, Eritrea (UNMEE), and Indonesia to rebuild infrastructure devastated by the December 2004 tsunami, and in Jordan in 2012 to provide the electrical power required for the medical service’s field hospitals. They were also active on national territory during the Somme floods in 2001 and in the Gard in 2002, 2003, and 2005, then in the spring of 2010 in the Var. The regiment regularly takes part in the VIGIPIRATE security plan. In 2013, in addition to its major contribution to Operation SERVAL in Mali, the 1st REG was deployed to French Guiana as part of Mission HARPIE to combat illegal gold mining. Likewise, sections were deployed to Gabon, the United Arab Emirates, Côte d’Ivoire, French Polynesia, and Senegal. Since 2014, the regiment has also taken part in Operation SANGARIS in the Central African Republic.