Spahis & Stuarts
80 years ago this month. December 10-27, 1944 – Alsace. General de Lattre de Tassigny, at the head of the 1st (Free French) Army, and General Béthouart, commanding its 1st Army Corps, inspect the recently mechanized 1st Algerian Spahi Regiment (1er régiment de spahis algériens, 1er RSA) on the Alsace front.
ECPAD Ref.: TERRE 10038-L63
Note the American-supplied Stuart light tanks– the Free French operated a mix of 615 M3A3s and M5A1s during the war– and uniforms, particularly the famed 16-button “32-ounce” roll-collared Melton wool overcoats, beloved by Joes for their ability to remain warm even when soaking wet.
The 1er RSA– not to be confused with the later 1er régiment de marche de spahis marocains (1er RMSM)– was the first of the Spahi regiments in French colonial service, organized at Algiers in 1834 around a cadre of 214 horsemen seconded from the 1er régiment de chasseurs d’Afrique (1er RCA), which had been established two years prior.
It rapidly covered itself in glory in North Africa, earning six honors in 15 years (Taguin 1843, Isly 1844, Tedjenna 1845, Temda 1845, and Zaatcha 1849) across hard campaigning.
Detachments fought in the Crimea and against the Germans in 1870.
Shipping out to Indochina in 1884, it fought in the jungles of Southeast Asia for a generation– with one squadron sent for service in Dahomey– before earning further honors in Morocco fighting in 1907-13.
Rushed to the Continent in the Great War, the wild cavalrymen from Algeria were bled white at Artois in 1914 and the Aisne in 1915 before being sent back to the deserts, this time to the Palestine Front, to fight alongside the Australian Light Horse against the Ottomans.
Officers of 1er régiment de spahis algériens in 1920, with lots of Great War-era service medals via Spahis.fr
Disbanded in 1939 to form two infantry division reconnaissance groups (the 81st and 85th GRDI) which in turn were lost in the 1940 campaign, the regiment was reformed in Algiers in late 1942 around three squadrons of horse cavalry then got in some licks in the Tunisian campaign including the battles at Kranguet Ouchtatia and Ousseltia.
February 1943 – Tunisia. Patrol of spahis from the 1st Algerian spahi regiment advancing in the desert during the Tunisian campaign. Ref.: TERRE 22-221
Official caption: “Algiers, North Africa – The Famous French Arabian Cavalry- The Spahis- On Review During Presentation Of Curtiss P-40’S To The Free French By America.” (U.S. Air Force Number K87. Color)
Trading their horseshoes from tracks, the 1er RSA– technically now the 1er Régiment de Spahis Algériens de Reconnaissance (RSAR)– landed in Marseilles in Southern France as part of the Dragoon Landings in late 1944, they fought in Alsace at the Battle of Frédéric-Fontaine, breached the Belfort Gap, and stormed the Saint-Louis barracks. In early April 1945, they spearheaded the division’s crossing of the Rhine at Maxau and ended the war in German territory, fighting a die-hard SS unit at Merckelfingen in the last days of the war.
After returning to Northern Africa post-war, they fought against the AFN insurgency and, zeroed out after 1962, was formally disbanded in 1964, its banners cased and badges retired.
One of the unit’s spectacular service uniforms is preserved in the Musée de l’Armée.
