Tag Archives: 14 juillet

Happy Bastille Day

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14 July 1910. Béni Ounif, Bechar, Algeria. Parade of Senegalese Tirailleurs on the occasion of the Bastille Day celebrations there:

Réf. : D0388-121-003-0639 Jules Imbert/ECPAD/Défense

As detailed previously, Senegal– a traditional French ally who provided the Republic the use of the famed Tirailleurs Sénégalais for twin World Wars (where 200,000 served in the first and 140,000 in the second) as well as Algeria and Vietnam Indochina– produced some of the most reliable of French colonial troops for generations.

1940 uniform of Régiment de Tirailleurs Sénégalais du Tchad, via the Musee d’la Armee

These hardy Senegalese riflemen were stationed throughout France, Asia, and Africa, where their descendants often endure in their own unique enclaves.

Senegalese Tirailleurs from a March 1913, newspaper colour supplement

The first Senegalese Tirailleurs were recruited in 1857 while the last had their contracts expire in the French Army in 1965, six years after the independence of Senegal and the French Soudan. At their peak in 1917, they formed no less than 89 battalions.

As for Béni Ounif, today it is a desert border town on the Algeria–Morocco border and is probably best known for the brutal 1999 massacre by guerillas who stopped a bus at a fake roadblock, slashed 23 throats, then reportedly faded back into the Moroccan interior.

Odds are a company of Tirailleurs would have put a quick halt to that. Just saying. 

Bon 14 juillet à tous! (With Echos to 1941)

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Of interest to military history buffs, the 4,400-strong French military parade down les champs Élysée to celebrate the 232nd anniversary of Bastille Day yesterday was led by a 232-member company of the famed “Les marsouins de Leclerc” of the Régiment de Marche du Tchad or RMT.

Régiment de marche du Tchad leading the parade. Respect aux anciens, et vive la France!

The full, 2 hour parade: 

As discussed before here, today’s RMT shares the lineage of the old Senegalese colonial infantry regiment of Chad (Régiment de Tirailleurs Sénégalais du Tchad, RTST), from which a young Major Philippe Hauteclocque (under the nom de guerre, Leclerc) handpicked a column of 400 to strike out from that rare Free French colony against the key oasis of Koufra in Italian Libya in January 1941. They went on to win other honors fighting alongside the Allies at Fezzan (1942), Tunisia (1943) Alençon (1944), Paris (1944), and Strasbourg (1944).

Les marsouins de Leclerc is also the name of a popular French military graphic novel series covering the regiment’s history, from “Koufra to Kabul.”

Those who are students of military history will also appreciate the irony that the RMT is carrying France’s new infantry rifle, the Heckler und Koch HK416. Seen here in rehearsals last week: 

Also note they wear the fouled anchor badge of the Troupes de Marine on their kepi, although they are a mechanized infantry regiment in the French Army, another throwback to the old colonial days. Their unit patch is the old Free French Lorraine Cross.