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Men-at-Arms
French Foreign Legion
1831–71
Mar tin Windrow • Illustrated by Gerr y & Sam Embleton
MARTIN WINDROW was
born in 1944 and educated
at Wellington College. After
working as a newspaper
and magazine sub-editor,
he specialized in aviation
and military publications. He
was the editor of the
Aircraft
Profiles
series in the 1960s,
and the founding editor of the
magazine
Military Illustrated
Past & Present
in the 1980s.
Apart from an intermission
in 1989–98 when he was
editorial director of Windrow
& Greene Ltd, he has been the
commissioning and art editor
of the Osprey Men-at-Arms
and Elite series since 1974.
He has written a number of
MAA titles, notably on the
history of the French Foreign
Legion, and is the author
of
Our Friends Beneath the
Sands: The Foreign Legion in
France’s Colonial Conquests
1870–1935
(Weidenfeld &
Nicolson, 2010).
CONTENTS
FOUNDATION
CHRONOLOGY
• Organization and major deployments
3
4
6
CAMPAIGN SERVICE
• The ‘Old Legion’ in Algeria, 1831–35
• Spain, 1835–38
• The ‘New Legion’, 1836–41
• The 1st RE, 1841–54
• The 2nd RE, 1841–54
• Crimea, 1854–56
• The Swiss Legion, and Algeria 1857
• Italy, 1859
• Mexico, 1863–67
• The Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune, 1870–71
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
PLATE COMMENTARIES
• Uniforms & equipment, 1831–71
36
37
48
GERRY EMBLETON has
been a leading illustrator
and researcher of historical
costume since the 1970s, and
has illustrated and written
Osprey titles on a wide range
of subjects over more than 20
years. He is an internationally
respected authority on 15th
and 18th century costumes
in particular. He lives in
Switzerland, where since
1988 he has also become
well known for designing and
creating life-size historical
figures for museums. His
son SAM EMBLETON is also
an illustrator and they have
completed many joint projects
for Osprey.
INDEX
Gerry and Martin first
collaborated as illustrator and
author of a military history
book in 1971.
Men-at-Arms • 509
French Foreign Legion
1831–71
Mar tin Windrow . Illustrated by Gerr y & Sam Embleton
Series editor
Mar tin Windrow
This electronic edition published in 2016 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published in Great Britain in 2016 by Osprey Publishing
PO Box 883, Oxford, OX1 9PL, UK
1385 Broadway, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10018, USA
E-mail:
info@ospreypublishing.com
Osprey Publishing, part of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
© 2016 Osprey Publishing Ltd.
All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make
available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means
(including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical,
photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written
permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in
relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil
claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Print ISBN: 978 1 4728 1770 9
PDF ebook ISBN: 978 1 4728 1771 6
ePub ebook ISBN: 978 1 4728 1772 3
Editor: Martin Windrow
Index by Mark Swift
Typeset in Helvetica Neue and ITC New Baskerville
Maps by JB Illustrations
Originated by PDQ Media, Bungay, UK
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De d i c a ti o n
This book is dedicated with great respect,
and gratitude for his encouragement, to the late
Brigadier Tony Hunter-Choat, OBE (1936–2012)
Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur, Médaille Militaire, Croix de Valeur
bis 
formerly of 1er Régiment Étranger de Parachutistes; 7th Gurkha Rifles
(Duke of Edinburgh's Own); Royal Artillery; commanding officer 23 SAS; and
President of the Foreign Legion Association of Great Britain.
Ac k n o wl e dg e m e n ts
The author wishes to thank M. René Chartrand for his valued help with some
of  the sources and illustrations for this book. He also records his gratitude for
the patient advice and assistance, many years ago, of the late AdjChef Charles
Milassin, and to the late M. Raoul Brunon, curator of the Musée de l'Empéri.
Arti st’s Not e
Readers may care to note that the original paintings from which the colour
plates in this book were prepared are available for private sale. All reproduction
copyright whatsoever is retained by the Publishers. All enquiries should be
addressed to:
www.gerryembleton.com
The Publishers regret that they can enter into no correspondence upon this
matter.
FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION
1831–71
FOUNDATION
For his studio portrait in Mexico,
c.1866,
this légionnaire wears an
officer's-style white shirt collar
and black satin bow-tie, and a
pocket watch on a chain. It is
interesting that he chooses to
pose with the white campaign
'havelock' cover and neck
curtain on his M1858
képi;
note
the latter's rectangular peak with
rounded corners, and the
chinstrap, which was still not a
regulation item. The M1860
habit
bears the M1852 epaulettes for
fusilier companies, in green with
red crescents, and the Mexico
campaign medal instituted
in 1863.
I
n March 1831 France's King Louis-Philippe, heir to the Orléans branch
of the Bourbon dynasty, was just eight months on his throne since the
revolution in Paris that had driven his predecessor Charles X into exile.
His 'July Monarchy' enjoyed general popularity, but his experience of the
fall of three French kings and one emperor in the past 40 years had made
him wary. Revolution was contagious, and was stirring nearby in Belgium,
Switzerland and Italy. Even the faintest prospect of his regime having to
use foreign troops against French mobs was toxic, so he had disbanded
seven Swiss and German regiments from Charles X's army.
Louis-Philippe had also inherited a confused military adventure in
North Africa, where France had recently landed troops to punish the
perceived insolence of the Dey of Algiers. The Dey was the governor
of what was still nominally an Ottoman Turkish colony, but was in fact
an independent pirate city-state surrounded by anarchically competitive
tribes who acknowledged no master. The Paris revolution had left the
expeditionary corps with neither a commander nor any clear
strategy. It was already suffering significant casualties, mostly
from disease, which made the campaign unpopular at home.
(In the first three months French deaths in Algiers had
reached 400 in battle, but twice that number from
sickness.) In September 1830 Louis-Philippe's new
commander, Gen Clauzel, was sent out with two equally
difficult missions: both to reduce the size of the
expeditionary corps by some 70 per cent, and to
recommend a future military policy to the new
government. The roughly 27,000 French conscripts
who would be withdrawn were to be replaced where
possible by locally-raised troops.
1
However, this
situation also presented an opportunity (perhaps
recognized by the Minister of War, the wily old
Marshal Soult) to rid the streets of French citiesw of
disgruntled foreign ex-soldiers.
A royal ordnance of 10 May 1831 created a 'Foreign
Legion', strictly for service outside France. Its companies
and battalions were to be composed as far as possible of men
speaking the same languages. Enlistment was to be for three to
five years, open to men between 18 and 40 years of age.
1
Native irregulars would gradually be transformed into regular corps, as follows: (21 March 1831) corps of
Zouaves; (17 Nov 1831) 1er & 2e Régts de Chasseurs d’Afrique mixed cavalry; (6 Sept 1833) 1er Régt de
Spahis native cavalry; (May 1841) three bns of Tirailleurs Indigènes; (Oct 1855) these absorbed into 1er–3e
Régts de Tirailleurs Algériens. Additionally, (4 June 1832) formation, from French convicts, of 1er & 2e Régts d’
Infanterie Légère d’Afrique – ‘Bats d’Af’.
3

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