Marcel Letestu
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Marcel Letestu
Marcel Letestu (8 April 191829 August 2006) was a Général de brigade of the French Army and Commandant of the Foreign Legion. Military career Marcel enlisted in the French Army in 1936 and became a Sergent (Sergeant) in 1938. A Sous-Officiers in the Franc Corps of the 160th Infantry Regiment (french: 160e Régiment d'Infanterie de Forteresse) in 1939 to 1940 at the front, he was made captive during the Phoney War. He managed to escape a stalag and joined the free zone. He entered to the École militaire interarmes of Cherchell. He graduated as a Major of his promotion. At the end of war, he was named as an instructor at the Perfection Officer School (french: école de perfectionnement des officiers) of Achern. In 1950, he was the champion of France for precision shooting and recordman for rapid shooting. Promoted Captain in 1951, he joined the 5th Foreign Infantry Regiment 5e REI where he was cited and wounded in 1952. He then served in Algeria where he comman ...
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Joué-lès-Tours
Joué-lès-Tours (, literally ''Joué near Tours'') is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. It is the largest suburb of the city of Tours, and is adjacent to it on the southwest. Population Toponymy The name of Joué-lès-Tours appears in its form "Gaudiacus" in the 6th Century. It corresponds to a toponymic type frequently found in Christian Gaule, that gave different variants depending on the region: Joué (west of France), Jouy (center and north), Jouey (east), Gouy (Normandy/Picardy), Gaugeac, Jaujac (south). It is composed of the Christian name "Gaudius", meaning "fortunate", "blessed" (gaudia > joy, in Latin) and with the Gallo-Roman suffix -ACU, meaning "place of", "property of". History Joué-lès-Tours was the site of the 20 December 2014 Tours police station stabbing. Controversy In February 2010 the mayor, Philippe Le Breton, added the word ''laïcité'' underneath the French national motto on the town hall's façade.
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Phoney War
The Phoney War (french: Drôle de guerre; german: Sitzkrieg) was an eight-month period at the start of World War II, during which there was only one limited military land operation on the Western Front, when French troops invaded Germany's Saar district. Nazi Germany carried out the invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939; the Phoney period began with the declaration of war by the United Kingdom and France against Nazi Germany on 3 September 1939, after which little actual warfare occurred, and ended with the German invasion of France and the Low Countries on 10 May 1940. Although there was no large-scale military action by Britain and France, they did begin some economic warfare, especially with the naval blockade, and shut down German surface raiders. They created elaborate plans for numerous large-scale operations designed to cripple the German war effort. These included opening an Anglo-French front in the Balkans, invading Norway to seize control o ...
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Croix De Guerre 1939-1945 Ribbon
Croix (French for "cross") may refer to: Belgium * Croix-lez-Rouveroy, a village in municipality of Estinnes in the province of Hainaut France * Croix, Nord, in the Nord department * Croix, Territoire de Belfort, in the Territoire de Belfort department * Croix-Caluyau, in the Nord department * Croix-Chapeau, in the Charente-Maritime department * Croix-en-Ternois, in the Pas-de-Calais department * Croix-Fonsomme, in the Aisne department * Croix-Mare, in the Seine-Maritime department * Croix-Moligneaux, in the Somme department * Canton of Croix, administrative division of the Nord department, northern France See also * Croix Scaille, a hill plateau in the Ardennes, Belgium * La Croix (other), including places called "La Croix" * St. Croix (other) St. Croix or Saint Croix (from the french: Sainte-Croix, " holy cross") may refer to: Places * Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands **St. Croix School District *** St. Croix Educational Complex ** St. Croix sheep ** St. ...
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Legion Honneur GC Ribbon
Legion may refer to: Military * Roman legion, the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army * Spanish Legion, an elite military unit within the Spanish Army * Legion of the United States, a reorganization of the United States Army from 1792 to 1796 * French Foreign Legion, a part of the French Army, created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces * International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine, a Ukrainian foreign volunteer wing of the 2022 Russo-Ukrainian war * Various military legions, often composed of soldiers from a specific ethnic, national, religious or ideological background * HMS ''Legion'' (1914), a Royal Navy World War I destroyer * HMS ''Legion'' (G74), a Royal Navy World War II destroyer sunk in 1942 Veterans' organizations * American Legion, an organization of American veterans * The Royal British Legion, a UK charity providing support for members of the British Armed Forces and their dependents * Royal Canadian Legion ...
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1st Parachute Hussard Regiment
The 1st Parachute Hussar Regiment (french: 1er Régiment de Hussards Parachutistes, 1er RHP) is an airborne cavalry unit in the French Army, founded in 1720 by Hungarian noble Ladislas Ignace de Bercheny. It is stationed in Tarbes and is a part of the 11th Parachute Brigade. Creation and different nominations * 1719 - 1720 : The Hussars of Bercheny are raised at Constantinople, following the demand of the Regent Philippe I, Duke of Orléans by Count of Bercheny. * 1791 : Units of the French Army are named after their function of arms and numbered in terms of their seniority. The Regiment of Bercheny becomes accordingly the 1st Hussar Regiment. * 29 floréal an IV ( 29 - ''floréal'': meaning the second month of spring - '' an IV'' or ''year IV'' : end of 1795 and debut of 1796 in the Gregorian calendar) : The regiment received half of the cavalry of the 13th Hussar Regiment (french: 13e régiment de hussards). * 1815 : The regiment is dissolved. * 1816 : Creation of th ...
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École Militaire Interarmes
The ''Combined Arms School'' or ''Joint military school'', known as École Militaire Interarmes or EMIA, is a military school of the French Army intended to train officers who have risen from the ranks. It was founded in 1942 and based in a rural location, Coëtquidan (Morbihan) along with Saint-Cyr military school. History The EMIA is the heir of various military branch (i.e. infantry, cavalry and artillery) schools dating from the early 19th century and intended to train army officers promoted from the ranks (''militaires du rang''), from non-commissioned officers (''sous-officiers'') or from the reserves (''anciens officiers de réserve''). The largest of these army branch schools was the infantry school of Saint-Maixent, which was merged with Saint-Cyr in 1942. The merged academies formed the School of Cherchell-Mediouna, created after the German occupation of the Southern Zone of France. In 1944 the Military Academy at Cherchell took the name of "Joint Military Academy." I ...
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Général
is the French word for general. There are two main categories of generals: the general officers (), which are the highest-ranking commanding officers in the armed forces, and the specialist officers with flag rank (), which are high-level officers in the other uniformed services. General officers Army History The French army of the monarchy had several ranks of general officer: * ("brigadier of the armies of the King"): a rank in a grey area of seniority, conferred on certain colonels who were in command of a brigade (''cf.'' the grey area of the naval "commodore" rank given to certain captains, the equivalent of army full colonels, who had been in command of a group of ships and over the captains of the group's other ships). These officers wore a colonel's uniform with a star on the shoulder straps. This rank was abolished in 1788. * ("field marshal"(major general)): the first substantive rank of general. The wore a special uniform, blue and red, with a single bar of gold l ...
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2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment
The 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (french: 2e Régiment Étranger d'Infanterie, 2e REI) is an infantry regiment of the Foreign Legion in the French Army. The regiment is one of two mechanized infantry regiments of the 6th Light Armoured Brigade. Since the regiment's arrival from Bonifacio in 1983, it has been stationed at Quartier Colonel de Chabrières; named in honor of Colonel de Chabrières who was shot in the chest while leading a charge of the regiment. Quartier Colonel Chabrières is situated in Nimes, a historical Roman city, in the south of France. An armored infantry regiment, equipment includes more than 135 Véhicule de l'Avant Blindé (VAB) and Véhicule Blindé Léger (VBL), to provide armoured protection of personnel during combat. The regiment also has the Véhicule blindé de combat d'infanterie (VBCI). The Regiment has responsibility for field testing new equipment for the French Army as a whole. The regiment benefits from a long tradition of conflicts a ...
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3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment
The 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment (french: 3e Régiment étranger d'infanterie, 3e REI) is an infantry regiment of the Foreign Legion in the French Army. The regiment is stationed in French Guiana. Its mission includes the protection of the Centre Spatial Guyanais, a European Space Agency (ESA) facility. History, creation and different nominations * On 11 November 1915 – the Marching Regiment of the Foreign Legion (R.M.L.E) was created from the veterans of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th Marching Regiments of the 1st Foreign Regiment, R.M.1erR.E, (''Marching Regiment of the 1st Foreign Regiment'') and from the 2nd Marching Regiment of the 2nd Foreign Regiment ''2eR.M.2eR.E'' (2nd Marching Regiment of the 2nd Foreign Regiment). * On 15 November 1920 – the (R.M.L.E) was designated the 3rd Foreign Regiment, (3eR.E). * On 20 June 1922 – the 3rd Foreign Regiment became the 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment (3eR.E.I). * On 5 December 1942 – a Foreign Legion and Colonial Infantry Demi- ...
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Major
Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators, major is one rank above captain, and one rank below lieutenant colonel. It is considered the most junior of the field officer ranks. Background Majors are typically assigned as specialised executive or operations officers for battalion-sized units of 300 to 1,200 soldiers while in some nations, like Germany, majors are often in command of a company. When used in hyphenated or combined fashion, the term can also imply seniority at other levels of rank, including ''general-major'' or ''major general'', denoting a low-level general officer, and '' sergeant major'', denoting the most senior non-commissioned officer (NCO) of a military unit. The term ''major'' can also be used with a hyphen to denote the leader of a military band suc ...
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Infantry
Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine infantry. Although disused in modern times, heavy infantry also commonly made up the bulk of many historic armies. Infantry, cavalry, and artillery have traditionally made up the core of the combat arms professions of various armies, with the infantry almost always comprising the largest portion of these forces. Etymology and terminology In English, use of the term ''infantry'' began about the 1570s, describing soldiers who march and fight on foot. The word derives from Middle French ''infanterie'', from older Italian (also Spanish) ''infanteria'' (foot soldiers too inexperienced for cavalry), from Latin '' īnfāns'' (without speech, newborn, foolish), from which English also gets '' infant''. The individual-soldier term ' ...
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École Spéciale Militaire De Saint-Cyr
The École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr (ESM, literally the "Special Military School of Saint-Cyr") is a French military academy, and is often referred to as Saint-Cyr (). It is located in Coëtquidan in Guer, Morbihan, Brittany. Its motto is ''Ils s'instruisent pour vaincre'', literally meaning "They study to vanquish" or, more freely put, "Training for victory". French cadet officers are called ''saint-cyriens'' or ''cyrards''. France's other most senior military education institute is the ''École de guerre'' (EdG) (School of Warfare), located in the '' École militaire'' complex, in Paris. French students who enter Saint-Cyr as cadets are about 21 years old, and undergo three years of training. All ESM cadets graduate with a Master of Arts or a Master of Science and are commissioned officers. The academy was founded in Fontainebleau in 1802 by Napoleon. It was moved in 1806 to the buildings of the former ''Maison Royale de Saint-Louis'', in Saint-Cyr-l'École, west of ...
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