The Overseas Light Infantry Battalion (french: Bataillon d'Infanterie légère d'Outre-Mer, BILOM) was an obscure and little known French formation of German

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

and French collaborationists drawn from the French penal system and

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. P ...

s after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

for colonial service. BILOM comprised a demi-brigade of three battalions, the first of which entered service on July 6, 1948 as the "''1re Bataillon d'Infanterie légère d'Outre-Mer''".

History

Envisaged as an occupation and policing force for France's overseas colonial possessions like

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...

and

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, BILOM was conceived on May 27, 1948, when Minister of Justice

André Marie André Marie (3 December 1897 – 12 June 1974) was a French Radical politician who served as Prime Minister during the Fourth Republic in 1948. Biography Born at Honfleur, Calvados, the young André Marie studied at primary and second ...

sent a memorandum to the French prison system's regional directors enquiring as to the number of

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...

s who might be interested in serving overseas to "make amends vis-à-vis the nation". BILOM units were not originally intended for the front line

counter-insurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the activities of guerrillas or revolutionar ...

campaigns they later fought, but rather, were viewed as replacements for the

French Foreign Legion The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, Armoured Cavalry Arm, cavalry, Military engineering, engineers, Airborne forces, airborne troops. It was created ...

(FFL) troops deployed throughout the

French colonial empire The French colonial empire () comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French Colonial Empire", that exist ...

who were desperately needed in the First Indochina War. The ranks of BILOM included former members of the German

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

, Waffen-SS,

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, and French collaborationist organizations like the Milice and the Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism (LVF), and Frenchmen who served voluntarily in the German armed forces, including in the SS Charlemagne Division. Enlistments in BILOM would be for a period of three, four or five years, depending on the duration of the sentence remaining to be served. Prisoners with outstanding sentences longer than 15 years were ineligible, as were men over 40. BILOM units were not part of the FFL, and they were structured as

light infantry Light infantry refers to certain types of lightly equipped infantry throughout history. They have a more mobile or fluid function than other types of infantry, such as heavy infantry or line infantry. Historically, light infantry often fought ...

with no heavy weapons. And although the men would be released from

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, they were not offered legal amnesty—only a suspensive pardon. Furthermore, the former prisoners would not provide officers for BILOM units, who would instead be transferred from the

French colonial troops The ''Troupes coloniales'' ("Colonial Troops") or ''Armée coloniale'' ("Colonial Army"), commonly called ''La Coloniale'', were the military forces of the French colonial empire from 1900 until 1961. From 1822 to 1900 these troops were de ...

. They were not eligible for promotion, wore no insignia and carried no pennant or unit flag. Nevertheless, according to Dr. Krisztian Bene of the University of Pécs, successful completion of one's enlistment in BILOM offered national outcasts the chance for "reintegration into French society". By late August 1948, less than 500 volunteers had joined BILOM, after the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Unit ...

(PCF) orchestrated a propaganda campaign against the brigade. The PCF sought to incite public hostility towards the government's effort, and demanded "vengeance, justice and punishment" of collaborators.

Disbandment

The BILOM was formally disbanded on 29 July 1949, although most of its personnel continued to serve in smaller detachments attached to locally recruited units in Southern Annam. They were eventually dispersed, some remaining with the French Army in Indochina and Algeria and other returning to civilian life.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bataillon d'Infanterie legere d'Outre-Mer Infantry battalions of France Military units and formations established in 1948 Penal system in France 1948 establishments in France

History

Disbandment

See also

References