Original French Foreign Legion 13th Demi-Brigade Promotion Badge.
The 13th Demi-Brigade of Foreign Legion or 13e Demi-Brigade de Légion Étrangère, 13e DBLE, in French is the only demi-brigade (half-brigade) of the Foreign Legion and the last demi-brigade within the current French Army. Since June 2016, the 13e DBLE has been stationed at Camp Larzac, near La Cavaleriein Southern France, and has become one of the largest and most modernized French infantry regiments.
From August 2011 to June 2016, the considerably reduced 13e DBLE (only 60 permanent Legion personnel) served in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and operated a desert warfare training camp located close to Abu Dhabi, the capital. From 1962 to 2011, the 13e DBLE was stationed in the Quartier Général Monclar in Djibouti, Africa, as the last Foreign Legion unit permanently based on this continent.
The unit was activated in North Africa in February 1940. Considered a mountain warfare unit that comprised two battalions only, it was designated demi-brigade, instead of a regiment. And because of the existence of other two Foreign Legion provisional units formed in 1939 and 1940, the 11e REI and 12e REI, the new unit got the number 13.
The 13th Demi-Brigade fought in WWII campaigns in Norway, Eritrea, Syria, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Italy and France. After the war, it participated in the First Indochina War (1946-54) and the Algerian War (1955-62).
During its service in Djibouti, it took part in the Loyada Hostage Rescue Mission, and saw actions – among others – in Somalia, Rwanda, Yemen, Ivory Coast, and the Central African Republic. Recently, the 13e DBLE men deployed to the Sahel region in Sub-Saharan Africa and carried out missions in Mayotte, French Guiana, Martinique, Réunion, or Djibouti.
