WesWorld

Organization and Equipment of F.O.E.S. Prior to Jan 18th, 1937

The F.O.E.S. (Frenchmen Of Extraordinary Stature) or Les Français de Détachement de Stature Extraordinaire are a company-sized special warfare unit equipped with the PTRS 14.5-mm heavy anti-tank rifle. They are organized as follows:

Squad:
1 Squad Leader
2 Heavy Riflemen
1 Machine Gunner
1 Machine Gun Loader
4 Riflemen

Platoon:
1 Platoon Leader
1 NCO
1 Medic
4 Squads

Company:
1 Commander
1 NCO
2 Messengers
4 Platoons

Their number totals 160, and they are armed with 32 x 14.5-mm PTRS heavy anti-tank rifles, 16 x 7.5-mm or 8-mm Machineguns, 108 x 7.5-mm or 8-mm Rifles, and other weaponry required for their missions. They derive their name from the large and powerful men who are armed with the Russian designed PTRS heavy anti-tank rifle. At present they are employed in Indochina on a special security assignment.

Organization and Equipement of F.O.E.S. After January 18th, 1937.

General d'armee Louis-Antoine Colson, Chief of the Army General Staff, ordered the expansion of the Armee de Terre F.O.E.S. Detachmen in French Indochina from it's then current company size to that of battalion size. F.O.E.S. had been deployed special warfare detachment has been deployed there for several years as part of it's ongoing and highly classified special warfare and security assignment.

The Les Français de Détachement de Stature Extraordinaire (the Frenchmen of Extraordinary Stature Detachment) was consequently enlarged by using the company-sized detachment as cadres for initally three, later four field companies, under the command of a chef de bataillon (major). The XXIII Corps, headquarters in Saigon, which already had tactical/operational control of the F.O.E.S. detachment conducted much of the necessary recruiting and equiping to bring the unit up to the desired size and strength mandated by the Army General Staff.

Les Français de Détachement de Stature Extraordinaire as of the January 18th Reorganization, numbers on paper some six-hundred and eighty-three men. The battalion, commanded by Chef de bataillon Raymond Colson, contains a headquarters platoon (1 battalion commander, 3 officers, 1 NCO, 1 military secretary, and a car driver, along with a signal squad, a medical squad and a supply squad, each of composed of 1 Officer/NCO, 11 men), and four field companies (each of 160 men). Capitaine Thierry Cadieux, former commander of the F.O.E.S. detachment now directs the 1st Field Company.

Infanterie Legere d'Afrique

Also known as Battalion d'Afrique or Bat d'Af, the Infanterie Legere d'Afrique are composed of penal battalions employing strict regulations and harsh discipline. Service within the battalions is gnerally reserved for three classes of personel:

(1) convicted criminals.
(2) recruited men who have served a term in the Compagnies Disciplinaires, but not yet finished their prior term of military enlistment.
(3) men released from prison sentences but who had not yet served their term of conscription.

Organized as standard French Chasseur a Pied/Infanterie legere battalions, the Baf d'Af are routinely assigned to service in French West Africa, Morroco and Tunisia. This service is typically in the most desolate, dangerous areas and under the most gruelling conditions.

Compagnies Disciplinaires, and Sectiones d'Exclus

The Compagnies Disciplinaires are penal units composed of men serving punitive disciplinary terms, who will return to their original units, upon completing their term.

The Sectiones d'Exclus are penal units composed of men either convicted of serious crimes i.e. hard-core criminals or are men judged unfit for military service and subject to extreme punishment.

Both units serve under generally the same conditions as the Bat d'Af, with the difference that they may deployed for general military or military construction duties within any French territory or colony, rather then just French African possessions. Both units are organized as standard French Chasseur a Pied/Infanterie legere units: independent companies with the Compagnies Disciplinaires and independent platoons with the Sectiones d'Exclus.

Chasseurs Alpins - Section d'Eclaireurs Skieurs (SES)

The Chasseurs Alpins, the elite mountain troops of the Armee de Terre, are recruited from local populations in Metropolitian France and French Colonial possessions with experience in skiing, climbing and mountain survival. Drawn from this pool of specialised mountaineering talent, is an elite scout group, the Section d'Eclaireurs Skieurs (SES).

The soldiers selected for this unit are consider the best of the best within the Chasseurs Alpins, being expert riflemen, skiers, mountain climbers, and alpine survivalists. Each Mountain Division has a SES company attached to it's headquarters for special duties.

Chasseurs Parachutistes

Formed January 20th, 1937, by the Armee de Terre and Armee de l'Air after being authoritized by the War Ministery. An exclusively volunteer force or corps for the purpose of developing the French military's airborne and airlanding capacity. The Chasseurs Parachutistes units, are organized on light infantry lines, with training in various survival skills and combat disciplines to make them effective as elite light infantrymen, explosives experts and combat engineers, as well as light artillerymen.

At present the total force of parachutists and airlanding infantrymen are formed into three infantry battalions, which form the core of the new special corps - the Regiment Chasseurs Parachutistes (RCP). Operationally the RCP is under the authority of the General Staff of the Armee de Terre, while strategic air transport is provided by air transport units of the Armee de l'Air .

La Legion Etrangere - The French Foreign Legion

La Legion Etrangere Motto: Legio Patria Nostra - The Legion is our Fatherland

Founded in 1831, the La Legion Etrangere - the Foreign Legion, is a special volunteer corps of the Armee de Terre surrounded by a history stepped in mystery, intrigue, glamour and notoriety.

Enlistments with the Legion Etrangere are for five years, with twelve years of honorable service granting full French citzenship. Technically native-born French citizens are forbidden from joining the Legion Etrangere, however this is often side-stepped by a French applicant, leaving metropolitian France and applying to join under the guise of being either Belgian or Swiss. The Legion Etrangere's officer corps is almost exclusively french-born, although foreign-born legionaires can advance up to the rank of colonel within the corps. The Legion Etrangere has become something of a haven for those fleeing political or criminal punishment. It has become something of the ideal place to hide, as traditionally little or no proof of identification is required of an applicant. Enlistees traditionally adopt a nom de guerre during their term of service, which the Legion makes a point of honoring.

The soldiers of the Legion Etrangere when not involved in fighting, spend a considerable amount of time involved in heavy tactical training or preforming hard and tedious physical labor, pay is terrible, it's discipline brutal, and consequently individual and collective unit desertion rates are high. The Legion Etrangere, however makes a point of actively hunting down and severely punishing any legionaires who desert before serving their full term. Typically a Legion deserter who is caught is required to serve several years in the Bat d'Af (which does not count against the deserter's enlistment term). Despite these conditions, the fighting qualities and espirt de corps of the La Legion Etrangere is second to none.

The Legion Etrangere is headquartered at Sid-bel-Abbes, in French Algeria. All newly inducted recruits recieve three to six months basic training at the Legion Depot in Marseilles, France. From there, they are shipped to any Legion unit in the French colonial empire. The Legion makes use of standard Armee de Terre weaponry, and is organized into standard Armee de Terre units. The Legion fields primarily units of infantry, but also cavalry and artillery. As of 1935-36, the Legion is organized into seven mixed arms, multi-battalion regiments.