Troupes de marine
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The Troupes de marine (literally "troops of the navy", often translated as "marine troops") are an elite corps of the French Army dedicated to service overseas. Soldiers of the troupes de marine are likely to spend much more of their service overseas, particularly in Africa, than other French soldiers. The troupes de marine include infantry (including light tank units and and airborne units) and artillery.
The modern troupes de marine have a special mixed heritage as descendants of a merger between the older troupes de marine (once part of the navy) and the former French Colonial Forces.
The troupes de marine were founded in 1622 (officially titled compagnies ordinaires de la mer) as land forces under the control of the navy, notably for operations in French Canada. The troupes de marine were transfered to the army by in 1900. The French navy retains control of a smaller land force, the fusiliers-marins.
Many of the current regiments of the troupes de marine are in fact descendants of the Troupes Coloniales (Colonial Troops), a force which had sometimes been under the control of the navy. The colonial troops were merged into the troupes de marine in the 1960s as many former French colonies became independent. The nickname la Coloniale or la Colo refers to this heritage.
At their height in 1940, the Troupes de Marine consisted of nine divisions and several demi-brigades who manned machine gun emplacements on the Maginot Line. They recruited both in France and overseas.
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[edit] Nicknames
French Marine Infantry are known in French as marsouins ("Harbour Porpoise"). Marine Gunners are known as bigors, a nickname whose origin is disputed. It could come from bigue dehors which was the order given for loading the guns on a ship. It could also come from bigorneau (winkle in English), either due to their toughness and unwillingness to desert their positions in combat or because their duties usually had them stuck on coastal rocks.
[edit] Composition
The Troupes de Marine include:
- Infanterie de Marine
- Infantry (infanterie de marine, abbreviation: -IMa)
- Light cavalry (infanterie de marine, abbreviation: -IMa, and the Regiment de chars d'infanterie de marine: RICM)
- Airborne (parachutistes d'infanterie de marine, abbreviation: -PIMa)
- Artillerie de Marine
- Artillery (infanterie de marine, abbreviation: -AMa)
[edit] Uniform
The Troupes de Marine uniform is now the same as other units of French army (green camouflage). Distinctive features are a golden fouled anchor either as a gold-metal badge on the beret or embroidered on the front of the kepi. The full dress includes yellow epaulettes (official color name is daffodil) and a navy blue cravat (scarf worn around the neck). Historically, the uniform was navy blue with yellow epaulettes. The ancient uniform, gave the nickname of the Blue Division to the Troupes de Marine units involved in the 1870 Franco-Prussian war. The pith helmet was also worn overseas in the times of colonial infantry.
[edit] History
The Troupes de Marine originate from the compagnies ordinaires de la mer created in 1622 by Cardinal Richelieu. They were troops dedicated to naval combat. In 1822 and 1831, the compagnies ordinaires de la mer were used to create the marine infantry and marine artillery, dedicated to land combat arising during naval expeditions. In 1900 the troupes de marine were removed from the responsibility of the Ministère de la Marine (analogous to the British Admiralty) and transferred to the ministry of War.
[edit] Today
The modern Troupes de Marine, were created in 1967 within the army as a fast reaction force for external operational theatres. The Troupes de Marine are one of the "armes" (corps) of the French army, which includes specialities associated with other corps (artillery, cavalry, signals) but with amphibious or airborne specialisations.
- Current Units: - Numbered sequentially whether regiments or battalions
- Régiment de Marche du Tchad (RMT) in Noyon (infantry)
- Régiment d'Infanterie de Chars de Marine (RICM) 9e BLBMa in Poitiers (light cavalry) The odd acronym was created to keep alive the traditions and honors of its celebrated original designation during World War II, the Regiment d'Infanterie Coloniale du Maroc (Regiment of Colonial Infantry of Morocco).
- Régiment d'Infanterie de Marine du Pacifique - Nouvelle Calédonie (RIMaP-NC) in Noumea New Caledonia (infantry)
- Régiment d'Infanterie de Marine du Pacifique - Polynésie (RIMaP-P) in Papeete
- 1er Régiment d'Artillerie de Marine (1er RAMa) in Laon (artillery)
- 1er Régiment de Parachutistes d'Infanterie de Marine (1er RPIMA) in Bayonne (airborne commandos)
- 1er Régiment d'Infanterie de Marine (1er RIMa) 9e BLBMa in Angouleme (light cavalry)
- 2e Régiment de Parachutistes d'Infanterie de Marine (2e RPIMa) in Pierrefonds (Réunion) (airborne)
- 2e Régiment d'Infanterie de Marine (2e RIMa) 9e BLBMa in Le Mans (infantry)
- 3e Régiment d'Artillerie de Marine (3e RAMa) in Canjuers (artillery)
- 3e Régiment de Parachutistes d'Infanterie de Marine (3e RPIMa) in Carcassonne (airborne)
- 3e Régiment d'Infanterie de Marine (3e RIMa) 9e BLBMa in Vannes (infantry)
- 5e Régiment interarmes d'outre-mer (5e RIAOM) in Djibouti
- 6e Bataillon d'Infanterie de Marine (6e BIMa) in Libreville (Gabon)
- 8e Régiment de Parachutistes d'Infanterie de Marine (8e RPIMa) in Castres (airborne)
- 9e Régiment d'Infanterie de Marine (9e RIMa) in Cayenne (French guiana) (infantry)
- 11e Régiment d'Artillerie de Marine (11e RAMa) 9e BLBMa in Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier (artillery)
- 21e Régiment d'Infanterie de Marine (21e RIMa) in Frejus (infantry)
- 22e Bataillon d'Infanterie de Marine (22e BIMa) 9e BLBMa in Nantes (command and support)
- 23e Bataillon d'Infanterie de Marine (23e BIMa) in Dakar (Senegal)
- 33e Régiment d'Infanterie de Marine (33e RIMa) in Fort-de-France (Martinique)
- 41e Bataillon d'Infanterie de Marine (41e BIMa) in Pointe-a-Pitre (Guadeloupe)
- 43e Bataillon d'Infanterie de Marine (43e BIMa) in Port-Bouet (Côte d'Ivoire)
- 72e Bataillon d'Infanterie de Marine (72e BIMa) in Marseille
Regiments with 9e BLBMa are part of the 9th Marine Light Armour Brigade (9e Brigade Légère Blindée de Marine), other regiments and battalions are integrated in non-Marine brigades
[edit] See also
- French Foreign Legion
- Marine corps
- Fusiliers de Marine - Naval light infantry
- French Colonial Forces
[edit] External links
- Official site
- Unofficial site (managed by the national federation of veterans of oversea and marine troops)
