Chasseurs Alpins

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Chasseurs Alpins
Active	Since 1888
Country	France
Branch	Armée de Terre
Type	Infantry
Role	Mountain Infantry
Size	Three battalions
Garrison/HQ	7e Batallion - Bourg-Saint-Maurice 13e Batallion - Chambéry 27e Batallion - Cran-Gevrier
Nickname	Les diables bleus (The Blue Devils)
Motto	Jamais être pris vivant (Eng: Never to be Taken Alive)

The Chasseurs Alpins (English: Alpine Hunters or Alpine Chasers) are the elite mountain infantry of the French Army. They are trained to operate in mountainous terrain and in urban warfare.

1 Modern unit
2 Unit origins
3 Ranks
4 Important figures
5 Gallery
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Modern unit

Since 1999 they have been (with other units) part of the 27th Mountain Infantry Brigade (Brigade d'Infanterie de Montagne), and are currently organised into three battalions:

7th Battalion, Bourg-Saint-Maurice
13th Battalion, Chambéry
27th Battalion, Cran-Gevrier (Annecy)

All three battalions are based in cities in the French Alps, thus the name of the units.

Training includes climbing, cross-country skiing, plus winter and summer mountain leadership and mountain guiding skills. Traditional training included mountain survival skills such as to build an igloo shelter and to sleep in temperatures around 0°C. Modern troops may be transported in all-terrain VMBs VACs(Bandvagn 206) or untracked VAB personnel carriers. Personal weaponry includes the FAMAS assault rifle, Minimi machine gun, FRF-2 sniper rifle, PGM Hecate II heavy sniper rifle, and LGI light mortar, while group weapons included the M2 machine gun, LLR 81 mm mortar, and vehicle-mounted 20 mm autocannon, plus AT4, ERYX and MILAN anti-tank missiles.

The Chasseurs are easily recognised by their wide beret (when not in battle uniform), named tarte (= pie). The British Army adopted the wearing of the beret in the 1920s after having seen similar berets worn by the 70th Chasseurs Alpins (now disbanded).^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Unit origins

Until 1859, Italy wasn't yet a unified state but a sum of kingdoms and independent republics (Kingdom of Naples, Republic of Venice, Papal States, etc.). The situation changed since 1859 with the help of Garibaldi and Cavour trying to create a unified and solid nation. This geopolitical change was seen as a possible threat from the other side of the Alps border, partially as the Italians were the first to have mountain warfare specialized troops. The French solution was to create its own mountain corps in order to oppose an Italian invasion through the Alps. By December 24, 1888, a law is applied about the creation of a troupes de montagne ("mountain troops") corps. 12 out of the 31 existing Chasseurs à Pied ("Hunters on Foot") battalions are selected to be converted. These first units are named Bataillons Alpins de Chasseurs à Pied ("Hunters on Foot Alpine Battalions") which will be later shortened to Bataillons de Chasseurs Alpins ("Alpine Hunters Battalions").