Fusiliers Marins
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The Fusiliers Marins (also known as Fusiliers de Marine) are units specialised in the protection and defence of key sites of the French Navy on land. They consist of about 1,200 men.
Their deployments include:
- One group in Toulon and another in Brest, with a "Regional Intervention Group" to reinforce the protection of any particular building or place.
- Seven companies scattered around metropolitan territory: one in the naval base of Cherbourg, one in every site of the FOST (Île Longue, France-sud, Rosnay and Sainte Assise) and one on each of the naval air bases of Lann Bihoué and Nîmes-Garons.
They also protect the DOM/TOM where interarm transmission stations are located.
The missions of the Fusiliers Marins are
- missions on shores from the sea
- support of the commandos marine during special operations
- protection of sensitive sites of the Navy
- protection of the ships and security aboard.
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[edit] History
In 1627, Richelieu founded the Régiment de la Marine. It was to provide onboard troops capable of fighting on land or on sea, and commanded by the officers of the ship. These troops were part of the crew, and helps manoeuvering the ship.
The base unit was the 70-man company, compagnie détachée de la Marine. It was commanded by a lieutenant des vaisseaux du Roi ("Lieutenant of the Ships of the King") and two ensigns. These companies fought in all French colonies, particularly in Nouvelle France. An anonymous Fusilier de Marine is credited for Nelson's death during the Battle of Trafalgar.
In 1825, a royal decree abolished the Régiments de la Marine and imposed that landing parties (compagnies de débarquement) should be composed of sailors. The tradition of the Régiments de la Marine later gave birth to the troupes de marine and troupes coloniales of the Army.
As the crews of the ships lacked personnel trained for fighting on land, the imperial decree of 5 June 1856 created the specialisation of marin fusilier. The fusiliers-marins was initially composed of sailors and naval officers who were sent to special training in Lorient in order to form the marine detachments aboard ships. This was not the first time that the French had tried this approach. Before the First Republic, the Corps royal de l'infanterie de la marine had been superseded by the Corps royal de canonniers-matelots on January 1, 1786.
These troops were notably engaged during the war of 1870 in Bapaume and defending Paris and in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion.
In World War I, their famous defense in 1914 of Dixmunde in the Battle of the Yser stands out. They also served in Serbia and at the Dardanelles.
The fusiliers-marins were busy studying amphibious warfare, testing experimental landing craft and taking part in exercices combinés from the late 1920s until the mid 1930s.
In World War II, their most famous battles were Bir Hacheim and Normandy (D-Day). World War II fusiliers-marins units included the 1er Regiment de Fusiliers-Marins de Reconnaissance which served in the 1st Free French Division (1er DFL), the Régiment Blindé de Fusiliers Marins (RBFM) of the 2nd Armored Division and the 1st Battalion of fusiliers marin commandos (1er BFMC).
In Vietnam after World War II, the French Navy and fusiliers marins created the famous riverine warfare units called divisions navales d'assaut (naval assault divisions), commonly referred to as dinassauts. The Demi-Brigade de Fusiliers-Marins (DBFM) which included the Bataillon d'Intervention de Fusiliers-Marins (BIFM) served in Algeria.
 "Call to fair men; the Royal regiment of Naval fusiliers is recruiting..." Louis XV |
 Musée de la Marine, Paris: Naval Infantry shako, around 1829. |
 Inspections at sea are often carried out by fusilliers marins |
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- J. Pinquet, Trois Etapes de la Brigade des Fusiliers Marins - La Marne, Gand, Dixmude, 1918
- G. Le Bail, Le Brigade des Jean le Gouin; Histoire documentaire et anecdotique des Fusiliers marins, Paris, 1917.
- Raymond Maggiar, Les fusiliers marins dans la division Leclerc, du débarquement en Normandie, en passant par Paris et Strasbourg jusqu'à Berchtesgaden, Paris : Albin Michel, 1947.
- Marcel Vigneras, Rearming the French, Office of the Chief of Military History, Dept. of the Army, US, 1957.
- Edward L Bimberg, Tricolor over the Sahara the desert battles of the Free French, 1940-1942, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002, ISBN 0313010978 or ISBN 9780313010972.
- Adolphe Auguste Marie Lepotier, Les fusiliers marins, Editions France, 1962.
- Raymond Maggiar, Les fusiliers marins de Leclerc: une route difficile vers de Gaulle, Editions France-Empire, 1984, ISBN 2704803412 or ISBN 9782704803415.
- Charles W. Koburger, The French Navy in Indochina: Riverine and Coastal Forces, 1945-54, Praeger, 1991, ISBN 0275938336 or ISBN 9780275938338.
- L’évolution des opérations amphibies, La Revue maritime, n° 198, avril 1963, p. 424.
- René Bail., DBFM, demi-brigade des fusiliers marins, Rennes : Marines, 2007, ISBN 2915379572 or ISBN 9782915379570.
- M. Alexander, France and the Algerian War, 1954-1962: Strategy, Operations and Diplomacy, Routledge, 2002, ISBN 0714682640 or ISBN 978-0714682648,
