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Troupes de Marine

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The Troupes de marine (marine troops) is a subset of the French Army dedicated to external operations. Originally called Troupes Coloniales (Colonial Troops), the marine troops were meant for being stationed overseas (thus the name) in the various French colonies. It kept from this time its nickname of la Coloniale or la Colo. At their height in 1940, the Troupes de Marines consisted of nine divisions and several demi-brigades who manned machine gun emplacements on the Maginot Line. They recruited both in France and overseas and were administered by the Ministry of Marine. Their name was changed in the 1960's to remove the imperialistic reference.

Contents

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.

Composition

The marine troops comprise:

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 embroided 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.

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. For most of the 19th and first half of 20th century, Troupes de Marine were known as Troupes Coloniale. It is under the name of colonial troops that they were involved in the two world wars, and the wars of independence in Indochina and Algeria.

Today

The modern Troupes de la Marine, were created in 1967 within the army as a fast reaction force for external operational theatres. The Troupes de Marine is 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.

Regiments with 9e BLBMa are part of the 9th Marine Light Armour Brigade (9e Brigade Légère Blindée de Marine), other regiments and batallions are integrated in non-Marine brigades

See also

External links

 

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