Armored Train of the Foreign Legion

Armored Train of the Foreign Legion; Train blindé de la Légion étrangère
Active	1948 - 1954
Country	France
Allegiance	French Foreign Legion
Branch	French Army
Size	100
7 Flames Grenade & Golden Eastern Dragon & Rail	Train Blindé( fr); Armored Train; Aes Triplex Deo Juvante ( La ); Triple airain, Dieu aidant( fr ); Triple Alloy, God Aiding;
Engagements	First Indochina War

Last updated March 11, 2019

The Armored Train of the Foreign Legion (French : Train blindé de la Légion étrangère) was an Armoured train (French : trains blindés ) detachment of the French Foreign Legion formed in Tonkin. In 1948, the 2nd Foreign Regiment 2^e RE, formed one, then two armored trains to protect convoys from attack ambushes by the Vietminh, protect the Transindochinois Line (French : Line du Transindochinois ) and roll support the Army along its chartered course. During this époque, the Legion formed several armored trains, which were mounted by the 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment 1^er REC and other Legion units.

French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French (Francien) has largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to France's past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French.

An armoured train is a railway train protected with armour. Armoured trains usually include railroad cars armed with artillery and machine guns. They were mostly used during the late 19th and early 20th century, when they offered an innovative way to quickly move large amounts of firepower. Most countries discontinued their use – road vehicles became much more powerful and offered more flexibility, and train tracks proved too vulnerable to sabotage as well as to attacks from the air. However, the Russian Federation used improvised armoured trains in the Second Chechen War of 1999–2009.

The French Foreign Legion is a military service branch of the French Army established in 1831. Legionnaires are highly trained infantry soldiers and the Legion is unique in that it was, and continues to be, open to foreign recruits willing to serve in the French Armed Forces. When it was founded, the French Foreign Legion was not unique; other foreign formations existed at the time in France.

The armored legion Train

The protection of artwork (French : Ouvrages d'art) and escort supply trains (French : l'escorte des trains de ravitaillement) subjected to ambushes, required the creation of armored trains.

The armored Legion train of Nha-Trang (La Rafale)^[1] was armed by a regimental company of the 2nd Foreign Regiment 2^e RE as of 1948. The train was composed of armored wagons, protected by imbedded metallic plates. The rooftops of the wagons were mounted by mobile turrets armed with heavy machine guns. The walls were reinforced by bricks and cement; with loopholes (French : meurtrières) allowing the men to repel enemy attacks. Two wagons were combat engineer specialized oriented, with no armor, they were in charge of transporting all the necessary material (including train rails) to parry a sabotage and/or reconstruct the railway when needed.

The 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment is an infantry regiment of the French Foreign Legion. The regiment is one of two mechanized infantry regiments of the 6th Light Armoured Brigade.

Brick Block or a single unit of a ceramic material used in masonry construction

A brick is building material used to make walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Traditionally, the term brick referred to a unit composed of clay, but it is now used to denote any rectangular units laid in mortar. A brick can be composed of clay-bearing soil, sand, and lime, or concrete materials. Bricks are produced in numerous classes, types, materials, and sizes which vary with region and time period, and are produced in bulk quantities. Two basic categories of bricks are fired and non-fired bricks.

Cement Hydraulic binder used in the composition of mortar and concrete

A cement is a binder, a substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel (aggregate) together. Cement mixed with fine aggregate produces mortar for masonry, or with sand and gravel, produces concrete. Cement is the most widely used material in existence and is only behind water as the planet's most-consumed resource.

The armored train of the Legion assured the protection of all the railway networks in South-Annam, the protection of civilian and military convoys as well the transport of operational units. In July 1954, La Rafale was assigned to the Vietnamese Army.

Convoy composition

2 Locomatives;
1 Command Wagon;
8 Combat Wagons;
1 Armored Infirmary Wagon;
2 combat engineer Wagons, one at the front and one at the end of the Wagon convoy, for quick fixes when needed;
2 Pilot Wagons, at the head of the Wagon convoy, charged with detonating eventual mines.

The autonomy of the Armored Legion Train was 72 hours and the armament ( 8 twinned machine guns, one mounted 40 mm cannon, one mounted 20 mm cannon, grenade launchers, and two 60 and 81 mm mortars) allowed this rail fortress to sustain a siege when needed. The crew was constituted of a hundred men.

The MAC mle 1931 machine gun, was a machine gun used in French tanks of the World War II era, as well as in fortifications such as the Maginot line. It is also sometimes known as the JM Reibel, which actually stands for Jumelage de mitrailleuses Reibel, or Reibel twin-mounted guns and really refers to the specialized twin-mounting frame used in Maginot Line fortifications, while MAC mle 1931 refers to each gun. The JM twin-mounts were the standard emplacement for the mle 1931 in fixed fortifications, while tanks and other AFVs received single guns.

The Armored Legion Train accordingly resisted all ambushes, halted all sabotages and was the enduring Rolling Symbol during the chartered course duration of French Indochina.

French Indochina, officially known as the Indochinese Union after 1887 and the Indochinese Federation after 1947, was a grouping of French colonial territories in Southeast Asia.

Train insignia

Silver circled steel bandage railway; at the center on a green and red background is detached a Eastern Dragon and a golden grenade with 7 flames, encircled by a golden border with inscription: TRAIN BLINDE - AES TRIPLEX DEO JUVANTE, in both French and Latin. The steel railway indicated the vocation of the unit; the grenade with 7 flames and green and red colors are the symbols of the Legion; the insignia : "Triple Alloy, God is helping", actually means "Showing Great Courage, God is helping", is referring to the armoring of the train. The insignia was created in 1948.

Related Research Articles

The 1st Foreign Regiment and the 2nd Foreign are the original and most senior founding regiments of the French Foreign Legion.

The 1st Foreign Engineer Regiment is one of two combat engineer regiments in the French Foreign Legion, and part of the 6th Light Armoured Brigade. Currently stationed at Quartier General Rollet in Laudun-l'Ardoise, Gard, southern France.

The 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment is the only cavalry regiment in the French Foreign Legion. As of 2009 it was the only armoured cavalry regiment of the 6th Light Armoured Brigade. The regiment recently moved camp after being stationed at Quartier Labouche for 47 years in Orange, Vaucluse, France since it moved from Mers-el-Kébir, Algeria in October 1967.

The 13th Demi-Brigade of Foreign Legion, was created in 1940 and was the main unit of the 1st Free French Division, Free French Forces (FFL). From the coast of Norway to Bir Hakeim, to Africa then the Alsace, while passing by Syria and Italy, the 13th Demi-Brigade would be part of most of the major campaigns of the armed forces of France during the Second World War.

The 4th Foreign Regiment is the unit currently responsible for training the French Foreign Legion. Prior to assuming the main responsibility of training Foreign Legion recruits, the 4th Foreign Regiment was an infantry unit which participated in campaigns in Morocco, Levant, French Indochina, and Algeria.

The 5th Foreign Infantry Regiment, surnamed Régiment du Tonkin, was a regiment of the French Foreign Legion created under the Third Republic, and dissolved in 2000. The history of this regiment is marked by the participation to World War II and the conflicts of the Indochina and Algeria.

The 1st Foreign Parachute Heavy Mortar Company was an ephemeral foreign airborne heavy mortar company of the French Foreign Legion which fought during the First Indochina War at the corps of the French Far East Expeditionary Corps.

The 6th Foreign Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment of the French Foreign Legion from 1939 to 1941 and again from 1949 to 1955.

The Communal Depot of the Foreign Regiments (DCRE), or, was the primary operations center of gravity of the French Foreign Legion from 1933 to 1955.

The Disciplinary Company of the Foreign Regiments in the Far East created on June 1 1946, was the disciplinary company in charge of all Foreign Regiments in the Far East. The main Disciplinary Company of the Foreign Legion (CDLE), which received those sent from Legion regiments garrisoned or operating in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, the Levant and Tonkin was dissolved on July 1 1964, the latter was based on rules and regulations set by général Rollet in 1931.

Phan Thiết railway station is a subsidiary station of Saigon Railway Station at the fishing town of Phan Thiết. It is where the North–South Railway begins to follow the beachfront, all the way up to Huế Railway Station.

The 6th Foreign Engineer Regiment was a unit of the French Foreign Legion in the rapid reaction force and part component of the 6th Light Armoured Division,. The 6th Foreign Engineer Regiment became the 1st Foreign Engineer Regiment in 1999.

The 2nd Foreign Parachute Battalion was a foreign parachute battalion of the French Foreign Legion initially composed of volunteers of the 4th Demi-Brigade of the Foreign Legion.

The Pioneers of the French Foreign Legion are a "unit of tradition". They march at the head of Foreign Legion detachments during ceremonial parades. The Legion's Pioneers are bearded, wear buffalo leather aprons, and carry polished axes on their shoulders.

Saharan Companies of the French Foreign Legion

The Saharan Mounted Companies of the French Foreign Legion consisted of legionnaires of various nationalities and races transferred from the existing French Foreign Legion infantry and cavalry regiments. These units should not be confused with the Saharan Méharistes Companies which are covered in detail in the Méhariste article.

The Demi-Brigade of the Foreign Legion, existed briefly in Indochina while regrouping the ensemble of the Battalion Forming Corps issued from the 1st Foreign Infantry Regiment 1^er REI. The Demi-Brigade would become on September 1, 1930, the 5th Foreign Infantry Regiment.

The Passage Company of the Foreign Legion of Saigon was a logistics based operation handling of the French Foreign Legion, in Cochinchina, and based at fort de Cay May. In 1950, the CPLE of Saigon counted 21,389 passengers of all ranks, the company also registered 14 tons of baggage and almost 125,000 letters transmitted.

5th Heavy Weight Transport Company (CTGP)

The 5th Heavy Weight Transport Company was a heavy weight transport company of the French Foreign Legion. On April 30, 1964, following the dissolution of the 4th Foreign Regiment 4^e RE, the 6th Mounted Company of the 4th Foreign Infantry Regiment 4^e REI became the 5th Mounted Company of the 2nd Foreign Regiment 2^e REI. On May 1, 1965, the company was designated as the 5th Heavy Weight Transport Company. Transformed into a Military Train Unit, the activities of the company revolved mainly, around the evacuation of the Sahara.

References

↑ In the French language, "Rafale" has numerous meanings and designations. In Meteorology, a "Rafale" (French : une Rafale) is a sudden temporary augmentation of the wind. If the wind is violent, it is referred to as "Bourasque". In a similar context and category, a "Rafale front" (French : Front de Rafale) designates a line series of organized violent winds coming out of a thunderstorm. Similarly, a "descending Rafale" (French : Rafale descendante) is an aerial current which descends intensely under thunderstorm, and whose surface crush produces violent, divergent and turbulent winds. In the Military context, the "Rafale" (French : la Rafale) is a sudden short, violent and rapid burst of fire, shot from one Firearm with automatic fire.

Sources

Alexis Neviaski, L’audace du rail : Les Trains Blindés du Sud-Annam ( The Rail Audacity: The Armored Trains of South-Annam), Revue historique des armées, no 234, 2004
Source Le Grand Livre des Insignes de la Légion Etrangère de Tybor SZECSKO. Ramuncho.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] In the French language, "Rafale" has numerous meanings and designations. In Meteorology, a "Rafale" (French : une Rafale) is a sudden temporary augmentation of the wind. If the wind is violent, it is referred to as "Bourasque". In a similar context and category, a "Rafale front" (French : Front de Rafale) designates a line series of organized violent winds coming out of a thunderstorm. Similarly, a "descending Rafale" (French : Rafale descendante) is an aerial current which descends intensely under thunderstorm, and whose surface crush produces violent, divergent and turbulent winds. In the Military context, the "Rafale" (French : la Rafale) is a sudden short, violent and rapid burst of fire, shot from one Firearm with automatic fire.