PolarBear
Major
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2007
- Messages
- 6,706
"Saïda, city, northwestern Algeria, on the southern slopes of the Tell Atlas and the northern fringe of the High Plateaus (Hauts Plateaux). The city’s site has been of military importance since the construction there of a Roman fort. Saïda was a stronghold of Abdelkader, the Algerian national leader who burned the town as French forces approached it in 1844. Modern Saïda was founded as a French military outpost in 1854 and once housed a regiment of the French Foreign Legion. Its growth was stimulated by the arrival of the Oran-Béchar railway, and it was incorporated in 1862."
"At the outbreak of World War I, the French Foreign Legion consisted of the 1st Foreign Regiment and the 2nd Foreign Regiment which were headquartered in Algeria at Sidi-bel-Abbès and Saida respectively. Each regiment consisted of six battalions of a 1000 men each; each regiment also had one or two Mounted Companies which, though attached to a regiment, effectively operated independently. Two companies from these regiments were garrisoned in French Indochina at the time. Also at the beginning of the war much of the Foreign Legion's strength was in Morocco as part of the French military activities there.
The French military establishment did not predict the great numbers of volunteers for French military service which began arriving at French ports following the commencement of hostilities; this presented problem for the French army on both a legal and military level. At the time French law proscribed the enlistment of aliens in any part of the French armed forces other than as a standard five year enlistment in the Foreign Legion, however that restriction was lifted on August 3, 1914, the Ministry of War issued a decree allowing foreign volunteers to enlist in the French Army for the duration of the war. Despite the French government's swift action to accommodate the influx of expatriate volunteers from a legal viewpoint, there still remained the matter of furnishing military training to the new recruits and organizing; Minister of War Adolphe Messimy determined that these men would be formed into provisional units dubbed marching regiments (régiments de marche) to trained and led with a seasoned officer and NCO cadre drawn from the regiments in North Africa. It was decreed that the induction of foreign volunteers was to be delayed until twenty days after France had begun to mobilize its forces to avoid impeding the deployment of combat-ready units. Following the outbreak of the war, the French Foreign Legion found itself in a difficult predicament as approximately two-thirds of the Foreign Legion's strength consisted of German and Austrian volunteers. The French High Command, uncertain of these Legionnaires' loyalty, ordered them to remain garrisoned in Algeria and Morocco."
Hiriart Set 1108
"At the outbreak of World War I, the French Foreign Legion consisted of the 1st Foreign Regiment and the 2nd Foreign Regiment which were headquartered in Algeria at Sidi-bel-Abbès and Saida respectively. Each regiment consisted of six battalions of a 1000 men each; each regiment also had one or two Mounted Companies which, though attached to a regiment, effectively operated independently. Two companies from these regiments were garrisoned in French Indochina at the time. Also at the beginning of the war much of the Foreign Legion's strength was in Morocco as part of the French military activities there.
The French military establishment did not predict the great numbers of volunteers for French military service which began arriving at French ports following the commencement of hostilities; this presented problem for the French army on both a legal and military level. At the time French law proscribed the enlistment of aliens in any part of the French armed forces other than as a standard five year enlistment in the Foreign Legion, however that restriction was lifted on August 3, 1914, the Ministry of War issued a decree allowing foreign volunteers to enlist in the French Army for the duration of the war. Despite the French government's swift action to accommodate the influx of expatriate volunteers from a legal viewpoint, there still remained the matter of furnishing military training to the new recruits and organizing; Minister of War Adolphe Messimy determined that these men would be formed into provisional units dubbed marching regiments (régiments de marche) to trained and led with a seasoned officer and NCO cadre drawn from the regiments in North Africa. It was decreed that the induction of foreign volunteers was to be delayed until twenty days after France had begun to mobilize its forces to avoid impeding the deployment of combat-ready units. Following the outbreak of the war, the French Foreign Legion found itself in a difficult predicament as approximately two-thirds of the Foreign Legion's strength consisted of German and Austrian volunteers. The French High Command, uncertain of these Legionnaires' loyalty, ordered them to remain garrisoned in Algeria and Morocco."
Hiriart Set 1108
