What waas the most unusual

u militaary unit in hisstory?

Marius D
Duchêne, Miliitary & Historry enthusiastt
Answereed Mon · Upvvoted by Richh Kiene, USM MC 67-71 Moo.NG 84-86 US
U Army 86-993, USAR 933-96.

The 1st FFree French Brigade whicch took part in the battle of
o Bir Hakeim
m was quite tthe weird unit.

By the timme of the battle of Bir Hakeim, in Mayy-June of 19442, Free Frannce’s territori al possessioons were
limited too few coloniaal territories (French Equaatorial Africa, Polynesia, New-Caledon
N nia, French Levant),
L
which didd not includee the empire’ss “pearls”, Inddochina and French North Africa, still in Vichy’s haands.
Thereforre, the largesst unit which thet Free Frennch had fightting alongside the British in North Africa was
an odd m melting pot off all those colonial territorries.

Out of thhe two half-brrigades whichh formed thee 1ère BFL (B Brigade Franççaise Libre - Free Frenchh
Brigade), the first was the 13th Fooreign Legionn half-brigadee, formed of Free Francee’s 2nd and 3rd
3
Foreign Legion battalions. Those Foreign Leggion elementss notably included aroundd 300 Spanissh
Republiccans who hadd fled Spain after
a Franco’’s victory, and went to Fraance in the R Retirada. Thee unit also
included lot of Germaan, Italian, Algerian, Syriaan, Lebanesee, inhabitantss of France’s last Indians holdings
and Frennch soldiers. The second half-brigade was Free Frrance’s Colonnial half-brigaade, made of the
Second Bataillon de Marche (Seccond March B Battalion), whhich was form
med with voluunteers from what
would beecome the Ceentrafrican Republic,
R the Pacific Battaalion, made of
o volunteers from New Caledonia,
Polynesia and what would
w becomme Vanuatu, aand the 1st Marine
M Infantry battalion. Elements noot
included in those halff-brigades weere a battalioon of Navy Riflemen, whicch crewed th e anti-air deffences, a
North African Compaany and an annti-tank comppany.

men of the Seecond Marchh Battalion digg up a positioon for a 75mm mle 1897 gun, to be ussed as
Infantrym
an anti-taank weapon, Bir Hakeim

What waas already ann unusual unit when lookinng at its forcees gets even weirder wheen you look at a what is
was armed with. Thee 1st BFL hadd been outfittted with a mixxture of French equipmennt brought byy the
volunteeers or captureed in Syria annd Lebanon dduring the 19941 campaignn of the Frennch Levant, anda
whatever the British could
c find thaat was needeed to reinforcce the unit. The main anti--tank materiaal the unit
had weree 75mm fieldd gun from the year 1897,, and which were w the Frennch Army’s sstandard fieldd gun in
both WW W1 and WW22. Out of the 54 5 artillery piieces of this model in the 1st BFL’s haands, 30 werre used
as antitaank pieces annd the rest ass artillery. Th e unit also haad 89 Boys anti-tank
a riflees provided by the
British, 14 47mm SA 37 anti-tank guns and 188 25mm SA 34 3 anti-tank guns.
g Artilleryy included tw
wo 25-
pounder guns provideed by the British and 44 881mm and 600mm French-made mortaars. This Ordnance
was carrried by the unnit’s only arm
mored vehiclees, 63 Bren Carrier
C tanketttes, which w were pretty much
useless ooutside of towwing guns, as
a they were only armed with w a machinne-gun and aarmored to reesist
machinee-gun fire.

Automatic armamentt was made of o 18 British-ssupplied anti-air 40mm Bofors cannonns, 76 Hotchkkiss 8
and 13.22mm machinee-guns, and 366 FM 24/229 light machine-guns (a weapon w veryy similar to the
Czechosslovakian-Brittish BREN), including 96 used in anti--air role. The BFL also haad a number of
“technicaals” made byy marrying truucks and antii-tank guns, anda used as fast means tto deal with enemy
e
armor; thhose includedd several typpe of vehicless (Morris truccks, Marmon--Herrington aarmored carss and
Bren Carrriers were fitted with 25mmm SA 34, a nd a single Chevrolet
C 30ccwt was evenn given a capptured
German PaK 38 50m mm anti-tank gun and nickknamed “La Revanche”)
R

La Revanche with it’ss rear-facing anti-tank gunn

A Bren C
Carrier with a 25mm SA 34
3 installed inn it’s machinee-gun port, and a FM 24/2
/29 installed in the
crew com
mpartment.

Morris trrucks with 25mm SA 34 anti-tank gunss; such vehiccles were nickknamed “Derrviche”, afterr a type of
musiim bbeliever that had to live inn extreme po verty and auusterity
Unknownn truck with a 75mm mle 1897 on its bback

Now, youu would thinkk that such an unit would most likely beb deployed on o a secondaary, backwarrd front,
perhaps serving just as a training or a securityy unit. But theey weren’t; They
T were deeployed on onne of the
most impportant frontss for Great-Britain, North A
Africa, and, at
a Bir Hakeim m, they had too face the might of
the Afrikaakorps’s besst units.

In May oof 1942, Britissh forces werre in full retreeat from Italiaan Lybia, tryinng to find a pposition to hoold
against a vastly reinfoorced Afrikakkorps and recceive enoughh supplies annd American material to continue c
on fightinng. While moore numerouss, British trooops were lesss experienced and trainedd than Germaans and
the best Italian units. On the 26th of May, Rom mmel launcheed his offenssive; his mostt elite units moved
m
inland too go around the best Britissh units that w were locatedd near the coast, facing offf against Italian
troops. Inn their path, Bir Hakeim; a position heeld by the 1stt BFL. It did notn have mucch to favor deefence,
being loccated in the desert,
d on oppen ground, eeasy to spot from f kilometeers away. Whhile a minefieeld had
been sett up by the French, the lack of mines m meant that it was very scaarce.
A Chevroolet truck witth quad Hotchhkiss machinne-guns usedd by the Navyy Riflemen ass anti-air deffence at
Bir Hakeeim

The battle started on the 27th of May,

M when thhe Ariete arm mored divisionn, one of the best Italian units,
u
attacked the position from its Souuthern flank. TThe attack, however,
h faileed, as the elitte Bersaglierri infantry
of the divvision was sttopped and pinned
p down by French arrtillery, and thhe few M13/440 tanks (sixx) that
broke thrrough the minefield were destroyed byy 75mm mle 1897 guns at a point-blankk range. Another
attempt ffrom the North failed wheen it struck onne of the minnefield’s stronngest points, which was alsoa
under firee from antitaank defences. At the end oof the day, thhe Ariete division had lostt 32 tanks annd tens of
casualitiees, including 91 prisonerss, one of them
m being the very
v commannder of the AAriete’s tank regiment.
r
The Freee French hadd lost a cannoon, a truck, aand two wounndeds.

Things loooked grim, however,

h as the 3rd Indiaan Brigade that took position north of tthe 1st BFL had h been
destroyeed, and Britishh motorized and armoredd units were hit h harshly annd forced to rretreat. The BFL’s
B
attemptss to make conntact with othher British unnits further noorth were unssuccessful, aalthough theyy did
succeed in destroyingg seven Axiss armored ca rs. While theere were a few w fights on thhe 28th and 29th
2 of
May, including some with Germann units, few ccasualties weere taken by either side (j ust three Geerman
tanks weere destroyedd). The Free French posittion was joineed by more than six hunddred disarmed Indian
soldiers, that had beeen captured but
b then aba ndoned by German G forcees. On the 31 st, a last connvoy
reached the isolated French posittion, carryingg back the priisoners and Indians
I and ddelivering waater.
A 75mm gun positionn of the Paciffic Battalion

On the 1st of June, asa Rommel destroyed the 150th Infanttry Brigade which w the 1st BFL had trieed to
enter in ccontact with earlier, the 1st BFL was nnow the last stop on his wayw further innto Libya, andd then
Egypt annd Suez. Thee Italian motoorized divisionn “Trieste”, again
a one of Italy’s
I most eelite units, thee 90th
Light Divvision of the Afrikakorps,
A and
a armoredd car regimennts from the Italian Pavia division weree re-
directed into Bir Hakeeim, now undder fire from 105mm artilleery the Free French had no way to coounter
(more than 40,000 shhells of 105m mm or larger ccaliber, goingg up to 220mmm, would bee fired onto thhe
French pposition until the 10th). Thhe position allso found itseelf under the bombing of JJu 87 “Stukaa” dive
bomberss. While the position
p finally got encircleed, the Trieste and 90th Light
L Divisionn launched a number
of attackks on the 3rd and 4th of May;
M all were pushed backk without pennetrating the French defence in
any significant way.

Finally, oon the 6th of June, Germaan pioneers w were able to open safe paaths through the minefield, using
the coveer of the nightt. But all folloowing attempps at advancing ended up pinned downn by the accurate fire
of French defences, anda were forrced to back ddown. This foorced Romm mel to dedicatte even moree means
to the 1sst BFL: 88mm m guns, pioneeers, and eveen the 15th Panzer-Divisi
P on. His offennsive was efffectively
blocked, as a good part
p of the Afrrikakorps’s coombat force was w stuck figghting 3,700 Frenchmen with w a
few old gguns in the desert.
A defencce position off the Pacific battalion
b at B
Bir Hakeim.

On the 88th, using thoose additional means, Rom mmel launchhed another offensive.
o An d failed yet again;
a
while somme forces weere able to peenetrate into the French defence,
d theyy always endded up being pushed
back by the French, even
e with thee support of hheavier Panzzer III and Paanzer IV tankks. The samee thing
happeneed on the 9th, with the few w German breeakthrough being
b cancellled by… A BBren Carrier charge.
c

The 10thh was Bir Hakkeim’s last daay, as the Frrench garrisoon was given the authorizaation to evaccuate,
and a loccation to be picked
p up by a British connvoy. A last attack
a led by Panzergrenaadiers and Panzer III
& IV tankks failed, andd the French launched theeir offensivess to break thee siege and rreach British lines. A
small path was madee in the mineffield, and all of the remainning Bren Caarriers were ssent into a chharge to
break Geerman defences as well as a distract theem. While the heavy equipment that ccouldn’t be evacuated
(mainly 775mm mle 18897 gun) wass sabotaged,, the remaininng valid soldiers manageed, for the vasst
majority of them, to escape
e in thee night. The ooffensive of thhe 11th, whicch was suppoosed to end the
t
outpost aand finally oppen the way forf the Afrikaa Korps, only met a few wounded
w solddiers.
A sabotaaged 75mm mle
m 1897, it’ss breech rem
moved, capturred by the Affrikakorps on the 11th of June
J

At Bir Haakeim, around 3,700 menn coming from m places as farf from eachh other as thee Centrafrican
Republicc, Syria and Vanuatu
V weree able to holdd against thee elite of Axiss troops in Noorth Africa, which
w
were, at their peak, teen times morre numerous . While the only
o combat vehicles
v theyy had were oddd
technicals, and most of their anti-tank guns jusst obsolete fiield guns, theey inflicted caasualties far higher
than the ones they reeceived, and actually almoost as vast asa the actual number of deefenders.

3,300 caasualties, 52 tanks, 11 arm mored cars, 449 aircraft annd tens of trucks were losst by the Axiss. 140 of
the defennders were killed,
k 130 woounded, 600 taken prisoner (all duringg the evacuattion) and 1633 missing
(in the evvacuation ass well). 40 75mm field gunn, 5 47mm guuns and 8 400mm Bofors gguns, as well as
around fifty vehicles of
o various typpes, were losst by the Freee French.

As unusuual as it was, the 1st BFLL scored at B ir Hakeim onne of the mosst impressivee victories of the Allies
during thhe whole Norrth African caampaign, andd indirectly played a major role in the vvictory of El Alamein
A
by signifiicantly delaying Afrikakorrps forces, annd enabling the
t British to set up a connsiderable deefence.
A soldierr of the Foreiign Legion with
wi his MAS 336 rifle at Birr Hakeim

Sometimmes, even thee most makesshift, unusuaal and ill-equipped units caan do wondeers. Bir Hakeim was
one of thhose occasions.