Troupes de marine


The Troupes de marine is a subdivision of the French Army that includes several specialities: infantry, artillery, armoured, airborne, engineering and transmissions.
Despite its name, it forms part of the Army, not the Navy. The TDM has gradually become professionalized since 1970.

History

The Troupes de marine were formerly known as the Troupes Coloniales, with origins dating back to the Troupes de la marine. The French colonies were under the control of the Ministère de la Marine, accordingly, marines defended the colonies.

Ancien Régime

Origin

Renamed Troupes d'Outre-Mer then Troupes de Marine during the dismantling of the French Union, their origin can actually be found in the Compagnies Ordinaires de la Mer , created in 1622 by Cardinal Richelieu. These companies were used to embark on royal naval ships to serve the naval artillery and participate in the boarding of enemy ships. These companies were also in charge of guarding the various sea ports. Despite the fact that the artillery of the marines was limited in numbers compared to those of the infantry marines, the ship's marine artillerymen were the determining factor for the Troupes de la marine, being in charge of displacing and mounting the naval guns under the orders of the respective marine artillery officer in charge. In the 18th century, they constituted the Compagnies Franches de la Marine who essentially spread to Nouvelle France.
Decimated along with the rest of the Marines during the Seven Years' War, these troops were transferred to the French Army under the Choiseul ministries, and after their emancipation at the end of 1760, they retained a large number of officers issued from the Ministère de la Guerre, which would reproduce and compensate for the endured losses during the Independence War of the United States. An evolution in the mentality of the troops and an increasingly pronounced separation between the marines and their officers followed. A tentative close-up merger was attempted by two naval ship corps and their troops in 1786 with the companies of artillery sailors; however, the experiment came to little conclusion.

Ordinary Sea Companies and Troupes de la marine (1622–1673)

The separate companies of the Régiment Royal–La Marine and the Régiment de l'Amiral de France founded by Colbert were based in Dunkerque, Le Havre, Brest, Rochefort and Toulon. They wore an off-white/grey uniform with blue facings.
The 1670s saw significant changes in the organisation of the new corps, administered by Ministers Colbert and François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, respectively Naval State Secretary and the Secretary of State of War. The four regiments of the la marine were transferred from the secretariat of La Marine to that of the secretariat of La Guerre. The regiments were no longer directly part of the French Navy although the designation Troupes de marin was retained. During the Revolution, the La Marine, Royal-Marine, Royal-Vaisseux, and the Régiment de l'Amiral regiments were integrated definitively into the French Army, becoming respectively, the 11e, 60e, 43e and 61e regiments of de Ligne in 1791.
The Marine Royale was a substantial force in 1671, consisting of 196 naval vessels. Colbert decided to create 100 companies of "guardian-soldiers" intended to form part of the crews of the larger naval vessels. However, these men were redirected towards the French Army by Louvois in 1673. Starting from this date, senior naval and marine officers were obliged to separately recruit crews and marines for each ship. Utilising a system of «levées» in the various sea ports, similar to the « marine press », the naval and marine officers were able to man their ships. However, the system reached its limitations quickly. The recruits often lacked discipline and experience, and were discharged or deserted following their first voyage, wasting months of training. Until 1682 there was a serious shortage of experienced sailors and soldiers in the French Navy.

Free Marine Companies and Marine Artillery Corps (1690–1761)

The Marine units were recreated at the end of the 17th century by re-organization of the infantry units dedicated to guarding military harbors and the artillery units dedicated to coastal battery service, naval artillery training and naval artillery administration.
The infantry and marine artillery units were briefly merged into a single marine corps in 1769. Some colonial units were created at the same time, organized along the same lines of artillery and infantry units.
After 1786, the Marine units were often reduced to artillery units, except for some short-lived infantry regiments.
The colonial expansion of the 19th century saw the extensive use of French sailors and marines serving together in Southeast Asia, the Pacific, and West Africa. The troupes de marine were tasked with insuring the French presence in its Asian, African, and American colonies.
The revolutionary period saw a definite division in 1792 between the reconstituted troupes de marine and the ships of the navy. Under Napoleon, the troupes de marine were utilized primarily as line infantry. Following the disbandment of the Imperial Guard, under the Restoration, separate marine artillery and marine infantry units were created as part of a reorganization between 1818 and 1822. These two corps were popularly known as « bigors » and « marsouins » respectively. Starting in 1831, these two arms ceased to serve on board naval ships and were exclusively armed with regular army equipment and weapons. Their role was now to serve on land in the new French colonial territories, as well as defending the large naval ports and bases in France itself.
The diverse colonial or exterior operations administered by the July Monarchy, essentially conducted by the Marines and their troops, led to the rehabilitation and the increase of the latter in 1846. The revolution of 1848 led to a draconian reduction in size. The Crimean War saw them, along with the equipment of naval vessels of the fleet, illustrating their capability during the Siege of Sevastopol while aiding the heavy artillery pieces to disembark from the naval vessels under the orders of Admiral Charles Rigault de Genouilly.
Honored since 1855, with the return of their staff of 1846, the marines demonstrated their capability during the expeditions of the Second French Empire.
In 1870, marine artillery and infantry were for the first time regrouped in a grand unit: Blue Division of general Élie de Vassoigne, named after the blue uniforms worn by the soldiers in order to differentiate them from the line troops. Following the Franco-Prussian War, the marines participated to the construction of the second colonial empire of France.

Marine Infantry and Marine Artillery Regiments (1816–1900)

The February 21, 1816, royal ordinance of Louis XVIII re-establishing L'infanterie de marine authorized two regiments. This was increased to three regiments in 1838 and four in 1854. The 1st Regiment was located in Cherbourg, the 2nd in Brest, the 3rd in Rochefort and the 4th in Toulon. In 1890, L'infanterie de marine was increased to eight regiments. L'artillerie de marine, created in 1793, was formed into a single regiment in 1814. A second was added on July 8, 1893. Battles fought in this era included Bomarsund in the Baltic, Ki Hoa in China, and the Battle of Puebla in Mexico. Their most famous battle was Bazeilles in the Franco-Prussian War.
The Troupes de marine fought in the Sino-French War and during the period of undeclared hostilities in Tonkin that preceded it. Between June 1883 and April 1886 the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps included several marine infantry battalions and marine artillery batteries. These units saw service in the Sơn Tây Campaign, the Bắc Ninh Campaign, the Capture of Hưng Hóa, the Bắc Lệ ambush, the Keelung Campaign, the Battle of Yu Oc, the Battle of Núi Bop, the Lạng Sơn Campaign and the Pescadores Campaign. In March 1885 the two marine infantry battalions in Lieutenant-Colonel Ange-Laurent Giovanninelli's 1st Brigade suffered heavy casualties storming the Chinese trenches at the Battle of Hòa Mộc. The French victory at Hòa Mộc relieved the Siege of Tuyên Quang, and was commemorated thereafter in an annual ceremony at Tuyên Quang in which a soldier of the French Foreign Legion and a marine infantryman solemnly presented arms on the anniversary of the relief of the beleaguered French post.
The French Navy itself, due to the trouble it was having in obtaining marine infantry detachments from the Navy Ministry, established the Fusiliers Marins in 1856. The Fusiliers-Marins were initially composed of sailors, NCOs and naval officers who undertook special infantry training in order to form the "marine" detachments aboard ships and conduct small scale landings.

Transformation to Troupes Coloniales

In 1890 the Ministry of Colonies was separated from that of the Ministère de la Marine. This raised the question of to which authority the troupes de Marine, who only now served in the colonies, should be responsible. By a decree dated July 7, 1900 the renamed troops were placed under the Département de la Guerre and were thus rebadged, now as part of the French Army, under one name - the Troupes coloniales, retaining the anchor badge as a reminder of their naval heritage.
The Troupes colonials were composed of two distinct corps. One was the colonial forces in metropolitan France, composed of European volunteers enlisted for renewable periods of five years. These regulars were assigned in small contingents to undertake tours of duty in the various French colonies outside North Africa. There they served either in blanches units, or were employed as officers and NCOs in the recruitment, training and leadership of locally recruited indigenous troops. The proportion of European to "native" colonial troops were progressively reduced as additional locally recruited units were created during the late 19th and earlier 20th centuries.
One problem of this system was the differences between the training and equipment required for colonial and European warfare. Service conditions in turn would differ between the various colonial territories in Africa and South East Asia. The two types of colonial troupes were however successfully employed in World War I and World War II, as well as the Indochina War and the Algerian War.
The Construction Service of the marine artillery, became an integral part of the colonial artillery following the reorganisation of 1900. In 1909 those colonial artillery officers who specialised in artillery design and manufacture work were transferred into the newly created "Engineers of Naval Artillery"; a newly created corps of the French Navy which subsequently merged with the Naval Engineer Corps during the Second World War.
The Troupes colonials distinguished themselves in both World Wars. The most decorated regimental colors of the French Armed Forces are those of the Colonial Infantry Regiment of Morocco and the regimental colors of the 2nd Marine Infantry Regiment 2e RIMa. After 1945 the decolonization wars involved the colonial troops in Indochina, Algeria, and Madagascar. Following 1962, operations in Africa were undertaken by the again renamed troupes de Marine and the French Foreign Legion which were the only units mainly or entirely composed of "engaged" soldiers. This was also the case in Tchad and in Lebanon and the former Yugoslavia before metropolitan troops started also to recruit volunteer soldiers. The cessation of obligatory military service after 2001 permitted the deployment of the remainder of the French Army in overseas operations.

Troupes Coloniales (1900–1958)

By the time the Troupes were transferred to the Army the unit names changed from "Marine" to "Colonial" while theFusiliers-Marins remained part of the French Navy. The Troupes Coloniale were still used in occasional amphibious landings but this was because of the ready availability of units normally based near naval embarkation ports or in colonial garrisons. In the World War I Dardanelles campaign, the Corps Expeditionaire d'Orient was more than two-thirds Troupes Coloniale including the 4th, 6th, 7th and 8th Colonial Infantry Regiments and Colonial Artillery. The Troupes Coloniales were however far more likely to see action in African or Asian land campaigns or, during both World Wars, in France itself.
In World War II, one Colonial unit did have "Marine" in its title – The Bataillon d'Infanterie de Marine du Pacifique. Two divisions of the Troupes Coloniale were trained in amphibious tactics by the Americans and performed amphibious landings at Corsica and Elba. Both these divisions also landed in southern France in the follow-on echelons of Operation Dragoon. The French wanted the United States to transport these two divisions to the Pacific to fight against the Japanese and later retake French Indochina, but transport was a problem.

End of Troupes Coloniales and recreation of Troupes de Marines

Troupes de Marine (1958– present)

With France divesting itself of its colonies, on 1 December 1958 the title of Troupes d' Outre-Mer replaced that of Troupes Coloniales. Finally, on 4 May 1961, the historic designation of "Troupes de marine" was readopted, this time for all the Troupes Coloniales. They became a major component in France's Forces d'Intervention. In July 1963 the 9th Marine Infantry Brigade of the Troupes de marine was formed a French Force d'Intervention. It was named after and carried the insignia of the 9th Colonial Infantry Division that had performed a successful amphibious assault on Elba in World War II. The Troupes de marine remaining overseas became part of the Forces d'outre mer. In 1964 the Force d'Intervention was expanded by adding two airborne brigades and one motorized brigade and formed into the 11th Division d'Intervention, which became the 11th Parachute Division in 1971. The Troupes de marine were removed from this division in 1976 to form a separate intervention force, and the 9e Brigade d'Infanterie de Marine was expanded on 1 January 1976 to form the 9e Division d'Infanterie de Marine. This division was the amphibious component of the Force d'Intervention, which was renamed the Force d'Action Rapide in 1983.
Because of their overseas heritage and their use in the Force d'Intervention, the Troupes de marine were mostly volunteer regulars, as in France, draftees are legally exempt from overseas duty. The conversion of the French Army into a smaller professional force led to the French Army's decision to make the brigade its largest formation and the 9e Division d'Infanterie de Marine was reduced in size on 1 July 1999 and became the 9th Light Armoured Marine Brigade and then back to the 9th Marine Infantry Brigade in 2016.
The Troupes de marine are one of the "armes" of the French Army, which includes specialties associated with other corps but with overseas deployment as a specialisation.

Gallery

Nicknames

Troupes de marine soldiers are known in French as marsouins, allegedly because, like porpoises, they accompany ships without really being part of the crew.
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, 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 Troupes de Marine include:
The modern Troupes de marine uniform is the same as for other units of the French Army. Distinctive features are a gold metal fouled anchor badge on a dark blue beret. This is worn either on the beret or embroidered on the front of the kepi.
The modern full dress includes a dark blue kepi, yellow fringed epaulettes and a navy blue cravat. A red waist sash is also sometimes worn by certain units with a history of colonial service in Africa and Indo-China.
Historically, the uniform consisted of a blue kepi with red piping, double breasted navy blue tunic, lighter blue trousers, and yellow epaulettes. Worn by all ranks until 1914, the blue uniform was reissued for regular personnel in 1930 and is still worn by bandsmen. This traditional 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 worn overseas during the colonial period, with blue, khaki or white uniforms according to circumstances. Until the early 1960s a dark blue calot with red piping and anchor badge was the usual distinction of the Troupes de marine.

Gallery

Kepi and traditional epaulettes

The modern kepi is presented to new recruits in a solemn ceremony. It is worn by officers and non-commissioned officers when another headdress is not prescribed. The kepi is entirely dark blue – a very dark blue, often mistaken for black – with a red or gold trimming. All kepis display the anchor insignia of the Marines. When not being worn the kepi is expected to be positioned so that the anchor is always visible.
The "traditional" epaulettes used by the TdM are gold for officers and NCOs and wool of "daffodil" yellow for other ranks. This colour and pattern is derived from the historic epaulettes of the Metropolitan light infantry.

Golden Spurs

The officers of marine "mounted" units have the privilege of wearing gold spurs for certain occasions. This differs from the usual French cavalry practice of wearing silver spurs. Tradition has it that Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom requested this distinction for the marine troops from Emperor Napoleon III to honor the branch after the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimea where marine infantry saved British troops from destruction.

Sword

The officers and senior non commissioned-officer can wear, in special circumstances, a sword as a part of their dress uniform. This sword has a straight-edge blade, in contrast to other Army Corps' curved sabers and thus similar to those of the Royal Marines and the rest of the British Armed Forces. Since the Second World War, the sword is very rarely used.

Red Beret

The armored, artillery and infantry regiments of the Marines wear dark blue berets with golden anchor insignia. The parachute regiments of the Marines wear a red beret with anchor and wing insignia, except the 1e RPIMa, a Special Forces regiment, where soldiers wear a purple beret.
The red beret was first introduced to the Free French Paratroopers of the SAS in August 1944, at the 2e RCP during a parade on November 11, 1944, this regiment for a first time dressed this beret with the insignia of the SAS. However, these paratroopers then belonged to the Air Force. In Indochina, the Infantry Metropolitan SAS Demi-Brigade retained the practice, which was readopted by the 1st SAS Parachute Demi-Brigade in 1948. The red beret, which was officially introduced as the standard uniform headdress on all Paratroopers in Indochina in 1952 by Général Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, became the norm for all airborne contingents of the French Army in 1957, with legionnaires paratroopers retaining their traditional green beret, and the 1e RPIMa which transitioned to a purple beret in 2015.

Marsouins, Bigors and Biffins

The nickname used by Marsouins and Bigors for the other branches of the French Army is biffins. The name originated in the nineteenth century when sailors of the Fleet and Marine Infantry and Artillerymen, proud of their own smart appearance, accused the soldiers of the Army of being slovenly by comparison. The Legion is excused this nickname, probably reflecting a special relation between Marsouins and legionnaires.

Traditions

The Feast of the Marines: in the name of God, long live the colonials! This expression is believed to have originated with the famous missionary Charles de Foucauld who, when rescued by colonial troops, exclaimed "In the name of God, the great colonials!". Annual ceremonies celebrating the marine troops take place on August 31 and September 1 – the anniversary of the Blue Division. On August 31 detachments of all marine units parade at Fréjus where the Museum of Marine Troops is located. On 1 September veterans hold a ceremony at Bazeilles in Ardennes.

The anchor of gold

As a naval symbol since ancient times, the anchor appeared on the uniforms of French sailors from the late eighteenth century. The Marine Infantry and Artillery troops adopted this insignia at the same time and it remains the modern symbol of the Troupes de marine.
The particular role of this branch of the French Army is to consolidate various specialties: infantry, artillery, cavalry, parachute forces, signals and engineers. These specialties, which are consolidated in the Troupes de marine branch, form separate arms in the rest of the Army.

Current units

This song is sung at a brisk pace to marching music

Values of the Marine Troops

Formed initially to be deployed for service on France's overseas territories to maintain French interests, the marine troops have acquired a culture of openness. In addition, foreign missions have required the weapon it covers areas of varied specialties the exercise of which, today, reinforces a long history of professionalization.
Transcending the concept of mastering military equipment and technologies, the marine troops to unite around a single symbol, the traditional golden anchor, that for those who serve marks a unique style whose main features are:
These high values of identity give meaning to the commitment of the Marsouin and Bigord and always based natural vocation of the marine troops serving both in the French overseas territories and abroad.