The
RICM, in
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
Régiment d'Infanterie de Chars de Marine (
RICM, or 9th Light Armored Marine Brigade) is a
light cavalryLight cavalry refers to lightly-armed and armored troops mounted on horses, as opposed to heavy cavalry, where the riders are heavily armored...
regimentA regiment is a military unit, composed of variable numbers of battalions, commanded by a Colonel. A regiment can be broken into two distinct categories, one being an administrative unit which is responsible for non-operational management of battalions , while the other being a deployable combat...
of the
French ArmyThe French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based component of the French Armed Forces and its largest. As of 2008, the army employs 133,947 regular soldiers and 24 000+ civilians...
belonging to the "
Troupes de MarineThe , are an arm of the French Army with naval heritage. The Troupes de marine are dedicated to service overseas. Despite their title they have been a part of the Army since 1958....
". It is part of the
9th Light Armoured Marine BrigadeThe 9th Light Armoured Marine Brigade is a light armoured, amphibious unit of the Troupes de marine of the French Army.- Composition :...
of the
French ArmyThe French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based component of the French Armed Forces and its largest. As of 2008, the army employs 133,947 regular soldiers and 24 000+ civilians...
and is currently based in
PoitiersPoitiers is a city on the Clain river in west central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne département and of the Poitou-Charentes région...
. The Regiment is the most decorated of the French Army. It is equipped with AMX-10RC armoured reconnaissance cars.
The regiment was formerly called the
Colonial Infantry Regiment of Morocco (
Régiment d'Infanterie Coloniale du Maroc) which also used the acronym RICM and therefore inherits from the traditions of French colonial infantry.
The
RICM, in
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
Régiment d'Infanterie de Chars de Marine (
RICM, or 9th Light Armored Marine Brigade) is a
light cavalryLight cavalry refers to lightly-armed and armored troops mounted on horses, as opposed to heavy cavalry, where the riders are heavily armored...
regimentA regiment is a military unit, composed of variable numbers of battalions, commanded by a Colonel. A regiment can be broken into two distinct categories, one being an administrative unit which is responsible for non-operational management of battalions , while the other being a deployable combat...
of the
French ArmyThe French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based component of the French Armed Forces and its largest. As of 2008, the army employs 133,947 regular soldiers and 24 000+ civilians...
belonging to the "
Troupes de MarineThe , are an arm of the French Army with naval heritage. The Troupes de marine are dedicated to service overseas. Despite their title they have been a part of the Army since 1958....
". It is part of the
9th Light Armoured Marine BrigadeThe 9th Light Armoured Marine Brigade is a light armoured, amphibious unit of the Troupes de marine of the French Army.- Composition :...
of the
French ArmyThe French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based component of the French Armed Forces and its largest. As of 2008, the army employs 133,947 regular soldiers and 24 000+ civilians...
and is currently based in
PoitiersPoitiers is a city on the Clain river in west central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne département and of the Poitou-Charentes région...
. The Regiment is the most decorated of the French Army. It is equipped with AMX-10RC armoured reconnaissance cars.
The regiment was formerly called the
Colonial Infantry Regiment of Morocco (
Régiment d'Infanterie Coloniale du Maroc) which also used the acronym RICM and therefore inherits from the traditions of French colonial infantry. Those who have served in it include
Joost van VollenhovenJoost van Vollenhoven was a Dutch-born French soldier and colonial administrator. Van Vollenhoven died in the Second Battle of the Marne.-Early life:...
(1877-1918), who served as a sergeant and was then promoted to sous-lieutenant at the start of the First World War and captain at its end, later becoming governor of
French West AfricaFrench West Africa was a federation of eight French colonial territories in Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan , French Guinea , Côte d'Ivoire , Upper Volta , Dahomey and Niger. It was formed from individual coastal colonies which the French had first seized as trading posts in the 17th...
.
History
It has fought in several conflicts and theatres, including both world wars, Morocco, Indochina, Algeria, Chad, Libya, Central Africa, Albania, the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, the Ivory Coast and the Gulf War.
Origins and Creation
In 1911 the undermanned expeditionary corps in
MoroccoMorocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 32 million and an area just under . Its capital is Rabat, and its largest city is Casablanca. Morocco has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the...
is faced with a rebellion in the
RifThe Rif is a mainly mountainous region of northern Morocco, stretching from Cape Spartel and Tangier in the west to Ras Kebdana and the Moulouya River in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the river of Ouargha in the south.It is part of the Cordillera Bética that also...
and
AtlasThe Saharan Atlas of Algeria is the eastern portion of the Atlas Mountains. Not as tall as the Grand Atlas of Morocco they are far more imposing than the Tell Atlas range that runs closer to the coast. The tallest peak in the range is the high Djebel Aissa....
regions. The command calls to the
Colonial ForcesThe French Colonial Forces was a general designation for the military forces that garrisoned and were largely recruited from the French colonial empire from the late 17th century until 1960...
, whose participation had been limited to a few battalions of
Senegalese TirailleursThe Senegalese Tirailleurs was a corps of the French Army recruited from French West Africa. The first unit was formed in 1857 and served France in a number of wars, including World War I and World War II...
, for reinforcements. Marching battalions are created from volunteers of the
Colonial InfantryThe , are an arm of the French Army with naval heritage. The Troupes de marine are dedicated to service overseas. Despite their title they have been a part of the Army since 1958....
regiments stationed in France and sent to Morocco. In august 1914 four of those battalions are amalgamated and the 1st Mixed Regiment of colonial Infantry (
1er Régiment Mixte d’Infanterie Coloniale) is created with a mix of colonial and Senegalese battalions. On the 1st of December the Senegalese are replaced by colonial battalions and the regiment is renamed 1st Marching Regiment of Colonial Infantry (
1er Régiment de Marche d’Infanterie Coloniale).
After suffering heavy losses on the
Western FrontFollowing the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
, it receives reinforcements from other battered Colonial Infantry units. The Colonial Infantry Regiment of Morocco (
Régiment d’Infanterie Coloniale du Maroc) is created the 9th of June 1915, and on the 1st of August they receive their Standard from the French President
PoincaréRaymond Poincaré was a French conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of France on five separate occasions and as President of France from 1913 to 1920.-Early life:...
.
First World War
The Colonial Infantry battalions from Morocco are sent to France as early as august 1914 and rushed to the Western Front. They take part in the
First Battle of the MarneThe Battle of the Marne was a First World War battle fought between the 5th and 12th of September 1914. It resulted in a Franco-British victory against the German Army under Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke the Younger...
and then fight in Belgium and northern France. They receive their first army citation for their gallant conduct during the battle of Mametz in December 1914. In 1916 the RICM takes part in the
Battle of VerdunThe Battle of Verdun was one of the critical battles during World War I on the Western Front. It was fought between the German and French armies, from 21 February to 18 December 1916, on hilly terrain north of the city of Verdun-sur-Meuse in north-eastern France...
. On August the 7th it captures the strategic position of Cote 305 and the Village of
FleuryFleury-devant-Douaumont is a commune in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.Since the end of the Battle of Verdun in 1916, when it had been captured and recaptured by the Germans and French 16 times, it has been unoccupied along with Bezonvaux, Beaumont-en-Verdunois,...
.
In light of its conduct at Fleury the regiment receives the mission to retake the Fort of
DouaumontDouaumont is a commune in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.The village was destroyed during World War I. Today the Douaumont ossuary, which contains the remains of more than 100,000 unknown soldiers of both nationalities found on the battlefield, stands high above the...
from
General ManginCharles Marie Emmanuel Mangin was a French general during World War I. A graduate of Saint-Cyr, Mangin served in Sudan and in French North Africa before taking part in the World War...
. The 24th of October 1916, reinforced with the 43rd
Senegalese TirailleursThe Senegalese Tirailleurs was a corps of the French Army recruited from French West Africa. The first unit was formed in 1857 and served France in a number of wars, including World War I and World War II...
battalion and three companies of Somalis, the RICM retakes the fort in less than four hours. They take 5000 prisoners but loose 23 officers and 829 other ranks in the attack. The regiment is awarded the Légion d’honneur and a third palm to its Croix de Guerre for this action.
In April 1817 the RICM is at the
Chemin des DamesThe Nivelle Offensive was a 1917 Allied attack on the Western Front in World War I. Promised as the assault that would end the war within 48 hours, with casualties expected of around 10,000 men, it failed on both counts. It was a three-stage plan...
. They take the plateau of
La Malmaison La Malmaison is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardie in northern France.-References:*...
and receive their fifth army citation. During this action the 1st Battalion fights without officers as they were all made casualties at the beginning of the assault.
The RICM holds the village of
Plessis-de-RoyePlessis-de-Roye is a commune in the Oise department in northern France.-References:*...
on March the 30th during the German
Spring OffensiveThe 1918 Spring Offensive or Kaiserschlacht , also known as the Ludendorff Offensive, was a series of German attacks along the Western Front during World War I, which marked the deepest advances by either side since 1914...
. In August 1918 it counterattacks at
Parcy-Tigny Parcy-et-Tigny is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardie in northern France.-References:*...
where Captain
van VollenhovenJoost van Vollenhoven was a Dutch-born French soldier and colonial administrator. Van Vollenhoven died in the Second Battle of the Marne.-Early life:...
is killed. It storms the position of Butte du Mesnil in Champagne during the counter-attack at the end of the
Second Battle of the MarneThe Second Battle of the Marne , or Battle of Reims was the last major German Spring Offensive on the Western Front during World War I...
. The regiment is in the Argonne in October where it captures Cote 202.
The RICM ends the war with ten palms on its Croix de Guerre. On December the 10th 1918 the President
PoincaréRaymond Poincaré was a French conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of France on five separate occasions and as President of France from 1913 to 1920.-Early life:...
awards the regiment with the double
fourragereThe fourragère is a military award, distinguishing military units as a whole. The award has been firstly adopted by France, followed by other nations such as the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal.- History :...
in the colours of the Légion d’honneur and Croix de Guerre, making it the most decorated unit of the French Army. During the First World War the RICM lost 15000 men killed or wounded in action, including 257 officers.
Algerian War
In May 1956, the Régiment d'infanterie coloniale du Maroc (RICM) moved to Algeria. On the disappearance of colonial infantry units in 1958 it was replaced by a marine infantry unit then by a marine unit, being allowed to keep on its initials due to the regiment's prestige. It thus became the Régiment d'infanterie-chars de marine, the only light armoured unit in the French marines until 1986, when the 1er régiment d'infanterie de marine also became a light armoured unit. Its officers are trained at the cavalry training school at
SaumurSaumur is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France.The historic town is located between the Loire and Thouet rivers, and is surrounded by the vineyards of Saumur itself, Chinon, Bourgueil, Coteaux du Layon, etc...
.
1990-present
In 1990/1991, it intervened in operation Salamandre then in the active phase of the
Gulf WarThe Persian Gulf War , known also as the Gulf War, the First Gulf War,or often as the Second Gulf War and by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as The Mother of all Battles, or commonly as Desert Storm, for the military response...
.
In 1994, it was engaged in
Opération TurquoiseOpération Turquoise was a French military operation in Rwanda in 1994 under the mandate of the United Nations.- Background :On 6 April 1994 Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira were assassinated, sparking the Rwandan Genocide...
in
RwandaThe Republic of Rwanda is a small landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of east-central Africa, bordered by Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. Home to approaching 10 million people, Rwanda supports the densest population in continental Africa, most of whom...
.
It was stationed at
VannesVannes is a commune in the Morbihan department in Bretagne in north-western France. It was founded over 2000 years ago.-Geography:Vannes is located on the Gulf of Morbihan at the mouth of the Vannes River. It is around 100 km northwest of Nantes and 300 km west of Paris...
from 1963 to 1996 and as of September 2008 is based at
PoitiersPoitiers is a city on the Clain river in west central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne département and of the Poitou-Charentes région...
.
In 2004, the RICM headed the Groupement Tactique Interarmes N°1 of
operation LicorneOpération Licorne is the name of the French military operation in support of the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire...
on the Ivory Coast. On 6 November 2004, an air attack by Ivory Coast forces on the lycée Descartes at
BouakéBouaké is the second largest city in Côte d'Ivoire, with a population of 775,300 , and also the department of which the city is the center. Bouaké Department and Bouaké City lie in Vallée du Bandama Region....
killed nine French soldiers and one American civilian taking refuge in this site occupied by the groupement's Train de Combat N°2. Five infantrymen of the RICM were killed (adjudant-chef Barathieu, adjudant-chef Capdeville, sergent-chef Delon, sergent Derambure, caporal Decuypère) and 30 wounded.
Commanders
- Lieutenant-colonel Pernot : 1914
- Lieutenant-colonel Larroque : 1914-1915
- Lieutenant-colonel Régnier : 1915-1917
- Lieutenant-colonel Debailleul : 1917-1918
- Lieutenant-colonel Modat : 1918-1918
- Lieutenant-colonel OZIL : 1919
- Colonel Mouveaux : 1919-1922
- Colonel Duplat : 1922-1924
- Colonel Barbassat : 1924-1927
- Lieutenant-colonel de Scheidhauer : 1927-1930
- Colonel de Bazelaire de Rupiére : 1930-1932
- Colonel Petitjean : 1932-1933
- Colonel Deslaurens : 1933-1935
- Colonel Allut : 1935-1938
- Colonel Turquin : 1938
- Colonel Avre : 1940
- Colonel Panis : 1940
- Colonel Lupy : 1940-1941
- Lieutenant-colonel Kieffer : 1941-1942
- Lieutenant-colonel Magnan : 1942
- Lieutenant-colonel Hebpeard : 1942
- Colonel Thiabaud : 1942-1943
- Colonel Le Puloch : 1943-1945
- Colonel de Brebisson : 1945-1946
- Chef de bataillon de La Brosse : 1946-1947
- Chef de bataillon Deysson : 1947
- Lieutenant-colonel Mareuge : 1947-1949
- Lieutenant-colonel Capber : 1949-1950
- Lieutenant-colonel de La Brosse : 1950-1952
- Chef de bataillon Lacour : 1952
- Lieutenant-colonel Maurel : 1952-1954
- Lieutenant-colonel Thiers : 1954-1956
- Lieutenant-colonel Cochet : 1956
- Colonel Thiers : 1956-1957
- Colonel Cochet : 1957-1958
- Colonel Deysson : 1958-1959 *
- Lieutenant-colonel Kerourio : 1959
- Lieutenant-colonel de Gouvion-Saint-Cyr : 1959-1961
- Lieutenant-colonel Kerourio : 1951
- Lieutenant-colonel Dercourt : 1961-1963
- Colonel Routier : 1963-1964
- Colonel Pascal : 1964-1966
- Colonel Duval : 1966-1968
- Colonel Pierre : 1968-1970
- Colonel Hiliquin : 1970-1972
- Colonel Garen : 1972-1974
- Lieutenant-colonel Fouilland : 1974-1976
- Colonel Gibour : 1976-1978
- Lieutenant-colonel Leroy : 1978-1980
- Lieutenant-colonel Collignon : 1980-1982
- Colonel Lagane : 1982-1984
- Lieutenant-colonel Boutin : 1984-1986
- Colonel Jean-Michel de Widerspach-Thor : 1986-1988 *
- Colonel Henri Bentégeat
Henri Bentégeat, born May 27, 1946 in Talence, France is a French Army general who since 2006 serves as the chairman of the European Union Military Committee....
: 1988-1990 **
- Colonel Xavier de Zuchowicz : 1990-1992 *
- Colonel Patrice Sartre : 1992-1994
- Colonel Sandahl : 1994-1996
- Colonel Pierre-Richard Kohn : 1996-1998
- Colonel Arnaud Rives : 1998-2000
- Colonel Dominique Artur : 2000-2002
- Colonel Éric Bonnemaison : 2002-2004
- Colonel Patrick Destremau : 2004-2006
- Colonel Frédéric Garnier : 2006-2008
- Colonel François Labuze : 2008-
(*) Officer who later became général de corps d'arméeA Général de corps d'armée is a senior rank in the French Army.The rank is the equivalent of a Lieutenant General in other countries and is junior to the rank of Général d'armée and senior to Général de division...
.
(**) Officer who later became général d'armée.
Henri Bentégeat was chef d'état-major des armées from 2002 to 2006.
External links