Troupes de Marine - History

History

The Troupes de marine originate from the compagnies ordinaires de la mer created in 1622 by Cardinal Richelieu. These were troops dedicated to naval combat. The French colonies were under the control of the Ministère de la Marine (analogous to the British Admiralty), so it used its marines for colonial defense as well.

The pre-Revolutionary "infanterie de la marine" was made up of:

• "La Marine", formed from the "Compagnies ordinaires de la mer", created in 1622, later becoming the 11th Line Infantry Regiment
• "Royal-Vaisseaux", set up 1638, became the 43d Infantry Regiment
• "La Couronne", set up 1643, became the 45th Infantry Regiment
• "Royal-Marine", set up 1669, became the 60th Infantry Regiment
• "Amirauté", set up 1669
• "Cap", created 1766, became the 106th Infantry Regiment
• "Pondichéry", set up 1772, became the 107th Infantry Regiment
• "Martinique et Guadeloupe", created 1772, became the 109th Infantry Regiment
• "Port-au-Prince", created 1773, became 110th Infantry Regiment

Prior to the First Republic, the Corps royal de l'infanterie de la marine had been superseded by the Corps royal de canonniers-matelots on January 1, 1786. The Corps royal de canonniers-matelots was an early attempt to use sailors for duties previously done by marines - soldiers specializing in naval and amphibious combat.

The February 21, 1816 royal ordinance of Louis XVIII re-establishing L'infanterie de marine authorized two regiments. L'infanterie de marine was increased to three regiments in 1838 and to 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 those in the Crimean War including Bomarsund (1847) in the Baltic, Ki Hoa in China (1860), and Mexico (Battle of Puebla) (1863). Their most famous battle was Bazeilles (1870) in the Franco-Prussian War.

The Troupes de marine fought with distinction during the Sino–French War (August 1884 to April 1885) and during the period of undeclared hostilities in Tonkin (northern Vietnam) 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 (December 1883), the Bắc Ninh Campaign (March 1884), the Capture of Hung Hoa (April 1884), the Bắc Lệ ambush (June 1884), the Keelung Campaign (October 1884 to June 1885), the Battle of Yu Oc (November 1884), the Battle of Nui Bop (January 1885), the Lạng Sơn Campaign (February 1885) and the Pescadores Campaign (March 1885). 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 Hoa Moc. The French victory at Hoa Moc relieved the Siege of Tuyên Quang, and was commemorated thereafter in an annual ceremony at Tuyen Quang in which a soldier of the French Foreign Legion (representing the besieged garrison) and a marine infantrymen (representing the relief column) 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 Ministry of Marine, formed the fusiliers-marins in 1856. The fusiliers-marins was initially composed of sailors and naval officers who were undertook special infantry training in order to form the "marine" detachments aboard ships.

On 7 July 1900 the Troupes de marine were removed from the responsibility of the Ministère de la Marine, transferred to the Ministry of War and added to the French Army's Troupes Coloniales. The regimental titles changed from "Marine" to "Colonial". The fusiliers-marins remained with the French Navy. The Troupes Coloniale were still preferentially used in amphibious landings. 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.

In World War II, a Colonial unit did have "Marine" in its title - The Bataillon d'Infanterie de Marine du Pacifique (BIMP). Two divisions of the Troupes Coloniale were trained in amphibious tactics by the Americans and performed amphibious landings at Corsica (6th Moroccan Mountain Division) and Elba (9th Colonial Infantry Division - 9e DIC). Both these divisions also landed in southern France in the follow-on echelons of Operation Dragoon. The French wanted the US to transport these two divisions to the Pacific to fight against the Japanese and later retake French Indochina, but transport was a problem.

With France divesting itself of its colonies, on 1 December 1958 the title of Troupes d' Outre-Mer (Overseas Troops) 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. On July 1963 the 9e Brigade d'Infanterie de Marine (9e BIMa) of the Troupes de marine was formed as the first French Force d'Intervention. It was named after and carried the insignia of the 9th Colonial Infantry Division (9e DIC) 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 (9e DIMa). This division was the amphibious component of the Force d'Intervention, which was renamed the Force d'Action Rapide (FAR) 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 9e Brigade Légère Blindée de Marine.

The Troupes de marine are one of the "armes" (corps) of the French army, which includes specialties associated with other corps (artillery, cavalry, signals) but with amphibious or airborne specialisations.