"The offensive, called "Operation Avalon," was led by the 3rd Marine Infantry Regiment, with elements of the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the Foreign Legion.
Intelligence officers estimated there were 60 to 80 armed insurgents directly on the column's path, said Capt. Vincent, who went only by his first name because of French Foreign Legion anonymity rules.
Insurgents could be seen firing on the column of vehicles and then sliding back into houses before attack helicopters could fire back. The reporter witnessed a man dressed like a farmer fire a rocket-propelled grenade at French troops, then drop his weapon and run into a field where he disappeared into a group of villagers.
The forces retaliated with sporadic artillery shelling and helicopter-borne missiles as the fighting intensified later in the afternoon. There were no casualties immediately reported." Yahoo News
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Our oldest ally. I believe that the eagle implies unit survival from Bonaparte's forces.
"Tiens, voila le boudin…"
pl
Colonel:
The posting is interesting. The real issue is not thie ongoing wargame by allies, the issue is the California Democratic party’s stand: Get out of Afganistan!
Please peruse:
http://www.counterpunch.org/solomon11162009.html
Is it the beginning of the end?
“… a man dressed like a farmer…”
Has it occurred to anyone that this man might actually be a farmer?
“… a man dressed like a farmer…”
Remember, it’s a reporter writing. The individual may well have been a farmer.Doesn’t mean he doesn’t leave his fields as the need arises to fight with an insurgent group.
If I am reading this correctly, the 3rd Regt ‘only’ dates to 1838:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troupes_de_marine
I wonder if French Army units during Napoleon III’s rein used the eagle as well. The key battles that the 3rd Rgt fought in seem to have been during the 2nd Empire.
At first I was going to quibble on the “oldest ally” bit, especially since they kicked us out of France in the early 1960s and told us to take a hike when we wanted to fly over their airspace to bomb our latest prodigal-son-returned, Qaddafi, in 1986.
On second thought, though, maybe a good ally is one who doesn’t always follow us blindly.
Oh…the irony of that last line!
Colonel:
Off topic, another view for USA’a national security, please peruse:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KK18Ak02.html
Enjoy!, if you have views on the article, would love to hear it! thanks
I served as second-lieutenant in the French army in Algeria. Guerilla warfare is conducted by individuals whose forte is to disappear into civilian population. In one of our operations we caught two whose hands strongly smelled gunpowder. We took car of the situation. If you don’t have the stmach to fight in a gurilla situation, as Truman said, get out of the kitchen. This type of war is not for the squeamish.
As far as France being a weak ally, let me remind you that during Dien Bien Phu, the administration of President Eisenhover (Repubican,mind you) refuses to send two hundred airplanes to save the situation. We lost 10.000 men. we lost the war that we had fought foryars until then with 120.000 for the WHOLE of Indochina. For the record, with 1/2 millionmen you had a hard time protecting the US embassy in Saigon during the Tet offensive.
Lieutenant in Algeria
Charles fm Chicago
What is your view as to the bird on the badge of the 3ieme Regiment de Troupes de Marine?
What was your unit? pl