1st Foreign Parachute Regiment The 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment ( ) was an airborne unit of the Foreign Legion . It fought in the First Indochina War , Suez Crisis and Algerian War , but was disbanded after taking part in a putsch against the French government in 1961 . History . On 13 May 1948 a Groupement d ’ Instruction de Parachutistes was formed at Khamis , near Sidi Bel Abbès , Algeria for the purpose of raising two parachute battalions . The 1st Foreign Parachute Battalion ( ) was created on 1 July 1948 , under the command of Captain Pierre Segrétain . Indochina . The battalion boarded the transport ship “ Pasteur ” on the 24 October 1948 at Mers El - Kebir , and arrived in Indochina on 12 November that same year . During the entire period of conflict in Indochina , the unit primarily saw action in Tonkin ( northern Vietnam ) . As part of a consolidation of parachute - trained French formations the Parachute Company of 3e REI was disbanded on 31 May 1949 and its men - three officers , fourteen NCOs and ninety - two legionnaires - were transferred to 1er BEP . On 16 September 1950 , the French post at Dong Khe was overrun , with only a small handful of survivors of the garrison making their way south to French lines at That Khe . In response , on September 17 and 18 , the battalion jumped on That Khe in order to reinforce the combat command under Lieutenant - colonel Lepage , operating out of Lang Son whose mission was to rescue the garrison of Cao Bang which was evacuating the city along the Route Coloniale 4 ( RC4 ) . Following a consolidation of French forces at That Khe , the battalion lead the French forces north towards Dong Khe with plans to retake the town , hold it long enough to link up with French forces retreating from the north , and then evacuate south . Although the two French groups were able to link up , heavy Viet Mihn interdiction on the roads and constant ambushes in the thick jungle forced the French off the roads in an attempt to bypass the town . In so doing , the entire battle group was forced into the Coc Xa gorge , where it was destroyed piecemeal . An attempt to reinforce the battle group occurred on the night of 8 October when approximately 570 additional reinforcements from 3e BCCP ( ) were dropped near That Khe in an attempt to draw the Viet Minh forces away from the gorge , but this operation became hopelessly bogged down and the reinforcements were cut to pieces in turn . The unit was almost entirely destroyed in the subsequent battle in October around Dong Khe , with only 130 men of the battalion remaining of the original 500 who jumped . In this engagement , the battalion distinguished itself in its willingness to go to great lengths to evacuate their wounded through forbidding terrain , including an incident in which the men rapelled down a 75 - meter cliff at the Coc Xa gorge with the wounded strapped to their backs . Over the course of the battle and subsequent engagements between the 17 September and the 30 October , the unit lost 21 officers , 46 NCOs , and 420 men killed or wounded , including the battalion commander , Pierre Segretain , killed in action the night of 7 October . Only isolated elements of the battalion were able to rejoin the French lines , including Captain Jeanpierre , who would later command the regiment in Algeria . Having ceased to exist as a combat - worthy formation , the unit was disbanded on December 31 , 1950 . The 1st BEP reformed on the 18th of March , 1951 from the survivors of the original battalion ( which had up to that point been attached to the 2nd BEP ) , as well as men from the 2nd BEP and reinforcements newly arrived from North Africa . Thus the battalion consisted of 3 companies , including a headquarters formation , the 1st and 2nd companies , and a company composed of Indochinese volunteers . On the 10 September 1951 , the unit returned to combat during Operation Tulip , part of General de Lattre de Tassigny ' s effort to put the Viet Minh on the defensive around the Cho Ben pass , north of Hoa Binh . The operation was a tactical success with the battalion successfully assisting in the capture of Hoa Binh , but further counter - attacks by the Viet Minh in November convinced the French military command at they were overextended and as a result the area was evacuated , with the last units leaving Hoa Binh in February , 1952 . Having reached an apparent stalemate in early 1952 around the Red River Delta , the French command again decided to go on the offensive , giving the plan the code name Operation Lorraine . On 9 November 1952 , the 1st BEP and other airborne formations were dropped into combat near Phu Doan , capturing a quantity of Viet Minh supplies and securing the area . However , the operation failed in drawing the Viet Minh into a large , set - battle ( as the French commanders had hoped ) , and as such the operation was abandoned and the remaining French forces were withdrawn on 16 and 17 November . The battalion was one of the formations selected to hold the rearguard post at Na San , where it sustained a fierce assault from the Viet Minh between 23 November and 2 December 1952 . The post was well - fortified and held in the face of overwhelming numbers , with the bloodied Viet Minh falling back after a week of fighting . After falling back to the French defensive positions around the de Lattre line , the battalion was reorganized and reinforced , with a third company of legionnaires being added , bringing the total strength of the battalion to 4 combat companies : 3 Legion and 1 Indochinese . In addition , on 1 September 1953 the 1st Foreign Parachute Heavy Mortar Company ( ) was created and attached to the 1st BEP . On 21 November 1953 , the unit was dropped as part of the second wave of French troops into the area around Dien Bien Phu as part of Operation Castor , with the objective of securing a WWII - era landing strip and drawing the Viet Minh into another pitched battle against a well - defended position . The operation was completed without incident , with the battalion digging in around Dien Bien Phu in late November 1953 . During the Battle of Dien Bien Phu , the battalion was divided into mobile fire - brigades , with the primary focus being the Huguette forts , specifically Huguette 5 . The 1 CEPML was stationed at Dominique 2 until the 14th of March , 1954 , at which point it was shifted to various locations in the fort . Despite furious resistance , the 1st BEP is destroyed for a second time on 7 May 1954 with the final fall of Dien Bien Phu camp . The unit lost 316 men killed in action over the course of the siege , not including those who subsequently died in captivity in Indochina . Algeria . Following the Geneva Conference , on February 1 , 1955 , the unit embarked on the steamship “ Pasteur ” in Saigon and arrived at Mers el - Kebir on the 24th of the same month . On September 1 , 1955 , the 1st BEP was expanded to a regiment - level formation and re - designated 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment ( ) . From that point on , the unit was based out of Zeralda . November 6 , 1956 , the regiment landed in Egypt at Port - Said and Port - Fuad as part of the French military force participating in the Suez canal crisis . It was evacuated piecemeal between December 10 and 22 , 1956 , at which point the towns were handed over to United Nations control . From 1957 onwards , the regiment was sent back to Algeria , first in Algiers , then in the " djebel " ( mountains ) , and finally at Guelma . On the 29th of May , 1958 , during operation “ Taureau 3 , ” the regimental commander Lt . Col . Jeanpierre was killed when his helicopter was shot down by rebels . His successor , Col . Borthier , assumed command on the 17th of June 1958 with the mission of securing Algeria . On the eve of the Algiers putsch of April , 1961 , the regiment was commanded by Helie Denoix de Saint Marc , as Lt . Col . Guiraud was on leave . With the agreement of the officers , Cdt . de Saint - Marc activated the regiment alongside the mutineers , and began the putsch on April 21 by marching on Algiers . Following the failure of the putsch , the regiment was disbanded on April 30 , 1961 under the orders of Pierre Messmer , the minister of the army . The legionnaires left their camp singing Edith Piaf ’ s song Non , je ne regrette rien . At that point , part of the regiment deserted and went over to the OAS . Those who did not join in the putsch were escorted back to France and detained at Fort de Nogent . From that point onwards , the 2nd REP remained the only foreign parachute regiment in the French Army .