Creation Created by King
Louis Philippe I on 13 June 1832, shortly after the
French Foreign Legion, the ''Bat' d'Af'
were part of the Army of Africa and were stationed in Tataouine, Tunisia, in one of the most arid and hostile regions of the French colonial empire. The original Ordonnance royale'' (Royal order) creating this corps provided for 2 battalions, each of 8 companies. A third battalion was created in September 1833. According to the order the rank and file of these units were to be drawn from: (i) serving soldiers who had been sentenced to existing disciplinary companies and who had not completed their period of army service upon release; and (ii) civilian convicts who upon completing terms of imprisonment had still to meet their obligations for compulsory military service.
Initial service and major battles by the Light Infantry of Africa in 1840. The newly raised Bat' d'Af' saw active service for the first time during the conquest of Algeria. They participated in operations at
Bougie in 1835 and took part in the siege of Constantine the following year. Between 3 and 6 February 1840 at the
Battle of Mazagran in Algeria, a detachment of 123
chasseurs of the 1st BILA, under Captain Lelievre, held off repeated assaults by several thousand Arabs. This action won the first battle honour for the corps and was subsequently commemorated in all battalions by memorial ceremonies on 6 February each year. In 1870 the BILA provided a temporary
régiment de marche to serve in France during the
Franco-Prussian War. On two occasions detached companies suffered heavy casualties during this campaign. A platoon of the ''Bat' d'Af''' served at the
Battle of Taghit in 1903, when the French fort of
Taghit was besieged by 4,000 Moroccan tribesmen, who were eventually repelled. All three battalions in existence in 1907 were assigned to active service in Morocco during the French occupation of that country. By 1914 the corps had been expanded to five battalions with depots in
Oran, Morocco and Tunisia.
Subsequent history until 1920 As discipline and living conditions in the Bat' d'Af' were harsh,
Bataillonnaires, colloquially named
Zéphyrs or
Joyeux ("Joyous ones"), usually nicknamed their unit ''l'Enfer
("the Hell") or, ironically, Biribi'' (a
game of chance of that period). However, they fought creditably in the
Crimean War and the
Mexican Intervention, and won honours during the First World War and in the various colonial wars. They also assumed the role of construction troops, building not only desert forts but also roads and bridges.
Biribi reached a peak in the 1880s and '90s, when it played its most conspicuous role. In May 1888 the corps was enlarged to 5 battalions, each made up of 6 companies. Three battalions (the 3rd, 4th and 5th) were based in Tunisia while the remaining units served in the southern districts of Algeria. A detachment of the 4th Battalion was posted to Indochina before 1914. Two battalions were on active service in Morocco on the eve of the First World War. During the war, three
bataillons de marche (temporary "marching battalions" formed for particular purposes) served on the
Western Front with distinction (see Battle Honours and Fourragères below). The permanent units remained in French North Africa, providing garrisons and mobile columns.
Character One of the considerations behind the creation and expansion of the French army's disciplinary battalions was the need to resolve a seeming contradiction: men whose crimes in civilian life had resulted in the loss of
civil rights gained an undeserved privilege in being exempted from
military service. As their enlistment in regular units could have spread indiscipline among young serving soldiers, the solution was to draft them into separate disciplinary battalions. The distinctive nature of these units meant that the average age of
bataillonnaires was often older than that of the conscripts of metropolitan units called to do service at 20 years old. Where possible the ''Bats d'Af'' were garrisoned separately from regular French and colonial troops to prevent brawling. Although the ''Bats d'Af
are commonly described as penal units, their purpose was not punishment but segregation in what were officially described as "redemptive combat units" (corps d'epreuve
). In addition to petty criminals and military offenders, the rank and file also included a number of soldiers suspected of Communard sympathies during the 1870s and the ringleaders of several mutinies in metropolitan regiments in the early 1900s. Finally, there were also some volunteers who chose for reasons of promotion or other motives to serve in the Bats d'Af''. In opposition to prevailing assumptions about criminality at the time, influenced by
Cesare Lombroso's
eugenistic theories, the disciplinary battalions of the French Republic were supposed to show that criminals could be redeemed through hard work and combat. Legislation dated 21 March 1905 specified that individuals sentenced to prison terms of six months or more, or who had been convicted of any offence twice or more, should be drafted into the ''Bats d'Af'' when called up for military service. However those who distinguished themselves "in the face of the enemy", or who had concluded more than eight months of service with good behaviour in the Light Infantry of Africa, had the option of transferring to regular units of the army to complete their term of enlistment. .
Georges Darien, a volunteer who enlisted in the
Train (Army Transport Corps) during the 1880s where he was condemned for
insubordination, was sent for 33 months in the Bat' d'Af'. In 1890, he published a novel named
Biribi where he described, in possibly exaggerated terms, the harsh treatment and
corporal punishments which he endured in the ''Bat' d'Af'''. Many
Bataillonnaires displayed
tattoos covering much of the body, as was customary in the French criminal underworld of the early 20th century (see examples here).
Interwar period and World War II Their bad reputation and doubts about their efficiency as a mean of rehabilitation led to the dissolution of most Battalions of Light Infantry of Africa during the
interwar period. Following the disbandment of the 1st and 2nd Battalions, serving personnel were transferred to the 3rd Battalion in 1927. In the course of France's general mobilisation in 1939, 12 additional Battalions of Light Infantry (BIL) were created but the historic title of Battalions of Light Infantry of Africa (BILA) was retained only by those units continuing to serve in French North Africa. During 1939-40 both the BIL and the BILA served primarily as construction units, working on fortifications, railways and roads in France, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. All were disbanded between July and October 1940 following the
battle of France.
Final years and disbandment A single company of the BILA was re-established in April 1944, becoming a full battalion in September 1948. It was based at Tataouine, the original garrison of the Bat' d'Af'. This formation provided a marching battalion, renamed the ''
Bataillon d'Infanterie légère d'Outre-Mer (BILOM) which participated in the First Indochina War by manning a number of posts in the Bencat sector. Upon returning to Tunisia in November 1952 it was merged with the depot detachments of the BILA. Now designated as the 3rd BILA, the unit was transferred to Algeria following Tunisian independence in November 1956. The battalion was reduced to one company in October 1962, which was stationed near the French nuclear testing facilities in the Sahara from 1963 to 1966. This last remaining component of the Bat' d'Af''' was then transferred to
French Somaliland where it was disbanded on 31 March 1972. Between 600,000 and 800,000 men served in the Bat' d'Af' from 1832 to 1970, mostly from the
working class of Paris and
Marseille. == Uniforms and insignia ==