Napoleonic period of the
Young Guard. In the wars of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods, the designation "tirailleur" was a French military term used at first to refer generically to light infantry skirmishers. The first regiments of Tirailleurs so called were part of the
Imperial Guard of
Napoleon I. By the fall of the Empire, some 16 regiments had been created. The Guard Tirailleurs were usually grouped as part of the Young Guard, along with their sister
Voltigeur regiments. The Guard Tirailleur regiments were disbanded during the reorganization of the French Army in 1814 by the new royal government. On 28 March 1815, during Napoleon I's short-lived return to power (the
Hundred Days), Regiments 1-8 of the Guard Tirailleurs were officially re-raised. Only the 1st and 3rd Regiments actually took the field for the Waterloo campaign. All regiments of Imperial Guard Tirailleurs (along with the rest of the Guard) were disbanded following the Emperor's second abdication. In addition to the regiments within the Imperial Guard, several foreign battalions of tirailleurs were raised, included the Italian
Tirailleurs du Po and Corsican
Tirailleurs Corses.
Colonial period Origins The first tirailleurs employed in French North Africa were a metropolitan light infantry unit — the
1er bataillon de tirailleurs de Vincennes which disembarked in Algiers in early 1840. This unit subsequently became the ''
chasseurs d'Orléans'' but the title of tirailleurs was allocated the next year to newly raised regiments of indigenous Algerian infantry recruited from the Arab and Berber communities.
Algerian, Tunisian and Moroccan tirailleurs The tirailleurs from
Algeria subsequently served in the
Crimean War, the
Second Italian War of Independence, the
French intervention in Mexico and the
Franco-Prussian War (1870), as well as in French colonial campaigns in Tunisia, Indochina, Morocco, Madagascar and Algeria itself. During the Crimean War the Algerian tirailleurs acquired the nickname of "Turcos" (Turks) by which they were widely known over the next hundred years. The name reportedly arose from comparisons between the Algerian troops and the Turkish allies serving alongside the French and British forces at the siege of Sevastopol. First raised in 1841 as battalions of
tirailleurs indigenes, the locally recruited Algerian infantry were organised into three regiments of Algerian Tirailleurs by a decree dated 10 October 1855. The number of such units fluctuated over the next hundred years until in the early 1960s eight regiments of tirailleurs plus a number of independent battalions remained in French service. Two battalions of Algerian Tirailleurs formed the bulk of the
Détachement Français de Palestine et de Syrie that participated in the
Sinai and Palestine Campaign from 1917 onwards. In 1884, the 4th Regiment of Tirailleurs was created in Tunisia. Except for minor distinctions of insignia and uniform (their numbering was based on the figure "4" and its multiples, plus light blue tombeaus or false pockets on their full dress zouave jackets) the Tunisian tirailleurs regiments had the same appearance as their Algerian counterparts. It was only in 1921 that the French government decided to name them officially "Tunisian Tirailleurs Regiments". In 1914, during World War I, the 1st Regiment of Moroccan Tirailleurs was created. At the end of the period of French rule in 1956 six regiments of Moroccan tirailleurs were still in existence. The recruitment of Muslim tirailleurs was mainly voluntary with enlistment for three year periods (five for NCOs), although a limited form of conscription by ballot was introduced in Algeria in 1913 and continued until the end of French rule in North Africa. Prior to 1939 up to 90% of the rank and file of each battalion had been indigenous. The proportion of French European (both metropolitan and
pied-noir settlers) to
Maghrébin (North African) personnel had however increased to about 30% by the end of World War II, as the tirailleur units became increasingly mechanized. (Emperor
Gia Long), circa 1800.
Senegalese tirailleurs France made extensive use of tirailleurs in its colonial campaigns. The most numerous of these, after the "tirailleurs algériens" noted above, were the "tirailleurs sénégalais" (who were recruited from all of the French possessions in West and Central Africa). Both played an important role in the occupation of Morocco (1908–14) as well as in the
Rif War of the 1920s.
Tirailleur regiments from other French colonies Before and during World War II (1939–45), tirailleurs were recruited from the
Maghreb (Algerian,
Moroccans, and
Tunisians), from
French West Africa and
Madagascar (
Tirailleurs malgaches).
Tirailleurs Indochinois Regiments were recruited from the regions of
French Indochina:
Annam,
Tonkin, and
Cambodia. The regiments were named after the territory in which they were recruited. Thus "tirailleurs Annamites", "
tirailleurs Tonkinois" and "tirailleurs Cambodgiens".
World War I During World War I (1914–18) tirailleurs from North African territories served on the Western Front,
Salonika and
in the Levant, incurring heavy losses. In spite of its title, the
Moroccan Division (France) which fought on the Western Front contained Tirailleur battalions from all North African regions. The
Great Mosque of Paris was constructed afterwards in honour of the Muslim tirailleurs who had fought for France.
World War II and subsequent campaigns Tirailleurs from North and Central Africa fought with distinction in Europe during World War II, notably in the Italian campaign. The Indo-Chinese tirailleur regiments were destroyed or disbanded following the
Japanese coups against the French colonial administration in March 1945. Algerian, Moroccan and
Senegalese tirailleurs served in Indo-China until the fall of Dien Bien Phu and subsequently as part of the French forces during the Algerian War of Independence (1954–62). Even after the French withdrawal from Indochina, a unit of mostly Vietnamese tirailleurs ("
le Commando d'Extreme Orient Dam San") continued to serve with the French Army in Algeria until 1960.
Disbanding tirailleur regiments Most tirailleur regiments were disbanded as French colonies and protectorates achieved
independence between 1956 and 1962. In Morocco, Tunisia and the new African states most serving tirailleurs transferred directly from the French armed forces to the new national armies. In Algeria locally recruited tirailleurs who remained loyal to France were given an option to transfer to units in France, or join a transitional
force locale at the end of the
Algerian War in 1962. The six remaining Algerian tirailleur regiments (
RTA) were disbanded or transformed into metropolitan infantry units between 1962 and 1964. The last Moroccan regiment in the French Army was the 5th RTM (
Regiment de Tirailleurs Marocain), stationed at
Dijon until it disbanded in 1965. The modern
French Army still has one tirailleur regiment, descended from the Algerian tirailleurs. While these troops are now all French, items of the traditional North African uniform are still worn on ceremonial occasions to commemorate the Algerian "Turcos" who served France for over 130 years. The traditions of the are maintained by the ''21eme Regiment d'infanterie de marine
stationed in Fréjus, via the 4e Régiment de Tirailleurs Sénégalais'' of the Second World War. == Uniforms ==