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Question on French method of unit designation?


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French Army Grogs

How did the French (1940 era) identify or name their smaller units? ie an American platoon would be ID as 2nd platoon A company, 3rd Battalion 104th Infantry Regiment, or the Germans 3rd Company II Battalion 14th Regiment. How did the French address their platoons and companies?

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Originally posted by Hans:

an American platoon would be ID as 2nd platoon A company, 3rd Battalion 104th Infantry Regiment, or the Germans 3rd Company II Battalion 14th Regiment. How did the French address their platoons and companies?

Ok, my first response was less than helpful :)

Ok, to start with, the number '1' is followed by 'er'. So it would be 1er, 21er... (short form of le premier, les vingt premiers...)

All others are followed by 'ème'... so 2ème, 14ème (short form of deuxième, quatorzième...)

Platoon = peloton

Company = compagnie (cie)

Battalion = Bataillon (abrieviations are odd because it generally depends on what kind of battalion... a tank battalion would be BCC Bataillon de Chars de Combat)

Regiment = régiment... again, what kind... Régiment d'Infanterie is RI, Armored car regiment is RAM Régiment d'Autos-Mitrailleuses

Check this SITE out... particualarly this PAGE

Just to be helpful...

è = PC (hold ALT and type 0232) MAC (hold option and type `, then let up option and type e)

é = PC (hold ALT and type 0233) MAC (hold option and type e, then let up option and type e)

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Originally posted by Berlichtingen:

Ok, to start with, the number '1' is followed by 'er'. So it would be 1er, 21er... (short form of le premier, les vingt premiers...)

All others are followed by 'ème'... so 2ème, 14ème (short form of deuxième, quatorzième...)

There is a small deviation for the numbering which can be seen in some French texts. Instead of the (a bit awkward) 13ème or 2ème, 13e or 2e is used.

To my knowledged Roman numerals (I, II, III) were used to designate batallions and corps (as with the Germans) and Arabic numerals were used to designate all other units.

Companies seemed to have been numbered from 1e to ... within a regiment in a similar fashion with the Germans.

Until now I came across two different ways to designate a company/batallion:

1/13 RI = 1e compagnie, 13e Regiment d'Infanterie

I/13 RI = Ie bataillon, 13e Regiment d'Infanterie

or then

Compagnie d'Infanterie 1/13 = CI 1/13

Bataillon d'Infanterie I/13 = BI I/13

For independent batallions or batallions in the demi-brigades or groupements (brigades) there exists also a numbering scheme with arabic numbers. E.g.

25e Bataillon de Chars de Combat or

17e Bataillon de Chasseurs Portés

[ July 01, 2004, 06:09 AM: Message edited by: winkelried ]

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