Indochina: 22nd Colonial Infantry Regiment

[No one]

Dear Gentlemen,

 

The insignia of the 22nd Colonial Infantry Regiment (22e Régiment d’Infanterie Coloniale - 22e R.I.C.), homologué H 186 in 1947, Drago Paris:

 

 

22e régiment d'infanterie de marine — Wikipédia

 

Campagne d'Indochine:

 

The D-Day landings and the first battles:

The 22nd RIC landed in Saigon on February 12, 1946. He was immediately engaged in eastern Cochichina where, through a series of vigorous actions, he drove the Việt Minh out of the regions of Thu Duc and Bien-Hoa.
Until the armistice of July 1954, the regiment and, after its dissolution in December 1948, its three battalions, which had become autonomous, guarded the Bien-Hoa sector and continued its pacification at the cost of bloody sacrifices, in daily battles against the rebel bands.
From its landing until February 1949, the regiment lost more than 700 killed in the accomplishment of this task, including 22 officers and 75 non-commissioned officers. Faithful to the traditions of the colonial troops, the cadres of the 22nd RIC, showing great human and political sense, carried out a brilliant and lasting work of pacification. The 22nd RIC was also a great builder, relentlessly marking the advance of pacification by the construction of solid posts; the rehabilitation of roads, the construction of bridges, the sanitation of localities, the repair of damage caused by the rebels.
Two citations in the order of the Army rewarded his brilliant services in 1948 and 1950 and the fourragère in the colours of the Croix de Guerre des Théâtres d'opérations extérieur now adorns his flag.
On December 1, 1948, the 22nd RIC was disbanded, the three Battalions that made it up formed and kept their numbers. On November 1, 1952, the 1st Battalion gave birth to the 64th Battalion of the Vietnamese Army and the 2nd Battalion to the 65th Battalion of the Vietnamese Army.
On January 1, 1953, the 3rd Battalion of the 22nd RIC, then under the orders of Major Leclerc, took the name of the 22nd RIC marching battalion.
Disbandment on October 1, of the marching battalion. On that day, after almost nine years of uninterrupted fighting in an area where a few years later the American troops were to experience the worst difficulties; the glorious marching battalion of the 22nd RIC was transformed into the 2nd battalion of the 19th RMIC. The day before, with sadness but also legitimate pride, the marching battalion was disbanded.
On October 1, 1954, the 22nd RIC was again reformed in Saigon with the 26th and 27th and the 32nd marching battalions of Senegalese Tirailleurs, the corps was stationed in the Baria region. On March 1 1955, it was completed by a Battalion of the 3/24th RTS which became the 3/22nd RIC stationed in North Vietnam, joined Saigon on April 28 1955 and settled in Long Hiep.
After several names and then a change of name, the regiment left Indochina on March 4, 1956. With their souls filled with sadness, the corps' porpoises then saw the shores of Cochinchina, the region where the regiment had been stationed for more than ten years. At the beginning of 1956, the 22nd RIC left Indochina directly for Algeria where it joined the 12th Infantry Division of Tlemcen belonging to the Oran Army Corps. He was given responsibility for the Marnia sector, on the Algerian-Moroccan border.

 

Yours sincerely,

No one