The 1er Régiment de Parachutistes d'Infanterie de Marine () or 1er RPIMa is a unit of the French Army Special Forces Command, therefore part of the Special Operations Command.
Heirs to the Free French paratroopers of the 3rd and 4th squadrons of the Special Air Service (SAS) founded in the United Kingdom during WWII, the 1er RPIMa is sometimes referred to as the "French SAS" and still uses the same motto as their British counterparts to this day: (French for "Who Dares Wins").
Origins
Quite unusually for the French Armed Forces, the affiliations of this unit are various, not directly related to each other, and numerous. The regiment is heir simultaneously to formations of the French Air Force, mainland infantry, Troupes coloniales and Troupes de marine.
World War II
September 15, 1940, the 1st Air Infantry Company (Free French) (1e Compagnie d'Infanterie de l'Air: 1e C.I.A) was created in the United Kingdom by Captain Georges Bergé. March 15, 1941: Operation Savanna, the first operation of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in France, an ambush in Brittany. On April 10, 1941 the 1st Air Infantry Company (1e C.I.A) was reattached to the Free French forces and renamed 1er Compagnie Parachutiste (1st Parachute Company). May 1941: Operation Josephine B (destruction of six transformers at the electric plant in Pessac). Divided into one section assigned to the BCRA intelligence unit, and two other sections sent to the Middle East. July 21, 1941: embarked for the Mideast, garrisoned in Beirut, then Damascus. On September 25, 1941 the 1st Parachute Company became the Peloton Parachutiste du Levant (Parachute Platoon of the Levant) and was attached to the French Air Force. On October 15, 1941 the unit's name changed again, to the 1er Compagnie de Chasseurs Parachutistes, (1er C.C.P) (1st Parachute Chasseur Company). On January 1, 1942 the unit became the French Squadron of the Special Air Service under Major David Stirling, a special forces unit garrisoned at Kibrit Air Base on the Suez Canal. June 1942: the French SAS destroyed 20 German airplanes in Crete, then attacked the airports in Matouba-Derna, Benina, Barce and Benghazi on the Libyan front. July 1942: operations in Cyrenaica. January 1943: harassed the German rear-guard in Tunisia. Spring 1943: rest and training at Camberley (England). On July 1, 1943 the unit became the 1er Bataillon d'Infanterie de l'Air, (1er B.I.A) (1st Air Infantry Battalion). In November 1943 the 1st Battalion was renamed 4e Bataillon d'Infanterie de l'Air, (4e B.I.A) (4th Air Infantry Battalion) Beginning 1944: training of French SAS in Scotland. The battalion was assigned to the Special Air Service. Night of June 5–6: parachuted into Brittany, 36 paratroopers of the FFL in four groups (two over Plumelec, two over Duault). The sole battle casualty in Plumelec (on June 6 at 0 h 40), caporal Emile Bouétard, was probably the first casualty of the Normandy Landing. June 1944: combined forces with the French Forces of the Interior (FFI) and the 2nd U.S. Division. June 1944: fighting along with the maquis de Saint-Marcel, Morbihan and maquis of Duault in Côtes-d'Armor; a battalion (450 men) parachuted in with the French Forces of the Interior (FFI) 3000 total, tied up 85000 Germans in Brittany, preventing them from reaching Normandy, and joined two divisions of George Patton's army on August 6. On July 1, 1944 the 4th Battalion was renamed 2e R.C.P S.A.S (2nd SAS Parachute Chasseur Regiment) of the 4th SAS Regiment. August 1944: operations and SAS participation in the Liberation of Paris. September 11, 1944: one company took 3000 Germans prisoner. Autumn: rest leave in Champagne. November 11, 1944: the two regiments of the French SAS marched up the Champs-Élysées in Paris before General Charles de Gaulle and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill after the 2e RCP was awarded the Compagnon de la Libération designation (Companion of the Liberation). December 23, 1944: provided reinforcement in the Ardennes. February 1945: regrouped in England. Night of April 7–8, 1945: Operation Amherst, parachuted into the Netherlands. Fighting until the 18th. On August 1, 1945 the Parachute Chasseur Regiments merged completely into the French Army. The 3rd Parachute Chasseur Regiment (3e R.C.P) or 3rd SAS Regiment was dissolved and its components transferred to the 2e R.C.P.