The Mobile Gendarmerie () (GM) is a subdivision of the French National Gendarmerie whose main mission is to maintain public order (from crowd control to riot control) and general security. Contrary to the Departmental Gendarmerie, whose jurisdiction is limited to specific parts of the territory, the Mobile Gendarmerie can operate anywhere in France and even abroad as the Gendarmerie is a component of the French Armed Forces. Although the term "mobile" has been used at different times in the 19th century, the modern Mobile Gendarmerie was created in 1921.
The Mobile Gendarmerie is nicknamed la jaune (the yellow one) because of its golden rank insignia, the traditional color of infantry in the French Army (the Departmental Gendarmerie, like most Gendarmerie branches wear the silver insignia of the cavalry and other mounted arms).
The Mobile Gendarmerie is often mistaken with the National Police's CRS, as some of their missions are similar, but they have a different status, military for the gendarmes and civilian for the CRS.
History
The term "mobile" was used at various times in the 18th and 19th centuries to name various Gendarmerie or mixed Gendarmerie-Army units: mobile battalions, mobile columns, etc. engaged in public order duties. By the beginning of the 20th century, it was realized that there was a need for an intermediate force between the Police and the Army, which until then had been frequently called upon in case of trouble, very often with disastrous results (fraternization in a few cases, use of excessive violence in most of the others). The Departmental Gendarmerie also contributed platoons composed of gendarmes on temporary duty taken from local brigades but these men had received no specific training in crowd control, were not under the command of their regular officers and this service was not popular as it took the men away from the brigades for weeks at a time and considerably disrupted the service. Still, many lawmakers were reluctant to create a dedicated force which – they thought – would be costly and might become a new Praetorian guard.
Starting in 1917, platoons from the Provost Gendarmerie (a branch of the Gendarmerie set up as a military police force for the duration of the war) were frequently used in crowd control and riot control duties during demonstrations - even in large cities away from the front.
In 1921, it was finally decided to begin the raising of "Mobile Gendarmerie platoons" in the Departmental Gendarmerie. Platoons, either horse mounted or on foot were composed of 40 gendarmes (60 in the Paris Region). In 1926, the platoons formed the "Garde Républicaine mobile" (GRM), which became a separate branch of the Gendarmerie in 1927, the platoons becoming part of companies and legions. By 1940, the GRM was a force 21,000 strong, composed of 14 légions, 54 company groups and 167 companies.
Long the only large force specialized in maintaining or restoring law and order during demonstrations or riots, the GRM progressively developed the doctrine and skills needed in that role : exercise restraint, avoid confrontation as long as possible, always leave an "exit door" for the crowd etc.
More than 6,000 GMR gendarmes fought in 1940 either in line Gendarmerie combat units or as detached personnel seconded to the Army. After the 1940 armistice, the Germans demanded that the GRM be disestablished. A new organization, 6,000 strong, called "La Garde", separate from the Gendarmerie, was created, staffed primarily with former GRM gendarmes and was attached, first to the minimal French Armistice Army remaining in the unoccupied zone, then after the whole country was occupied in the wake of the Allied landings in Africa in November 1942, to the Ministry of Interior. Being attached to the cavalry branch of the Army, the Garde traded its companies for squadrons.
After the Liberation, the Garde was disbanded and the GMR recreated within the Gendarmerie under the new designation of Garde républicaine.In 1954, it acquired its present name of Gendarmerie mobile.