The Road to Forgotten Hope 2.64 Compagnons - Part 2

Hello and welcome back to another Forgotten Hope 2 update.

Today we are showing off one of the French units that found themselves in Medjez El Bab: the 43rd Colonial Infantry Regiment.

Colonial troops, known as "La Coloniale", are descended from the Marines created in 1622 by Richelieu. When they were renamed and moved from the ministry of Marine to the ministry of War in 1900 they became a specific infantry and artillery corps tasked with the defence of the French colonies. They were a mix of metropolitan French serving overseas and indigenous soldiers, with metropolitan French officers, serving under the insignia of a golden anchor.

In 1939 France would call soldiers from its empire to fight on the mainland. After the Fall of France, many colonial regiments would be disbanded, with some remaining in the Armée d'Armistice while others followed De Gaulle. With the progressive rallying and liberation of the colonies by the Allies, their numbers would increase again. The colonial troops would continue to serve until the liberation of France, though a lot of the units would see their black African soldiers replaced by French resistance fighters.

The 43e Régiment d'Infanterie Coloniale was recreated in 1939 after its dissolution in 1919. It fought notable delaying actions in June 1940 and was kept in the Armée d'Armistice as a reserve unit in Tunisia. After the Operation Torch landings on November 19th 1942, the 3rd company of the 43e RIC was engaged against the Germans at Medjez El Bab, while the rest of the regiment was disarmed and sent back to France by the Italians in December. Our colonial playermodels were made by CptBocquier, from our French playermodels made by Harmonikater with heads from Battlefield 2 models made by DICE.

The coupe-coupe is a West African specific form of the more generic machete, a tool commonly used for clearing undergrowth and felling small trees. This particular design was designed in 1916 to be mass produced and issued to the Tirailleurs Sénégalais, and would become an icon of these units in propaganda produced by both sides. It saw widespread issue in the colonial units from French West Africa among the indigenous and metropolitan soldiers alike, where it saw use as both the original tool but also as a weapon that required less training than the bayonet. Ours was made by CptBocquier.

If you have missed any previous updates this week, you can find links to them here:

Go to Road to Forgotten Hope 2.64 Compagnons - Part 1

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