152nd Infantry Regiment - Les Diables Rouges

It was born on the banks of the Rhine. That metaphor alone perfectly encapsulates the deep vocation of the 152nd Infantry Regiment, the "Diables rouges" of the Régiment d'Alsace. Its history, punctuated by great feats of arms and periods of dormancy, reaches its peak at the Hartmannswillerkopf and during the Great War.
The regiment appears in the order of battle of the French Army in 1794, drawing its origins from the former Régiment de Saintonge. Dissolved two years later, it was reborn in 1813 for a brief campaign in Germany, and was again dissolved in 1814 after distinguishing itself during the campaign in France. The defeat of 1870 and the advent of the Third Republic heralded its renewal. In 1887, the 152nd regional infantry regiment reclaimed its place among its peers. A symbol of the army whose eyes were fixed on the blue line of the Vosges, it was garrisoned at Gérardmer. When the hour of truth arrived, it was at the forefront of the fighting and was the first to enter Alsace, counting among its ranks the celebrated cartoonist Hansi. After the terrible battles of the Hartmannswillerkopf, the "Diables rouges" were present at every engagement, and the regiment accumulated seven citations by 1918. Between 1919 and 1939, based at Colmar, it took part in the Rhine garrison duty before being committed in 1940 to the Battle of Rethel. Under the Occupation, it would become the soul of the "Résistance Auvergne" before fighting in Alsace and returning to Colmar, where General de Gaulle solemnly presented it with its colours on 10 February 1945. Like many others, the 152nd mechanised infantry regiment was deployed to Algeria, where it took part in operations against the insurgency before returning to its Alsatian garrison in 1964. Permanently rooted in that Alsatian soil which offered so many of its sons in service to its colours, the 152nd Infantry Regiment is today a dynamic and responsive unit of the French Army, capable of being deployed at short notice to any theatre of operations where the defence and service of French interests so require. The blue line is no longer that of the Vosges, but more often the distant horizons of external operations. Yet unchanged — jealously guarded and constantly cultivated — remain the virtues of loyalty and sacrifice that presided over the birth of the "Quinze-deux" and forged its proud and ardent spirit.