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Spain Spanish Legion
The Spanish Legion, founded in Morocco in 1920, has
always
been under the direct command of the chief of the army
staff. It
has had a reputation as the toughest combat unit in the
service.
Although modeled after the French Foreign Legion, it never
acquired the international flavor of its French
counterpart.
Reduced in size to 8,500 in 1987, as a result of
successive
reorganizations, the legion was scheduled to undergo
further cuts
to an overall strength of 6,500. It had a higher number of
career
soldiers than other units, but it was manned mostly by
conscripts
who had volunteered for the legion. Recruitment of
non-Spanish
personnel, who had never exceeded 10 percent of the
group's
manpower, ended in 1986. Foreign legionnaires already in
the
service were not affected.
As of 1987, the Spanish Legion was grouped into four
tercios (sing., tercio), a unit intermediate
between a regiment and a brigade, each commanded by a
colonel.
The first and the second tercios constituted the
core of
the military garrisons at Melilla and Ceuta. Each had been
reduced by a motorized battalion, leaving it with a single
motorized battalion, a mechanized battalion, an antitank
company,
and a headquarters company. They were equipped with BMR
armored
personnel carriers. The third tercio, stationed in
the
Canary Islands, consisted of two motorized battalions and
a
headquarters company. The fourth tercio was being
converted from a support role to a combat unit at the
legion
headquarters in Ronda near Malaga.
In 1987 the Ministry of Defense was planning the
creation of
a rapid deployment force composed entirely of volunteers.
This
force, which would include the Spanish Legion, the
paratroop
brigade, the airborne brigade, and Marine units, would be
available for use in trouble spots on twelve hours'
notice. Lack
of adequate air and naval transport would, however, be a
limiting
factor.
Data as of December 1988
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