[thatguy96]

Alright, rather than retype this, this is from a file provided by Laurent Touchard, a French contact of mine who's name still might be known around here for his OOB work. I have much respect for his research and information. This was largely what I based my formations off of.

GROUPEMENT AMPHIBIE (Amphibious groupment)
M29C Weasel were bought from US surplus in Philippines, in 1945 (like DUKW later) and sent in Indochina. At first, they were used for reconnaissance, in platoon of 6 x M29C Weasel, without mounted armament. Crew were inexperienced, no tactic existed and some of these vehicles, bogged down, had to be abandonned and destroyed... Studies were made on the failure Weasel platoons and a new unit was created in 1948, within the 1er REC : the 1er Groupe d'Escadrons Amphibie du 1er REC (1er GEA ; 1st Amphibious Squadrons Group of the 1st Foreign Legion Cavalry Regiment)

1er Groupe d'Escadrons Amphibie had :
Poste de commandement (PC ; headquarters ; with 3 x M29C Weasel/Crabes)
2 x escadrons de Crabes (Crabs squadrons)
• 1 x peloton hors-rang (PHR ; command platoon ; 2 x M29C Weasel/Crabs ; 3 x recovery Crabs)
• 3 x pelotons de Crabes (Crabs platoons ; 4 x men per vehicle), each with :
1 x M29C Weasel/Crabe (as command vehicle)
1 x mortar Crabe (with 60 mm M2 M29C Weasel/Crabe)
2 x patrols of Crabes each with 3 x M29C Weasel/Crabes ; often with only 2 x Crabs in each because
of men shortage)
1 x workshop unit (with wheeled vehicles ; not amphibious)

Squadrons of the GEA were used alone, without infantry, after initial success, Vietminh discovered the vulnerability of the Weasel, unarmored. Moreover it was difficult to exploit opportunities against the enemy without infantry. Tests were made during 1950, with commando units (see below), but result weren’t conclusive : commando unit had’nt the training for this kind of amphibious operations and the carrier capacity of the Weasel was too small.

The LVT Alligator was the solution...


With the introduction of the LVT, the TO&Es were changed. On 1st September 1951, the 1er Groupement d’Escadrons Amphibie (1er GEA ; 1st Amphibious Squadrons Groupment) became the 1er Groupement Amphibie (1er GA ; 1st Amphibious Groupment), with 3 x sous-groupements (subgroupments) from the 1er Régiment Etranger de Cavalerie (1er REC ; 1st French Foreign Legion Cavalry Regiment). Another GA was created, the 2e GA, with two squadrons of the 1er REC and one of the 1er Régiment de Chasseurs à Cheval (an armored regiment).

Groupement amphibie (amphibious groupment) had :
1 x escadron de Crabes (Crabs squadron)
• 1 x peloton hors-rang (PHR ; command platoon ; 2 x M29C Weasel/Crabes ?, 3 x recovery Crabes ?)
• 3 x pelotons de Crabes (Crabes platoons ; each with 4 x Crabes and 1 x Crabe with 57 mm M18A1
RR)
1 x escadron de LVT (LVT squadron ; commanded by a 1st lieutnant) with :
• 1 x peloton hors-rang (PHR ; headquarters ; 1 x LVT-4)
• Dépannage (Recovery ; 1 x recovery LVT-4, a standard LVT-4 modified with Wrecker parts)
• 1 x peloton d’appui (support platoon ; 2 x LVT(A)-4)
• 1 x peloton de LVT (LVT platoon ; 6 x LVT-4)
1 x compagnie d’infanterie portée (mounted light infantry company ; commanded by a 1st lieutnant) with :
• 3 x pelotons d’infanterie (infantry platoons ; except for French Legionnary cadres, men of the light
infantry company were Native ; each platoon was organized in half platoon of 15 men, with 1 half
platoon embarked in each LVT-4 of the LVT platoon ; mounted light infantry company was sometimes
used as a motorized infantry unit, with GMCs)


Groupement amphibie (amphibious groupment ; April 1953)
1 x peloton de commandement (command group)
1 x peloton d'appui (support platoon ; with 6 x LVT(A)-4 ; some sources stated that this unit existed only from 1954)
Elément de reconnaissance et de manoeuvre (Recon and manoeuver element)
3 x escadrons de Crabes (Crabs squadons)
• 3 x pelotons de Crabes (each with 7 x M29C Weasel/Crabs, 2 x M29C Weasel/Crabs with 57 mm
M18A1 RR, 1 x M29C Weasel/Crabs with 60 mm M2 Mortar)
Elément de choc (Melee element)
3 x escadrons de LVT (LVT squadrons ; each with : 8 x LVT-4, 3 x LVT(A)-4 ; 6 x M18A1 RR, 3 x 60
mm M2 mortars) I don’t know the exact organization, but I suppose it was the following :
• Peloton hors-rang (PHR ; headquarters ; 1 x LVT-4)
• Dépannage (Recovery ; 1 x recovery LVT-4, as explained above)
• 1 x peloton d’appui (support platoon ; 3 x LVT(A)-4 or perhaps mixed with LVT-4 Bofors)
• 1 x peloton de LVT (LVT platoon ; 6 x LVT-4)
3 x compagnies d’infanterie portée (mounted light infantry companies ; as explained above)