On September 30 the task force set out from That Khe with the 1st BEP in the lead. Their mission now was to retake Dong Khe, and push a force beyond to link up with a column led by the 3rd Battalion, 3rd REI, moving south from Cao Bang. With nearly two weeks to invest the terrain around Dong Khe, the Viet Minh were waiting. Following the first serious engagement with Viet Minh forces, the task force pulled back to wait for air support. It renewed the attack on October 2, pushing west to bypass Dong Khe, as the 1st BEP covered the movement by fixing the enemy’s attention to Hill 615, where the Viet Minh numbers proved to be overwhelming. Over the course of a week, the Legionnaires and Moroccans were driven into the Coc Xa Gorge, where they were cut to pieces. A mere 23 survivors of the 1st BEP managed to reach French lines. Meanwhile, the 1st BEP Replacement Company, 120 men newly arrived from Algeria under Lieutenant Loth of the 3rd REI, merged with 280 men from the 3rd BCCP, just back from a difficult operation in Laos. This force dropped into That Khe, and also was annihilated. Thus the 1st BEP became the first French parachute battalion lost in combat, followed closely by the colonial paratroops of the 3rd BCCP.

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In March 1951 a reconstituted 1st BEP was formed at Hanoi with volunteers from the 2nd BEP, Vietnamese paratroops, and a fresh contingent from North Africa. Organized with one European company, two mixed companies and a Vietnamese company, the battalion commenced operations on April 1, 1951. It fought throughout the Red River Delta, and along the Day River, before jumping into Cho Ben in November 1951 during the opening stages of the Hoa Binh campaign. By December 1951 it was a veteran unit, and moved up to the Black River sector, where it fought at Ap Da Chong, Rocher Notre Dame and Ba Vi Mountain. It then moved into the Colonial Route 6 sector, conducting road clearing operations and retaking Kem Hill, before moving back to the delta.

After multiple operations in the delta and highlands, the 1st BEP jumped into Phu Doan as part of a brigade – sized airborne raid in November 1952. Then it was airlifted into the besieged camp at Na San. On January 26, 1953, the 1st BEP moved south for the first time, engaging Viet Minh forces near Kontum, An Khe, Cuu Dao, Gia Hoi and Ban Me Thuot, before moving to Saigon and then back to Hanoi. Following two months of heavy operations in Tonkin, it performed an administrative jump into Laos and then moved to Da Nang for ground operations in Central Vietnam.

By October 1953 the 1st BEP was back at the Gia Lam Airfield, east of Hanoi. On November 21, 1953 it jumped into Dien Bien Phu as part of Operation Castor. Following a short operation with the 5th Vietnamese Parachute Battalion, the 1st BEP returned to Dien Bien Phu, where it engaged in increasingly harder fighting as part of the 2nd Airborne Battle Group. On April 24, 1954, the 1st BEP’s survivors were merged with those of the 2nd BEP to form the Provisional BEP, which subsequently was annihilated. Survivors of the 1st BEP were then merged with rear elements, volunteers from other Legion units, notably the 1st REC, and arriving replacements to form a third 1st BEP in June 1954. By July 1954 it was operating out of Haiphong. On January 30, 1955 the 1st BEP moved to Saigon, where it departed Indochina on February 8, 1955.

2nd Foreign Parachute Battalion (2nd BEP):
Formed at Setif, Algeria in October 1948, the 2nd BEP landed at Saigon on February 9, 1949, and was promptly rushed to Cambodia. It spent 1949 divided between Cambodia and South Vietnam, fighting both the Viet Minh and Khmer Issrak. The 2nd BEP’s 1st Company, based at Tan Son Nhut as a parachute strike force, conducted jumps at Lagray, Bao Cong, Ap Baa Cong, north of Vung Tau, and at Tra Vinh. Regrouped in January 1950, the 2nd BEP was airlifted into Central Vietnam, where it served at Dong Hoi, Pho Trac, Hue, the Cau Mai peninsula, Quang Nam and Da Nang, before returning to Saigon in late February 1950.

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