Unit Name: | 2nd Armoured Brigade |
Native Name: | 2 Brigade Blindée |
Dates: | c. 1970, 1999–present |
Country: | France |
Branch: | French Army |
Type: | Armour |
Size: | 6200 personnel |
Command Structure: | 3rd Division |
Current Commander: | General de brigade Vincent Giraud (July 2020 onwards) |
Garrison: | Strasbourg |
Motto: | Ne me dites pas que c'est impossible ! ("Do not tell me it is impossible!") |
Notable Commanders: | Général Leclerc |
The 2nd Armoured Brigade (French: 2{{sup|e) is an armoured brigade of the French Army. It is heir to the honours and traditions of the 2nd Armoured Division famously commanded by Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque.
In 1970 the 2nd Armoured Brigade at Saint-Germain-en-Laye was part of the 8th Armoured Division, headquartered at Compiègne, alongside two mechanised brigades.[1] In 1977 the 2nd Armoured Brigade appears to have been disbanded, and the 2nd Armoured Division reformed.
The reorganisation of the French Army in 1999 transformed and downsized the 2nd Armoured Division to the 2nd Armoured Brigade.
From 1999 to 2010 the brigade headquarters was located in the quartier Bellecombe in Orléans.
From July 2010 the brigade headquarters was located in Illkirch-Graffenstaden, neighbouring Strasbourg, at the quartier Leclerc (near the 2e Compagnie de Commandement et de Transmissions and the 291st Jäger Bataillon). The general commanding the brigade is at the same time the Military Governor of Strasbourg.[2] He loges in the situated in the place Broglie in Strasbourg. Since 2023, the headquarters is also located in Strasbourg.
The brigade consists of seven regiments.[3]
Other units include: