24 hours in the French Alps with the Chasseurs Alpins 🏔🇫🇷

What does it take to survive in the mountains? Find out as NATO video producers embed with the Chasseurs Alpins (“Alpine Hunters” in English), the French Army’s elite mountain infantry unit. Over the course of 24 hours, they trek deep into the French Alps, where they set up camp and run training drills in the challenging mountain terrain. Military operations in the Alps aren’t for the faint of heart, and the Chasseurs show how demanding training pays off in expertise.
Can't get enough? Read the interview with the Platoon Commander of 13th Battalion of Alpine Hunters here: bit.ly/3sttutf
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📸 Background Photo by Jean-Baptiste D. on Unsplash

[@antikoerper256]

Full respect to the FR armed forces from your humble NATO partner - Bulgaria!

[@thomascatty379]

Much love to Bulgaria from France 🤝

[@sunasahi5147]

[@Legrascestlavie88]

Humble. U kidding? Bulgarians are badass

[@kitamayoru3486]

Much love from france🤝

[@skaven3188]

respect to you too. Yesterday enemies today ally , history is full of surprise.

[@crymieze9003]

French mountains troops didn't lose world war II. They stopped all the Italian armies in 1940.

[@quentin6583]

One of my ex colleague was a chasseur alpin. He told me that back in the day, he f up during a training and ended up in the wrong valley, in complete opposite of the rest of the group. He had to walk alone 10h at night to get around the mountain and get back to camp 😂 No cellphone, no radio, no head lamp, nothing. We can see them training all the time here.

[@angrydoggy9170]

I trained with them and similar units. They are absolute beasts.

[@pierrecaffin3972]

🇫🇷french army is just awesome🇫🇷

[@nystex9057]

This is the best Elite Mountain Troops that exist currently in the world. 🇫🇷

[@giudicedredd9195]

I’m sorry but they’re not the best😂😂😂

[@stralabastro142]

yeah its funny we cousins kept kicking eachother ass throught history, first french winning the defense in 1940 and then the italians winning the defense in 1945.

[@lefterisgeorgiou4424]

Greece 🇬🇷, France 🇫🇷!!!

[@user-gh3eq8up3s]

Indian army ❤❤❤😊

[@user-im7db9kn6u]

Il ne voudrait au grand jamais Quitter les monts, les névés L’odeur boisée des sapins ; Quelques flocons dans les mains. L’Edelweiss fait courir ses larmes C’est l’étoile de son âme, Non jamais au grand jamais, Cet amour ne s’oublierait. Il ne vivra pas sans sylvie Sylvie si belle, si jolie Un vrai nom de la forêt Faisant écho aux éperviers. Le vol royal d’un aigle blanc Comme la neige s’étend. Lui donne envie de chanter Son amour aux deux forêts. Le bruit le sort des rêveries Trois coups de feu, c’est fini. L’amour fait place au combat L’aigle est parti, mais voilà; Le lieutenant donne les ordres Honneur, tiens bon et la corde, Dernière Bulle il oublie Le canon des Alpinis. Il offre son âme à la mort Avec ardeur, sans répit. Il repousse l’ennemi Lui passe au travers du corps. Mais une balle vient frapper Le vaillant chasseur alpin. Abattu sous un sapin Dans sa silva bien aimée. Vivre libre ou mourir Mon père fut chasseur alpin lieutenant au 27 BCA 🐅 📯 Il a gagné la guerre en ramenant tous ses hommes vivants ☝️ ses propres mots A notre père parti le 18 juin 2022 🙏 J&BT

[@maxoubidou7880]

Respect pour ton père, mais je voulais juste te dire que moi j'habitais a 500m du 27BCA mdr

[@sprat_fpv]

Oh le 27eme c'est chez nous ça Bravo a ton père c'est un héros merci ♥️

[@marie-pascaleleonetti1555]

Beaucoup d'émotion, de respect...quel poème magnifique...magnifique !

[@user-im7db9kn6u]

@@maxoubidou7880 merci pour ta réponse pour notre père 🙏 incroyable tu habitais juste à côté tu les as vu partir s’entraîner ?

[@user-im7db9kn6u]

@@BL4K3THEDIGGER merci ça me touche 🙏 c’était un vrai chasseur alpin dans l’âme j’ai marché humblement sur ses traces officier dans armée de l’air et grimpeur on se refait pas ´

[@marie-pascaleleonetti1555]

Ils sont une des gloires de la France.... les Francais leur vouent un respect et une admiration absolue.

[@hamzad5755]

Respect 🇹🇷♥️🇨🇵

[@ComradePirate552]

This is beautiful in so many ways

[@jordanwade517]

Amazing video! Go NATO! Sending love from Australia 🇦🇺

[@tomb2289]

Love it! 🇬🇧🇲🇫

[@benoitmolon8118]

Served two years with the chasseurs Alpins two of my best years 😊

[@micheleys2343]

Quel dur métier, j'admire leur forme physique.

[@stephaneprunier652]

Appelé au 6°BCA de Varces 06/86, que de bons souvenirs. On a eu froid, faim, chaud et soif, mais on a ramené le soleil dans nos yeux. Le col de l'arc, Chambaran, Chamrousse ...

[@lucienmossad8947]

6 eme bca varces 1976......mois aussi que. des bons souvenirs........

[@Thalasseven]

oh les chasseurs Alpin grimpent le col de l'arc pour leurs entrainements ? J'en ai jamais croisé la bas malheureusement

[@renaudcamus3286]

Moi 08 76

[@tonyhawk94]

The challenge here is that your energy consumption litteraly explode in these terrains the amount of training you need is enormous.

[@lafourmiedesbois5901]

Yes but you are not at the source of the difficulty yet, high elevated mountains are very treacherous places the weather can be unpredictable and can shift faster than at sea, many people who were born and lived in the mountains died in such terrain despite their experience. There are not many populations out there that practices icepeak climbing as a hobby.

[@matis19]

I'm so proud of my army, I think we have one of the best of the world because our soldiers are training so hard !

[@NapoleonBlownapart404]

La meilleure d'Europe en tous cas (pour l'instant)

[@s1m_ple.]

@@NapoleonBlownapart404les soldats français sont l'un des plus entraîner du monde

[@mz1617]

as a french, i cant stop laughing at our french accent while talking english, i love it XDDDDD great video !!!

[@calypsojordana3274]

Il n'y a que les français pour se moquer de l'accent des français. C'est stupide.

[@MrImpli]

@@calypsojordana3274 C'est ça. Tu parles anglais avec un accent anglais, les français se moquent. Tu parles anglais avec un accent français, ils se moquent. Mais j'imagine qu'il est plus facile de se moquer que d'être soi-même bilingue.

[@alexdieu384]

Olalalalala c'est bon laissez le rire un peu. C'est vrai que ça nous fait bizarre de nous entendre parler en anglais. Même si on est billingue

[@hunteriii8253]

Apple should have English (French accent) as a voice option for Maps. It’s much easier to understand than the English (Indian accent) guaranteed to get lost or confused with that one. It shouldn’t be an option.

[@Di3cy]

German Gebirgsjäger (GER mountaineers) here... good to see how our french bretheren are holding up ^^

[@kitamayoru3486]

Much love and respect from france🤝

[@lafourmiedesbois5901]

The sea is already a treacherous place but the mountain are unpredictable the weather can change with very strong winds in matter of minutes. Most people understimate how dangerous mountains are and we can see every year hundreds if not thousands of people dying on top of mountains.

[@GORANJOVIC631]

On considère que 1 alpiniste sur 7 est vitcime d'un accident dans les Alpes (Pas forcément mortel parce que les secours sont vraiment compétent mais ca reste un bon nombre)

[@mrgammer91506]

French military are the best in the world, most prepared soldier

[@alexandrevalentin8587]

Yes but unfortunatly, not enough soldiers and equipements, we have top of the notch technology and training but in low quantities. (from a french citizen)

[@gmz6200]

@@alexandrevalentin8587 mais chut roooh!!! Faut le dire à personne 😅

[@whillard2447]

@@alexandrevalentin8587 *quality over quantity*

[@marie-pascaleleonetti1555]

Merci.

[@askicked3004]

@@whillard2447 Yeah, but USA won WW2 with quantity over quality you know

[@MrGuana141]

My father did his service in the Chasseur Alpins, (mostly because he lived in the alps at the time of his obligatory service) he had good memories, and they offered him a career as reservist officer, but he wasn't interested, he fucked up one of his ear (as in for life, it's still a problem for him today) by forgetting his ear plugs and not going back to avoid getting yelled at by his sergeant instructor .. He was AT.

[@francoismeme2083]

Chasseur un jour, chasseur toujours. 27eme BCA, 84/02 - Naqoura 14eme mandat.

[@orionbrs1576]

Des vrai gigachad 🇫🇷🗿

[@theamazngbrian]

Rob your videos absolutely rock! Not sure why I hadn’t subscribed before now but today I am in. MCC.

[@embracegreatnessfrance]

Ce sont des « blues devils » c’est le nom que les allemands leur avaient donné pendant la première guerre mondiale sur le front Vosgiens !

[@Jasper0406]

This reminds me of my time in the US Army when I was stationed in Alaska. We were called "Artic Warriors" back then. The mental and physical conditioning to operate day in and day out in the cold is essential. There is nothing easy out in the cold.

[@deetwodcs4683]

Seems like something Les Stroud would say, that and "you sweat, you die.".

[@ommsterlitz1805]

Not even close to the effort required as at these altitudes even for trained personnel physical activity with way lower air intake means way less oxygen

[@_sivispacemparabellum]

The mountain will surely chews you up. But for spits you out, I wouldn't count on it. What the mountain takes, it keeps. Proud of our army.

[@TomGoreReal]

Last year I saw these guys in the same ressort as me one afternoon. They are also seriously good skiers.

[@lecorbeaucassecouilles7365]

The mountain here is incredibly dangerous. Climbing is exhausting, walking in snow is exhausting, the temperatures can get extremely low and the wind isn't helping. There's also the risk of landslide, avalanche, crevasse... and if something happends to you good luck getting an evac. You are isolated. To be able to fight in such conditions is a prowess. I'd be surprised if the chasseur alpins ever find adversaries with the level of skill to just survive the mountain.

[@justeunfan3364]

I think they need to be that much trained to be able to fight against people who lives on the mountains were the fight takes place. Its can be really hard or really easy to hide yourself, place traps or snipers in mountains if you know the terrain. So you need to be especially good to win a fight agaisnt even an afghan farmer which know every single rocks of his valley.

[@gengis737]

Back in time Chasseurs Alpins had epic fights with Italian Alpini in 1940 (a fratricidal fight) and against German Gebirsgjäger in 1944. They also fought in Afghanistan.

[@irov5884]

@@gengis737 Yes, and the Italians and Germans never went through. 9 French soldiers (not Chasseurs Alpins tho) pushed back 3000 italians in the Alps during WW2 (Battle of Pont Saint Louis)

[@erwannthietart3602]

​@@irov5884 tbf the Italians didnt even throw a grenade in the one bunker eventhough rhey came in ranger SEVERAL times

[@kaa13]

@@irov5884 On n 'imagine pas aujourd hui que les troupes de forteresses étaient en fait des troupes d'élite .

[@louison3216]

Wow ils emmènent même des FRF2 là haut ! Je ne savais même pas qu'on pouvait utiliser un fusil à verrou (bien lourd en plus) dans un endroit où le vent peut être très fort et changer de direction facilement. Belle arme tout de même. Honneur aux chasseurs alpins

[@KakunoSunkaTV]

Pas si lourd quand on compare avec le PGM cela dit

[@amoryguenin]

Que ça soit a verrou ou semi automatique la munition reste la même donc le vient viendra forcément interférer avec la balistique de l'arme. C'est pour ça que les tireurs d'élite travaillent par deux un avec le fusil et l'autre avec les appareils de mesure pour ajuster les paramètres de l'optique en fonction des conditions du terrain

[@crymieze9003]

non je pense qu'ils n'ont juste pas eu encore les financements pour le remplacer mdr On fait bien mieux aujourd'hui

[@riggsberr5213]

@@crymieze9003 Le FRF2 est en passe d'être remplacé par le SCAR-H PR. adieu les reliques des manufactures de St Etienne... bien dommage!

[@xEightyHate]

@@crymieze9003 nous au 16 on a déjà les SCAR, c'est qu'une question de temps

[@Redcapzter]

Great shooting, Rob!

[@Bossko1erG.I.F.T.]

Incroyable 🇫🇷🇫🇷

[@danemon8423]

they were never defeatd in battle if i'm correct

[@LOeuffy]

The germans named them the blue devils. The first soldier of France, the most decorated soldier of France and hero of WWI Albert Séverin Roche was a soldier in the 27ème bataillon de chasseurs alpins.

[@erwannthietart3602]

​@@LOeuffy well tbf Albert Roche was on his own level even for the Chasseur Alpin this dude pushed back an entire charge by himself

[@Coeur2Pierre]

7eme bataillon de chasseur alpins 1996 / 1997 j'ai reconnu un ancien avec qui j'ai fais l'armée c allucinant!!!!!

[@marcgibier6071]

Que de souvenirs ! 7eme BCA, section renseignement

[@MaFd0n]

The logistics is something I missed here, I mean that's the truly hard part.

[@leftnoname]

This is the eye candy dandy footage recruiters like. Those dudes out there are a tough bunch.

[@martineb.7997]

Top !!

[@grosminetytp5520]

Je serais curieux de connaître les stats d'accidents à l'entraînement (hypothermie, asphyxie, chutes en hauteur, avalanches...)

[@jeangabrielkahane2961]

At least there are no stupid " white flag" jokes cracked in this thread. What ( as a Frenchman) I am surprised by is the decent level of spoken English of the officer being interviewed shortly after 7 ' . Quite unexpected from one of my fellow citizens. Note : I regard the mountain troops superior to any other in the armed forces- including paratroopers- cuz you have to show more resilience.

[@aqwedc8crom733]

Ben oui cher Jean Gabriel, après 20 ans de conflits notamment au sein de plusieurs coalitions sponsorisées par l'OTAN on trouve quelques officiers français qui, comme vous (oui, on bien compris que vous êtes un "druide" en la matière....), arrivent à s'exprimer assez correctement en anglais. Certains ont même des parents britanniques.......On aimerais juste parfois que les officiers français s'expriment au moins correctement...en français.

[@gabrielmoulin423]

Il est officier donc sort de St-Cyr, accessible difficilement par voie concours. Tous nos officiers ont un très bon niveau d’anglais

[@azurman3]

Even special forces?

[@azurman3]

Saint-Cyr n’est pas difficile d’accès, et tous les officiers n’ont absolument pas un bon niveau en anglais. Au concours de l’ESM on peut très bien compenser une très mauvaise note en anglais par le reste, d’autant que la barre d’admissibilité est environ à 8/20. Enfin l’ESM n’est pas la seule voie pour devenir officier dans l’Armée de Terre

[@MadMatt13]

Cool as ice!

[@EhBahRien1212]

Petite blague pour nos amis anglo-saxon, si le chasseur alpin, moi j'apporte les rillettes !

[@absentwithoutleave3164]

Awesome video. Shame that he forgot to indicate for you to pull the heel lift up on the snowshoes when going up those 300m. Might have been easier.

[@romrock2450]

dans ma famille on est chasseur alpin de génération en génération moi aussi je le serais pour la France

[@parkpekka4799]

Hi from the Alps

[@TimZ_38]

HOME POWER 🇫🇷

[@franks3332]

It's cool👍 NATO 4life🤘😎✊

[@ekope6396]

J'ai fait mon service 98/04 le dernier avant que le 4em rg du genie alpin ne soit dissous 1ans apres : la devise :"Parfois détruire, souvent construire, toujours servir" tres bon souvenir, cependant les habits etaient vraiment leger surtout leurs duvet avec le dos en plastique..

[@hunteriii8253]

It’s interesting to note how alot of major militaries have adopted the HK416 as their main combat rifle. Personally I would choose the Galil ACE from 🇮🇱 it is cheaper, more reliable and more durable than anything out there. The top 5 countries for weapons are 🇮🇱 🇩🇪 🇧🇪 🇦🇹 🇨🇭

[@alexanderortega5149]

🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥

[@101vasconia]

I was in Barcelonnette 11 BCA in 81, special combat troops chasseur alpin , all we did is climb mountains and sleep in igloos, my back pack was around 70 lbs plus 25 lbs machine gun,! Crazy shit,but a made me a man without fear

[@alexis96660]

Je suis le seul à avoir cru voir Ekitike sur la miniature ??

[@m.p.7823]

Next one about italian "Alpini" please

[@ommsterlitz1805]

It's not at all the same training though

[@TitouFromMars]

ahah, je vois que les "gants Mapa" sont toujours de rigueur pour lisser les parois des igloos 😅

[@monacobenedict8991]

Real life Winter Soldiers! 👊👊👊

[@LV_SL]

S/O François Guiraud, 8th SES Chasseur Alpin, decorated with the War Cross for his fighting post liberation in 1945 (my 100y/o gramps!)

[@James-hs3tu]

Interesting 🤔🤔🤔

[@johnd2058]

I would love to see an embed documentary of cross-training between USA 10th Mountain Inf. Div. and this unit ... dag that's a narrow trench. Pate and a lot of coffee in MREs? More superior rations in NATO. Anyhow, 10th in the Alps: "I can't even breathe up here. This sucks." Alpins in NW New York State: "I just woke up with three more meters of snowfall on top of me. This sucks."

[@julienlepeu8068]

Chasseur un jour chasseur toujours.

[@lorieann8834]

Bonjour nato is the best

[@benoitbittel4952]

93e RAM "de roc et de feu"

[@steevecorreia1709]

Un jour j aimerais bien y dormir dans la neige comme vous

[@JohnDoe-lx3vy]

James bond vibes

[@natanael4392]

Ca c'est MA France 🇫🇷❤️🇫🇷

[@lpdrds]

c'est bien en français aussi

[@Louis-bg1zh]

🇨🇵🇨🇵🇨🇵

[@andrewcombe8907]

French snow/alpine camo rocks

[@oooooooorion]

based nato

[@wakawaka666]

Dites vous que ces gars sont tout juste payés au smic. Those guys are merely paid the average salary.

[@hunteriii8253]

All militaries should follow the French recipe for rations!

[@michelbatault8277]

Secret défense 😁

[@je7593]

I am not a big fan of France and its politics but when I was there, military guys were the most honest, simple and adorable people I met 👍🏼 knowing that I hold an Arabic name and look like an Arab ☺️

[@ke3p3r62]

you can hold an Arabic name and be quiet in France mate

[@ribellu.X]

7 bca 📯. De fer et d'acier. 2 ème Cie. Les diables bleu

[@Chris-kc3is]

Ancien du 7 aussi😊

[@lifestyle-vb8gl]

Nato is the best in the world

[@sylvainroux1480]

In those critial times, we NEED a strong NATO. Thanks to all the soldiers perparing for the worst ! We owe you

[@Magyarleanzo]

Maybe in another life 🤍

[@niccoloricardi4827]

But the alps border with Italy and Switzerland, respectively a NATO member and a neutral country. Is this corps really that useful? Unless we send them to Finland, I don't know

[@braorius]

That’s like asking if navy units that are based and train in the channel between UK and France are useless because the two countries are allies… That makes no sense. Just like the navy can operate on any sea in the world these guys just train to fight in another dedicated environment: mountains. No matter which mountain in which country. They were quite heavily involved in Afghanistan for example where the terrain is mountainous :)

[@bipboup7761]

Well they are usually people living in the Alps and used to mountain, and they are stationed and train in the alps (sometimes pyrenean I guess as well) because that's where their main training camps are, jsut like the alpinis are in Italy. They are not deployed as a protection against Italy. In fact, they were deployed in romania when Russia invaded Ukraine;

[@asheur9488]

Did you watch the video fully? 7:00 They intervened in Kosovo and Afghanistan for example. They re the best at high altitudes so yeah they are useful.

[@adjoftce6547]

They have been deployed multiple times in Africa, nothern europe and eastern europe, training in the alps doesn't mean they operate in the alps

[@alioshax7797]

​@@adjoftce6547 They've been specifically deployed in large numbers in Afghanistan, where the mountaneous terrain is everywhere.

[@f12018]

Ptin dis, la chaîne de l'OTAN devient attrayante mdr

[@nicolasbertin8552]

I remember people in 2010s were like "do we still need soldiers able to fight in the cold ? Sounds like we only have desert warfare now". 2022 : enters a crazy Russian dictator...

[@joachimmahoudeaux8619]

Elevation is the key, either in desert or moutains, you always want to get to the highest point possible to get the better sight to shoot your enemy. As it’s been said here, the alpine hunters are elevation specialists, not only snow specialists.

[@elliot4013]

Nobody can beat the Finns in winter combat ;)

[@kinsou3865]

Chasseur alpin can do it 😉

[@kerdart351]

@@kinsou3865 Sure, but we have some dozens of Chasseurs Alpins, while Finns have hundreds if not thousands of guys able to fight in snow and mountains ;)

[@avb4805]

This are not only winter soldiers but montain soldiers.

[@philippemermin4759]

Belle propagande, ex du 27 à la fourragère rouge (73/12) , je ne m'emballerais pas tant. La réalité est autre. Ici, par exemple, on les voit faire une tranchée, dans laquelle on creuse horizontalement pour faire la partie couchette et on parle d'igloo, une technique totalement différente, avec la fosse à froid, que certains imbéciles bouchaient.

[@albanronsard8196]

Lol archaïque

[@tyga3130]

Pas du tout rustique et pas le choix en montagne. Certainement les meilleurs soldats au monde en altitude 😊

[@maxencebaudoin7889]

LoL you archaïque