competent; since it was widely understood that the Foreign Legion was raised for service outside Metropolitan France, the postings entailed were viewed with little enthusiasm by many officers and the prospect of leading an émigré unit into combat had little allure to many capable officers. In additions to the problems within the Foreign Legion's officer cadre, the Foreign Legion lacked experienced non-commissioned officers and efforts to recruit veteran NCOs from retirement were largely unsuccessful. Non-commissioned officers by necessity were selected from the enlisted ranks; these men often proved ill-suited to the responsibilities of NCOs. At its inception the Foreign Legion was organized into a single regiment of seven battalions. Each battalion followed the form of a battalion of a regular French line infantry battalion; each battalion had eight companies of 112 men each. Each battalion was formed of men of specific nationalities or linguistic groups; the 1st Battalion was composed of veterans of the Swiss Guards and the Hohenlohe Regiment, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions were composed of Swiss and German volunteers, the 5th Battalion consisted of those of Spanish extraction, the 6th Battalion consisted mostly of a mixture of Sardinians and Italians, the 6th Battalion was formed of Belgians and Dutch, and the 7th Battalion consisted of volunteers of Polish origin. As Algeria proved an unpopular posting with regular French Army regiments, the arrival of the Foreign Legion was welcomed. First operations in Algeria The Foreign Legion was first deployed to Algeria with the battalions of the legion arriving in batches between 1831 and 1832. In late 1831, the first legionnaires, members of the 1st Battalion, landed in Algeria. This battalion set about building a barracks and other facilities for the regiment's garrison in addition to draining a nearby marsh and constructing a road in the area. Upon arriving in Algeria most of the Legion was stationed around Algiers; however the 4th Battalion was dispatched west of Algiers to help secure Oran while the 6th Battalion was dispatched east to assist in the occupation of Bône. On April 1, 1832, the Legion's new commander, Colonel Michel Combe, who was himself an ardent advocate of the role of light infantry in the French Army having previously established the Chasseurs à pied. Colonel Combe arrived in Algeria carrying the Legion's regimental colors which had been presented to the Legion by order of King Louis Philippe. Upon taking command, Colonel Combe did