The 1er Régiment de Parachutistes d'Infanterie de Marine () or 1er RPIMa is a unit of the French Army Special Forces Command, therefore part of the Special Operations Command. Heirs to the Free French paratroopers of the 3rd and 4th squadrons of the Special Air Service (SAS) founded in the United Kingdom during WWII, the 1er RPIMa is sometimes referred to as the "French SAS" and still uses the same motto as their British counterparts to this day: (French for "Who Dares Wins"). Origins Quite unusually for the French Armed Forces, the affiliations of this unit are various, not directly related to each other, and numerous. The regiment is heir simultaneously to formations of the French Air Force, mainland infantry, Troupes coloniales and Troupes de marine. World War II September 15, 1940, the 1st Air Infantry Company (Free French) (1e Compagnie d'Infanterie de l'Air: 1e C.I.A) was created in the United Kingdom by Captain Georges Bergé. March 15, 1941: Operation Savanna, the first operation of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in France, an ambush in Brittany. On April 10, 1941 the 1st Air Infantry Company (1e C.I.A) was reattached to the Free French forces and renamed 1er Compagnie Parachutiste (1st Parachute Company). May 1941: Operation Josephine B (destruction of six transformers at the electric plant in Pessac). Divided into one section assigned to the BCRA intelligence unit, and two other sections sent to the Middle East. July 21, 1941: embarked for the Mideast, garrisoned in Beirut, then Damascus. On September 25, 1941 the 1st Parachute Company became the Peloton Parachutiste du Levant (Parachute Platoon of the Levant) and was attached to the French Air Force. On October 15, 1941 the unit's name changed again, to the 1er Compagnie de Chasseurs Parachutistes, (1er C.C.P) (1st Parachute Chasseur Company). On January 1, 1942 the unit became the French Squadron of the Special Air Service under Major David Stirling, a special forces unit garrisoned at Kibrit Air Base on the Suez Canal. June 1942: the French SAS destroyed 20 German airplanes in Crete, then attacked the airports in Matouba-Derna, Benina, Barce and Benghazi on the Libyan front. July 1942: operations in Cyrenaica. January 1943: harassed the German rear-guard in Tunisia. Spring 1943: rest and training at Camberley (England). On July 1, 1943 the unit became the 1er Bataillon d'Infanterie de l'Air, (1er B.I.A) (1st Air Infantry Battalion). In November 1943 the 1st Battalion