origins date back to World War II. Under the command of Captain Georges Bergé, the 1st Air Company was created in England on September 15, 1940 with parachute units of the Special Air Service (SAS). The 1e CCP/SAS was created in 1941 in Scotland. From 1942 to 1944, this company was engaged in Crete, Libya, Tunisia, Brittany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Afterwards, the company was dissolved and re-designated as an SAS Parachute Demi-Brigade from 1946 to 1949, then 1st Colonial Parachute Commando Demi-Brigade from 1949 to 1955 in Indochina. It was classified as B.P.C in Algeria from 1955 to 1958, the B.C.C.P dissolved and re-designated from 1959 to 1960 as G.I.B.P.OM then in 1960 B.P.C.I.Ma and renamed in 1962 1erR.P.I.Ma which retained the SAS emblem. Successive garrisons September 1940: RAF Ringway (England) 1941: Beirut then Damascus. 1942: Kabrit on the Suez Canal. 1943: Camberley, United Kingdom Following the war, in France 1960: Creation of the 1eR.P.I.Ma and Garrison at Bayonne World War II The 1er RPIMa inherited the traditions of the two Free French Special Air Service (SAS) Regiments that served with distinction alongside the British SAS Brigade during World War II. On September 15, 1940, General Charles de Gaulle signed the activation order of the 1ère Compagnie d'Infanterie de l'Air (1ère CIA) of the Free French Forces, or 1st Free French Airborne Infantry Company, under the command of Captain Bergé. The 1ère CIA began operational missions, parachuting into occupied France in March 1941. The company was then split into two units, a covert action unit used for clandestine operations and a conventional and uniformed company sent to North Africa in September 1941 to fight Axis Forces along with British Forces. A very good relationship was quickly established between Captain Bergé and Major Stirling, the commander of the newly created Special Air Service (SAS); the French detachment was soon incorporated into the SAS and became the French Squadron. From 1942 to 1943, the French SAS roamed the region, ranging as far as Crete hunting down Axis forces and destroying their aircraft and supply dumps. In November 1943, the 3rd and 4th Air Infantry were created and incorporated into the SAS Brigade along with their British and Belgian counterparts, the 1st and 2nd SAS Regiments. The Free French SAS took an important part in the liberation of Europe. In Brittany, a little after midnight on D-Day, June 6, 1944, Caporal Emile