 By the end of 1962, the fledgling Ivorian armed forces had expanded rapidly into 5,000 soldiers attached to four battalions.Most of the initial recruits were drawn from the defunct colonial military establishment and had served in various French units, particularly the marine regiments.They were armed with old equipment donated by France, including two Max Holste Broussard monoplanes, a single Douglas DC-3 cargo aircraft, fifteen M8 Greyhound armoured cars, and even a SC-497-class submarine chaser.