The Chasseurs ardennais were first formed as a light infantry unit in 1933 from the existing 10th Line Regiment [fr] to defend the largely rural region south of the fortified positions of Namur and Liège.

The formation formed part of the Belgian Forces in Germany and subsequently participated in a range of international peacekeeping and NATO missions.

After its inception, the Chasseurs ardennais has adopted a distinctive green basque-style beret and insignia depicting a wild boar.

[2] On the initiative of Devèze and General Albert Hellebaut [fr], the existing 10th Line Regiment [fr] (10e Régiment de Ligne) based at Arlon was renamed the Regiment of Chasseurs ardennais (Régiment de Chasseurs ardennais, abbreviated to ChA) by royal decree on 10 March 1933.

[3] At the same time, a series of 375 pillboxes were built along the Belgian frontier for the Chasseurs ardennais to defend as part of the so-called Ligne Devèze [fr].

The original regiment was replaced by three separate battalions of Chasseurs ardennais in August 1934 which were intended to form part of three "mixed groups" based at Arlon, Vielsalm, and Bastogne, where they would be supported by recently formed and highly mobile Frontier Cyclists Units (Unités cyclistes frontière) as well as supporting artillery formations.

As a result of this, lines of communications between the Belgian command with the local headquarters at Neufchâteau were disrupted and a number of Chasseurs ardennais units posted at the frontier did not receive the order to withdraw.

An individual company of the 1st ChA resisted the main attacks from the 1st Panzer Division with considerable success at Bodange [fr] on the Sauer river throughout much of the first day of the invasion.

Chasseurs ardennais units successfully held the front at Gottem, Deinze and Vinkt during the ensuing Battle of the Lys (24–28 May 1940) before the ultimate capitulation of the Belgian Army on 28 May 1940.

As the historian Alain Colignon notes, the Chasseurs ardennais were "about the last to have maintained their cohesion and "fighting spirit" and performed significantly better than other Belgian infantry units in combat.

[1] After the Liberation of Belgium in 1944, the Belgian Army was gradually reformed and a number of newly-recruited units were sent for training in Northern Ireland in the final months of the conflict.

[6] Elements from the Chasseurs ardennais served as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in the Afghanistan War.