[1] It was created by General Charles de Gaulle in 1943 and modeled after the British Chindits Special Forces who fought in the Burma Campaign.

The CLI was created on November 4, 1943 in Jijel, Kabylie (French Algeria) with 500 volunteer commandos under Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Huard.

While the commandos trained in Jijel, Commandant de Crevècoeur arrived at Meerut, North West India on November 10, 1943 to introduce the CLI to British Special Operations Executive (SOE) Force 136's Colin Hercules Mackenzie.

The first CLI trainees were sent to Poona (100 km from Bombay) for jungle warfare instruction under the British.

Lieutenant-Colonel Albert Lacroix, Saint-Cyr 1930-32 Joseph Joffre promotion, was in charge of CLI recruitment and training as chief of staff in French Algeria.