[2][3] The most notable, and first established, of these units were the Tonkinese Rifles (French: Tirailleurs tonkinois, Vietnamese: Quân đoàn bộ binh Bắc Kỳ).

During World War I the French Army was initially reluctant to deploy its Indochinese units of the Troupes coloniales on the Western Front but eventually 40,000 Annamite and Cambodian tirailleurs were sent to France.

The battalions of Indochinese riflemen who saw combat were the 7th and 21st on the Western Front, at Verdun, the Chemin des Dames, and in Champagne.

[8] The 2nd Battalion took part in the attack on Veliternë (Albania) on January 1, 1917, taking the village where it remained until April.

[10] The tirailleurs saw active service in Indochina, the Boxer Rebellion in China, the Allied intervention in Siberia between 1918–19,[11] Syria (1920–21)[12] and Morocco (1925–26).