History
The first French customs service was called the General Firm (French: Ferme générale) and operated under the monarchy. During the revolutionary period, a military customs service was formed, which provided a customs service but also fought in major wars such as the Franco-Prussian War and the First World War. Throughout the 19th Century armed units of douaniers served as frontier guards and performed various other para-military functions such as the provision of anti-smuggling patrols. Customs personnel were divided into those employed in bureaux (port or office-based staff who performed the same functions as customs inspectors in other countries) and those employed in brigades (mobile detachments organized, equipped and disciplined along military lines). The douaniers of the latter units wore blue uniforms with distinctive red trouser stripes and were frequently former soldiers.
The military customs service fought in the early part of the Second World War but was disbanded in 1940 after the French defeat and was never reconstituted as a military service. Nonetheless small units of customs men from customs posts in French Indochina fought against the Japanese as guerilla units until the end of the war.
Read more about this topic: Directorate-General Of Customs And Indirect Taxes
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