Voices of the Foreign Legion: The History of the World's Most Famous Fighting Corps

by Adrian D. Gilbert

Overview

The French Foreign Legion has built a reputation as one of the world’s most formidable and colorful military institutions. Established as a means of absorbing foreign troublemakers, the Legion spearheaded French colonialism in North Africa during the nineteenth century. Accepting volunteers from all parts of the world, the Legion acquired an aura of mystery and a less-than-enviable reputation for extreme brutality within its ranks.

Voices of the Foreign Legion explores how the Legion selects its recruits, their native lands, and why these warriors seek a life full of hardship and danger. It analyzes the Legion’s brutal attitude toward discipline, questions why desertion has been a perennial problem, and assesses the Legion’s remarkable military achievements since its formation in the year 1831. This is the real story of the Legion, featuring firsthand accounts from the men who have fought in its ranks. Its scope ranges from the conquest of the colonies in Africa and the Far East through the horrors of the two world wars, to the bitter, but ultimately hopeless, battle to maintain France’s far-flung imperial possessions. The story is brought fully up-to-date with accounts and anecdotes from those contemporary foreign legionnaires who continue to fight for French interests around the globe.

Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history—books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781628737387
Publisher:	Skyhorse
Publication date:	07/01/2014
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Adrian D. Gilbert is the bestselling author of POW: Allied Prisoners in Europe, 1939–45 and Sniper: The Skills, the Weapons, and the Experiences. He has contributed to military history documentaries on both the History Channel and the Discovery Channel and has written for a variety of publications, including the Sunday Times and the Guardian. His website is adrian-gilbert.co.uk.

Table of Contents

Part I The Making of a Legionnaire

1 Crossing the Line 13

2 The Power of Tradition 25

3 Basic Training 36

4 Into the Legion 49

Part II Life in the Legion

5 Barrack-Room Culture 67

6 The Legion on Campaign 90

7 Depression and Desertion 105

Part III The Legion at War

8 An Empire in Africa 121

9 The Conquest of Indochina 135

10 The First World War: Death in the Trenches 148

11 The Inter-War Years 174

12 The Second World War: A House Divided 184

13 Tragedy in Vietnam 203

14 The End in Algeria 225

15 Post-Colonial Conflicts 237

Postscript 255

Appendix 258

Source Notes 261

Select Bibliography 276

Index 283

Editorial Reviews

"The regiment’s entire history, from the nineteenth century to modern times." —The New York Review of Books

"These vibrant legionnaire voices are agonized, bitter, brutal, fearful, and haunting, but some speak with pride and praise (It's a soldier's dream), recalling the legion as a life-changing experience." —Publisher's Weekly

"The regiment’s entire history, from the nineteenth century to modern times." —The New York Review of Books

"These vibrant legionnaire voices are agonized, bitter, brutal, fearful, and haunting, but some speak with pride and praise (It's a soldier's dream), recalling the legion as a life-changing experience." —Publisher's Weekly

From the Publisher

Military historian Gilbert (Sniper: The Skills, the Weapons, and the Experiences) focuses on the French Foreign Legion, beginning with its 1831 formation by royal decree as an infantry force for overseas service. Gilbert gained access to the Imperial War Museum sound archive along with permission to use material from that key source. The book consists of excerpts from these and other firsthand accounts skillfully linked to vivify his informative and insightful interpolations. He sets the scenes with a vivid backdrop, letting the first-person passages take center stage. The reader peruses the nightmarish horrors of the battlefields but also the daily life of barracks, barrooms, and brothels, such as the congaïs (“young girls”) in 1950s Indochina. One soldier wrote: “Cheerful and hardworking, they knew, biblically, very nearly everyone in the battalion and gave not one damn for rank.” The history traces the legion through colonial and postcolonial eras, through both world wars, Vietnam, Algeria, Bosnia, and the Congo. These vibrant legionnaire voices are agonized, bitter, brutal, fearful, and haunting, but some speak with pride and praise (“It's a soldier's dream”), recalling the legion as a “life-changing” experience. Maps. (May)

Publishers Weekly