I’m back from my little break. Here are some of the Foreign Legion related items I’ve collected up for the month of March.
1. Traditions of the French Foreign Legion. I found two articles on the Foreign Legion at the “expatnation” website. The first one is a run down of the Legion’s traditions and customs. The other article is more or less simple facts about the Foreign Legion entitled Things You Don’t Know About the Foreign Legion. Nothing new here but I also found some other interesting articles at the web site written by folks living in France.
2. Still Serving Legionnaire; will-answer-any-questions! The forum at the Close Protection World website has a long running discussion thread where “Adam” from the U.K. answers questions about the modern Foreign Legion. Lots of great information about preparations for joining, what to expect if you are accepted and also plenty of myths and misconceptions cleared up. Adam was in the 2REG (Engineers) back when this thread started in 2010. Several other legionnaires also chimed in on topics as well before posting petered out in mid-2014. (You do have to register to see all the pages. If you are not really interested in the current Foreign Legion this may not interest you.)
3. Germans in the French Foreign Legion (First Indochina War). Here are two amazing videos that explore the post-WWII surge of German nationals (almost all were ex-soldiers of the smashed Third Reich) that flooded the Foreign Legion with needed recruits just when France needed them most to hold on to their colonies in Indochina and North Africa. Each runs about 30 minutes and are loaded with newsreel footage and interviews of elderly former Legionnaires who clearly relish recounting their experiences. The videos also explore the amazing fact that hundreds of German legionnaires who deserted the Legion in Indo-China actually wound up serving with the Viet Minh against their former comrades. Video 1. Video 2.
4. Thomas Gast. Here is “Ecriture“, a very well done website run by Thomas Gast a former member of the 2REP from Germany. Mostly in German but with lots of photographs and excellent leads on books.
5. Unfeasibly Miniatures. This company is producing a fine line of 28mm Foreign Legion miniatures at a phenomenal rate. Their latest is a couple of mounted legionnaires with mules. Really nice items here. It looks like they are also working on an artillery crew for an 80mm mountain gun–check out their facebook page.
Mon Legionnaire 