Books and More Books

Since Christmas is rapidly approaching it is time to highlight some new Foreign Legion books.  Maybe one or two of these can find their way onto your list for Santa Claus?

High Adventure #175:  This bi-monthly publication is a long running series of pulp reprints published by Adventure House.  Back in May of this year they published High Adventure #172 featuring stories by Warren Hastings Miller and his “Hell’s Angels Squad”.  This most recent issue, released in November, features six stories by J. D. Newsom.  The lead story is The Devils of Niang Pass which has the legion fighting along the Tonkin-Chinese border.  The other stories include The Legionnaire, Out of the Desert, The Worm, Stripes, and Dust which mostly appeared in The Frontier pulp.  It is available at their web page or here.

The History of the French Foreign Legion in Indochina 1883-1946 by Andrew Mitchell .  This book is available as a print-on-demand soft cover here.  It is a revised edition of his earlier work entitled The Tigers of Tonkin.  This one has “cleaned up text and more unpublished photos, more maps, and more information set in a new format. This is the definitive story about the French Foreign Legion in Indochina. From their first battles with the Chinese and Black Flags to the ongoing running skirmishes with nationalists and communists.”  Also available now is Mitchell’s pictorial book “A Pictorial History of the French Foreign Legion in Indochina, 1927-1945.  It is available on Blurb which is also a print on demand service (and where you can have a sneak look inside).  You can also check out more of the book at Foreign Legion Info.  Both are well worth the price and provide never before pictures of a lost era. 

The Fetish Fighters and Other Adventures: The F.V.W. Mason Foreign Legion Stories Omnibus.  From Steeger Books comes another fine collection of Foreign Legion pulp stories–this time for stories by F. V. W. Mason that appeared in Argosy between 1929 and 1931.   I suspect this includes The Word of Adjutant Kent and The Fetish Fighters but I’m not sure of the other two stories but hoping one of them is the serialized The Tiger of Pnom Kha which I am pretty sure involves the Legion.

Joys of War: From the Foreign Legion and the SAS, and into Hell with PTSD Paperback – July 28, 2020 by John-Paul Jordan.  This is one has been out for a while (April 2019) and I have not read it yet.  Irishman John-Paul Jordan is a former Legionnaire with the French Foreign Legion (with I believe an Engineer Regiment) and later joined the British armed forces and eventually qualified for their SAS (Special Air Service).  He finished off his career as a security contractor and NGO worker.  A part of this book covers his battles with PTSD.  NOTE: It appears that he did not want to finish his Legion career and left early–i.e. deserted but I think this book will be worth a read nonetheless.

Appel: A Canadian in the French Foreign Legion by Joel Adam Struthers. This book is another one that has been out for a while (March 2019).  I have the e-book but have not read it yet (another victim of my former infatuation with U.S. Submarines in WWII).  Appel is an account of the author’s six years in the 2nd Parachute Regiment (2REP). “Joel Struthers recounts the dangers and demands of military life, from the rigours of recruitment and operational training in the rugged mountains of France, to face-to-face combat in the grasslands of some of Africa’s most troubled nations. Told through the eyes of a soldier, and interspersed with humorous anecdotes, Appel is a fascinating story that debunks myths about the French Foreign Legion and shows it more accurately as a professional arm of the French military.”  It covers his time in the Legion during the 1990’s.  Foreword by Col. Benoit Desmeulles, former commanding officer of the Legions 2e Régiment Étranger Parachutistes.  NOTE: An interesting interview of the author is here.