This blog is about the classic French Foreign Legion that existed prior to World War Two. It was created about three years ago as a place to share some of what I was learning about the Foreign Legion as I had begun the process in writing a Role Playing Game (RPG) featuring the Foreign Legion called Mon Legionnaire. I thought a blog would be a good idea to record my progress and share some of the things I created and found out about the Foreign Legion. However, I soon discovered the joys of what Mortimer Adler described as “syntopical reading”. This type of reading-analysis is where you read several books on the same subject in order to start comparing and contrasting the various relevant works. I’ve since expanded my scope from simply reading many books on a subject to assimilating movies, comics, hobby games, miniatures (and just about everything else under the sun). This blog has now become a place for me to share things I’ve discovered about the Foreign Legion and to post some of my creative efforts stuff for others to see. It’s also become a great way to meet like minded people and add their discoveries and creation to the collective accumulation of posts.
Some hobby enthusiasts specialize in certain historical periods such as WWII, Napoleon, Ancients, or naval warfare. My hobbies and interests used to cover just about every conceivable military topic there was and I was quickly running out of shelf space in the garage and book shelves. I had tank models, board games, movies, magazines and books on just about every period of war there was. I realized I had to narrow my interests down to a few subjects and so I decided to stick to the Foreign Legion when I created this blog. This for me, although on the surface is very narrow in scope has become a lifetime hobby and neatly intertwines many of my other pastimes: blogging (writing), history, painting mini’s, building terrain for the mini’s, reading and researching, learning French, drawing and painting, digital photography and graphics, war gaming/RPG gaming, desktop publishing, and of course the French Foreign Legion.
I’m a retired U.S. Army Intelligence Analyst and former military contractor with too little time on my hands for all the hobbies I have. I hope you like this blog and please take some time to provide feedback or comments.
Mon Legionnaire 
Hi, found your side while searching the internet for new data about the Legion.
Very interresting approach to the subject, nice side. My main interest are the Dutchmen that served in the Legion, I believe you already found my side. If I can support your efforts in some way let me know.
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http://aaleme.fr/index.php/breves/4413-mon-legionnaire-
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Je vous remercie de votre intérêt pour MonLegionnaire. Je suis honoré.
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Bonjour,
webmaster du site de l’Amicale des Anciens de la Légion étrangère de Montpellier et Environs, site thématique sur la Légion étrangère, nous avons des approches communes sur le sujet qui nous passionne. Je me devais, de faire partager à nos internautes votre travail, et si, j’avais dû mettre un titre à : http://aaleme.fr/index.php/breves/4413-mon-legionnaire-, j’aurai certainement écrit : plus de 160 nationalités, mais celle-là, je ne la connaissait pas…
Bon vent au site : mon legionnaire.
Et au plaisir de trouver des documents peu connus en Europe.
Cordialement.
Président AALEME.
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Good evening,
I saw your link to AALEME and I thank you.
I draw your attention to page: you should http://aaleme.fr/index.php/legion-etrangere/livres/a-lire-en-ligne/809-livresanglais interresser.
Cordially.
AALEME.
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De rein, pas de problème. C’est une belle collection de livres. Merci pour le partage.
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Any chance I could contact you via email? I’d like to get your assistance on a publication I’m working on related to the Foreign Legion.
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Hello, I found your site while looking for info on the Legion. My great uncle, Elie Thoby, joined circa 1895 and died at Sidi Bel Abbess circa 1920. Originally from Haiti, he attended St Cyr and joined after graduation. That is the extent of my info on him. Any chance you could point me in the right direction for access to his Foreign Legion records?
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What a great site with great information about the Foreign Legion. I am just starting a project to bring an Foreign Legion Flames of War army to the wargaming table, and I am trying to be (relatively) historically accurate while playing up the legend of the Legion as much as possible. I expect that I will be spending a fair amount of time over the next few months visiting your site. Thank you for pulling together this wonderful resource.
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Nick,
Thanks for the kind comments. I’m glad you enjoy the blog. Let me know if need any help in anything. A friend of mine played FOW extensively but was limited to WWII. I’ll be interested how your project turns out. I found your blog, Spotting Round, and really like what you have there as well. I did see some 15mm Foreign Legion Sappers (WWII N. Africa) on eBay so I’m convinced there are some nice miniatures out there. If you are trying to break away from WWII you might try a game pitting the FFL against the Riffs. The Moroccan rebels captured loads of Spanish weapons to include MG’s, cannon and grenades and used them against the French. The French even had some armored cars and light tanks employed.
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Hello Mon Legionnaire! I just finished a poster for the 150th Caerone Day, that I thought you might enjoy. mercenarygraphics dot deviantart dot com/art/Camerone-366399739
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I just checked it out–really nice work. I will be hard pressed to come up with some good posts for this special anniversary. Thanks for sharing this.
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Hello Jack:
So glad you like, please feel free to share (I tried to get this out earlier this year, but painting my house took too darn long!).
Adieu!
Erik
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While checking out data on the Legion prior to 150th Camerone Day I came across your blog. Wow! I’m impressed. I never thought I’d ever find someone as passionate about the FFL as I am. I mean the old Legion. Not that interested in the modern Legion although I visited Aubagne in 2007. I have given your previous postings an overall cursory glance and intend to plague you with comments & contributions when i digest it all in deatail. I have a wealth of material collected over sixty years. e.g. After the fall of Dien Bien Phu legionnaires were shipped back to Algeria. Some deserted by jumping overboard while passing through the Suez Canal. Then the troopship PASTEUR took them round the Cape (South Africa). Again desertions. I kept the press cuttings in my scrap-book. I wrote to the HQ at Aubagne telling them, as I was about to realize a life-long ambition (visit their museum). General Champfleury replied. He wanted them as there was zilch re the desertions in Durban in the Legion Archives. I got VIP welcome on my arrival and was escorted on a guided tour by a Major Guyot. That’s all for now. Much more to come. I look forward to a most interesting correspondence. Is it possible to get your email address? I could send you stuff for Mon Legionnaire (e.g copies of a classics Illustrated UNDER TWO FLAGS and a Famous Authors comic-strip of Beau Geste, my own novel called BEAU QUEST, Luck of the Legion strips, all that i ever found in print on the Legion (Indo-China, Algeria trouble, pics of my diarama of Fort Zinderneuf with 150 1:72 figures, pics of models Beau, Dig & John in 54mm Airfix, my own GOOD GESTE tales a-la-Wren, etc) I presume you live in USA. I am visiting Seattle in August/september
Au revoir,
Legionnaire Eugene Olivier, Deuxieme Classe
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Joyeux Nöel!
I have posted a pair of Christmas cards with a Legion motif.
I hope you enjoy (and are not annoyed at the shameless promotion).
Best regards.
Erik
Holiday cards available here: http://www.cafepress.com/mercenarygraphx/10889385
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No problem Erik. Those look nice. Earlier this year I asked my son to buy me a coffee mug for my BD. Gave him the link too. Still waiting. Hopefully Christmas.
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Thank you very much.
I usually try to get permission before posting my wares.
Your son must very confident of his position on the inheritance if he cannot come through with a coffee mug however!
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Pingback: Everything about the French Foreign Legion | Karavansara
Hi there! I love your blog! The Legion pulp PDFs are gold; thanks so much! I have a similar page on my site for the Canadian Mounties, which is going again after my former site was hacked and destroyed. I really appreciate your devotion to this cool stuff.
http://phantomempires.weebly.com/mountie-pulp
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Dang, that is a nice blog you have on the Mounties. Very well done, and I love your movie reviews. I was contemplating starting something similar last year after a trip to Canada (where I hit some used book stores and found a dozen or so books on the Mounted Police). As a matter of fact I’m looking at my framed Friberg print (from a large Northern Paper calender)–the one with the mountie in church next to the mountain man and Indian. It is right next to my Foreign Legion recruiting poster four feet from me. I have been gathering material for a Mountie related blog for about a year–but I’ve never got anywhere with it yet. So glad you commented here. Hope to talk some more and can share some of the items I’ve found on the net.
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Nice to meet! All the above sounds great and is well agreed upon. 🙂 I appreciate your kind words, as well. I’m coming off a summertime hiatus (it’s camping time here in North Dakota), but an early winter will see me indoors quite a bit, so lots of writing is coming up.
It was a funny path that brought me to your site, actually. I’m writing a review of the William Boyd movie GO GET-EM HAINES, which also stars the lovely Eleanor Hunt. Well, Miss Hunt was also in the Legion picture WE’RE IN THE LEGION NOW, which I’m also reviewing (as a Legion 2-fer with the 1936 bit o’ Legion genius, UNDER TWO FLAGS). So I went looking for a poster for it, also using the American film title, THE REST CURE. I saw your pulp cover for the original story, and being both a Foreign Legion AND pulp fan, I clicked! Funny thing, the web; it’s a treasure trove. 🙂
It’s interesting that your page shows up now. This week I found an interesting article about a Mountie who died in 1968 from a tick bite ( http://www.rcmpveteransvancouver.com/barry-bradleys-old-newspaper-clippings-17/ ), and, along with the Mayerthorpe incident, it’s been nudging me to expand my scope a little to include some history. Not being an expert I’m hesitant, but good research and enthusiasm goes a long way, wot?
If you want to contact me directly, there’s a contact page on my site; please feel free…kindred spirits always welcome!
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I really want to commend you for your effort on this blog. I’m 19 and have had a fascination with the historical Legion for the past few years now, and it was really invigorating to come across your blog. I was actually searching for different Legion miniatures to paint (more specifically a fort to go with my miniatures) and was even happier when I came across your site.
The only “large” book I’ve managed to grab on the Legion is “The French Foreign Legion: A Complete History of the Legendary Fighting Force” by Douglas Porch. You seem really well informed on Legion-related content, so I imagine you might know of it? Just wanted your opinion on it as a resource for reliable information. Would you happen to have any books you’d recommend specifically? I’m also looking for some nice books for illustrations of Legion uniforms from 1900-1935ish; it seems there’s a good few out there, but I can’t find much in the way of reviews on them. Mostly wanted these for references for painting Legion models, though I do admit I have a Legion-themed graphic novel that I’m in the beginning-stages of working on. Just looking to keep things as historically accurate as I might be able to when exploring possibilities in creative historical fiction. : )
I’m rambling now. Just wanted to say kudos again for such a neat blog! Definitely going to be frequenting your page.
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Thanks for visiting and for the encouraging words. The Douglas Porch book is great and very readable (not boring!). Another highly recommended book is Our Friends Beneath the Sands by Martin Windrow. For illustrations, you cannot get better than the Osprey Series–also written by Windrow. There are also lots of illustrations on this blog. Find the “Uniforms” category and it will sort out those posts with uniform illustrations.
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Hey there, I was wondering if you’ve seen this:
It’s a collection of Canadian Mountie pulp stories. It really is a must-have for pulp fans, especially lovers of Mountie stuff! I just got another original printing of an Argosy magazine with a great Mountie novella inside…I wrote about it on my site.
I’ve been mining Unz.org, and I figured out how to download the PDFs. So much great stuff!
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You’ve just touched the tip of the iceberg on the Mountie pulps. The cover of that book is actually from Adventure Magazine (Jan 1948). One of the most prolific writers of “Northerns” which often featured Mounties (or rather the recurring Corporal Downey) is James B. Hendryx. He wrote a popular series known as Halfaday Creek featuring Black John Smith (not a mountie) that appeared regularly in Short Stories Magazine for many years. There must be almost 100 of these stories. Altus Press has released the hard to find collections of Halfaday Creek in Kindle and soft cover. I also heard that there is supposed to be another collection of Mountie short stories from the pulps similar to Scarlet Riders. …and don’t forget that there were Northwest-Romances (61 issues) and Northwest Stories (124 issues) that always had at least one or two mountie stories. Like westerns, northern fiction also found it’s way into the “slick” magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Everybody’s, Out West as well as the Boys Life type of juvenile fiction magazines.
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I do have a Halfaday creek in Argosy magazine: http://phantomempires.weebly.com/uploads/5/1/6/4/5164096/9602188_orig.jpg
I have about 100 original pulps with Mountie stories in them; many were discussed on my old site before it was hacked and destroyed. I’m just getting back up to speed. So many books to write about! 🙂 I have 14o+ Mountie books, both fact and fiction, and 90+ films and cliffhanger serials. I’ll get around to writing about them again…the new project is just getting rolling.
I’ll look for those kindle books…thanks for the pointers! If you think of the other collection like Scarlet Riders, please let me know!
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Wait…would it be “Best Mounted Police Stories”? If so, I do have that…I have a few Hendryx stories on my Kindle, but no Mountie ones, which will be rectified on payday. 🙂
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The book I heard mention of was a collection of exclusively pulp stories collected I think from the Northwest Romance / North West Stories pulps. …but this was months ago. Not sure if it is in the works or if the person who mentioned it had good info. Too bad your site was hacked. I would have loved to seen what you posted. I worry about that happening too and every so often back up all the posts manually so in case something happens I can relaunch. I’ll send you an interesting bibliography I found that has helped me track down many of my mountie books. Do you have the book Men in Scarlet by Bernard A. Drew? It’s a nice bibliography too.
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OK, that sounds great!
My old site was a labour of love, but I’m excited about the new; in a year it’ll be bigger and better. 🙂
I’ll look for the bibliography, thanks so much! I think you mean Lawmen in Scarlet? I do have that; I got it, a pristine hardcover, at a garage sale for a buck! 🙂 Life can be magical, hahaha.
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Yes, Lawmen in Scarlet. My brain had it right but my fingers failed me. I sent the bibliography to your gmail.
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Clayton, Hi I hail from sunny South Africa. I visited Alaska last year. Brrrrr! You can keep your frozen North and your RCMP. While there I “discovered” Robert Service’s poems. You must read CLANCY OF THE MOUNTIES which is part of his BALLADS OF A CHEEKAKO.
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Hallo! Ek hou baie van jou land…too bad mine was too cold for you, hahaha. I used to live in Alaska, now I’m in North Dakota, which is also cold! I went to South Africa in 1987 to see the Cricket! I love Cricket; it’s the best sport.
Dankie for the suggestion; I’m a big Service fan, and I have his complete works. I also love Kindle books, and if you don’t have his BALLADS OF A CHEEKAKO for your Kindle (if you have one), here it is!
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=130359
(A bit off topic, Jack…sorry)
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I recently rediscovered Jack London–another author who became hugely successful writing about the frozen north. I found a Jack London omnibus that has many of his short story collections. “To the Man on Trail” is a story about a man fleeing from the NWMP by sled. Mounties pop up periodically in several of his other stories. There are plenty of Kindle books that bundle his short stories and are very affordable ($1.99).
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He’s actually my very first literary inspiration. He’s the guy that got me to go to the Yukon territory two summers in a row for four months each time, got me hobo-ing about the country for 6-7 month stretches, eventually leading me to global travel. He was an amazing person beyond his novels, too. What an incredible guy.
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page 39 of the Newsome story “Duty” is missing
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Right you are. Thanks for letting me know. I re-posted a correct version.
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Great Legion reading. Thanks !
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Hi,
Thanks for compiling all these data on Foreign Legion.
I used a lot of your posts as a source of inspiration when designing some ‘desert forts’ to display FFL 54mm figures.
Some pictures are available here :https://www.facebook.com/pages/Forlorn-Hope-Soldiers/320339908172294
Cheers,
Michel
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Thanks for stopping by and I’m glad you found some useful information here. Really a nice looking fort you built.
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Dear Sir
I’m translating a memoir written in Polish by a Polish legionaire who had been in Tonkin (Northern Vietnam) in 1907. I’m loong at some photos from that period like this one http://www.photo-memory.eu/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/tonkin-legion-etrangere-02.jpg and wonder what colour were their hat and clothes as in contrary to the white one of the gentlemen on the right, and not the ‘brown-yellow’ as seen in some illustration i.e. by Mike Chappell in Martin Windrow’s book cover. And some of them have something white wearing at chest hight (not the two black boxes on the bell) – what is that for?
Best regard
le Hai.
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The picture you noted depicts legionnaires with tan covers covering their white sun helmet. The cover was usually tan/khaki but there were white covers as well. The item worn on the chest is the “Négrier” ammunition pouch which offered more access to more ammunition. These were not issued but were made by unit craftsmen. See here…
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Hi Jack.
I have posted a link to your site on my Facebook page to 3 ex-Legionnaire sites and have had a lot of likes and a few have shared your link so thank you again !
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Thanks Ricky. I’ll check those out.
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I am working with the World War I Native American Warriors Facebook Group. We have what we understand to be a photo of French Foreign Legion officers from what may be the 1918 delegation to the U.S. about which you blogged. We’d like your assistance in learning more about the photo.
You can view the photo at:
https://www.facebook.com/NativeAmericanWarriorsWWI/
This is what we know about the photo:
The source of the photo was the French Foreign Legion. The place was identified as Dayton, Ohio in October, 1918. After reviewing your blog, I am wondering if it could be from their Cincinnati visit.
These are clues we have gathered from studying the photo:
The American Indian men and women are wearing Plains Indian regalia.
An American Indian man may be wearing Lakota bead work including a pipe bag.
“Security Motor Company”, the sign in the background, was an auto distributor in Oklahoma City.
That may place this photo in Oklahoma.
This appears to be in an arena with stadium seating and a dirt floor.
That suggests a venue such as the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds.
Among the information we wish to confirm if this is from the 1918 French Foreign Legion visit and from what tribe are the American Indians.
Of course, please feel free to post the photo on your blog and write about it.
Thank you.
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Thank you for sharing this photo. It is indeed a picture of the Foreign Legion members during their 4th Liberty Loan fund-raising tour of the United States in 1918. It was most likely taken at an unidentified airport (Oklahoma City) although I believe the detachment mostly traveled by train. This could have been to accommodate a large crowd. Their schedule had them visiting Kansas City on September 27th and Oklahoma City on the 28th. I sent you a couple of files that might be of interest. One is from the Feb 1919 French magazine Le Miroir that has a small article and pictures about the visit and the other has a small map map of the tour.
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Hi Jack,
I’ve not yet received the files. To where did you send them?
Leonard
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Just received them.
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I hope this helps.
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Hello !
Congratulation for your website and your work. I’m interrested about one of your pictures for an historical publication in Switzerland, can I have your mail to discuss about it ?
Thanks a lot,
Erwan
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Hello Jack from London England
My Grandpa Carl Jaffé (1902-74) appeared in Episode 7 (‘The Outcast’) of the elusive TV series Assignment Foreign Legion (cast as ‘Von Hoff’) ; I saw your great (and very rare) scene still montage on your blog, alas Grandpa doesn’t figure in those – and I too seek images for my own selfish reason! if/when I find any will surely let you know; you’d be welcome to mail me to connect.
BTW am intrigued by your intel back-story; Grandpa broadcast intel-resistance messages to the Allies in WW2 (among other duties…)
Warm respects
Michael
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Thanks for visiting the blog Michael. Assignment Foreign Legion is a very, very hard to find TV series. There seems to be nothing out there on the web but the episode synopsis pages. I would love to see a re-release of this series. My intelligence background is with the U.S. Army side as an enlisted intelligence analyst (we were called ninety-six bravos). Nothing too exciting from 1984-2004. A trip to Somalia, Bosnia, and several to the Philippines among other fun assignments. Sounds like Grandpa Carl had an adventurous life.
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Hi Jack just posted a reply let me know if you want Grandpa’s Archive link to his Dropbox
BW
Mike
> WordPress.com
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Thanks for the rapid response Jack… according to my on-going research, sadly any Videotaped copies of the time (1957) used by our English (UK) independent (i.e. commercial – not ‘PSB’) TV channel(s) that originally broadcast are probably wiped (erased) and (if still in existence with the present copyright holders) is not currently licensed for issue/distribution here in the UK. However, as the series was (as I guess you may know) originally produced by CBS/Berkley; will contact their archive Dept. to see if anything (even perhaps scene stills/PR material) might survive.
Can’t see anything in the US National Archives or Getty Images (the latter manage selected CBS image rights) … nor Australian Broadcasting Corporation – often US and/or UK produced/syndicated material was distributed there (as a major/emerging market at the time) so they had a copy. Will keep you informed of any developments on ‘Mission-Archive’. Grandpa was indeed quite a busy guy between 1925-74 you can Google him of course but if you want the full story I’d be happy to mail you privately link to his Dropbox Archive – it’s not (yet) publicly available.
Warm wishes
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As an interesting twist for you re “AFL” – Grandpa had previously starred with Merle Oberon in Alexander Korda’s 1939 Comedy for United artists: ‘Over The Moon’ with Rex Harrison – the complete extract of Gramps’ appearance is available on TCM…
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Apologies Jack; the USA co-production for ‘AFL’ was ‘C.Bartley Assoc. & Intel’; (not Berkley… I misread another production credit) – but current research suggests there are might be no archive heirs or aquisitors (Bartley; who was then working with CBS Film Inc. – and incidentally was a decorated British WW2 fighter pilot and married Deborah Kerr – died in 2001) and can’t trace Intel… further archive tracking in UCLA vaults hasn’t revealed anything either… BUT: interestingly; CBS Film Inc later evolved into Viacom which went through a series of merger/demergers/commerce scandals and currently that part of the business is ‘CBS Corporation’ so we’re kinda back where we started. However there are other sources am gonna try and will report back.
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I’m glad you seem to know where to snoop around for leads on this series. I wish you luck and hope you find something. I checked out the Wiki page for your grandfather. He was in a lot of movies that I’ve seen before. My mom loved Fiddler on the Roof and I’ve seen that many times so now I can place him.
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Hi Jack; thanks – I’ve emailed CBS in NYC and am pending a response. All other avenues negative currently. Glad you recall Gramps! I guess 55 movie features, 85-TVs and c.100 theatre plays isn’t so big a deal these days although it’s an ongoing quest to locate copies of all the period material; the 50s TV is the most elusive. Take care and stay in touch.
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Hi Jack a small update: 1) ABC/Australia & CBC/Canada official archives negative. 2) CBS NYC pending. 3) The x1 domestically recorded episode known to exist is indeed in private collection hands, whom I gather from my UK contact don’t wish to discuss supplying a copy even only for your private use. As expect you know this is not uncommon situation. Still some UK sources to explore will advise ASAP.
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Michael,
You are very thorough. I wouldn’t know where to begin tracking lost TV shows. You must have experience in the business. Thanks for your dedication. It would be amazing to turn up a full archive.
Jack
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Jack
Thank you although in the same vain my ‘Ops’ planning skills surely wouldn’t register diddly-squat with yours! so mutual respects. And a small correction, although affordable mainstream domestic VCRs weren’t generally on-market until the early 1970s – if you could afford it (and I do mean $$$$$$$ in relative terms so that’s on the Elvis scale) I do believe home TV recording was technically possible from the mid 1960s in the USA. I concur with your thinking that somewhere some episodes are waiting to be unlocked from the vaults; Will update you ASAP if news to impart.
Mike
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Hi Jack; a progress update that I have located ‘something’ – it’s not (yet) moving image material – but see my final (2nd) closing comment. Meantime – firstly: as AFL was UK produced; the BFI (British Film Institute – effectively the UK’s national film/tv archives although they don’t hold absolutely everything…) DO have 30 color photo scene-stills from the series, but these are not accessible online only personal viewing in the London archive + regret they seem n/a for copy purchase. x7 original episode script/screen/teleplay sets also held here. I’ve just completed a review of c.190 other UK TV/film archive sources and from current info, only c. 2-3 of these merit an approach to explore what material they might hold. This leads us sweetly to: secondly – it seems that someone somewhere has the only known complete copy of ONE of the 1956 episodes; apparently made via a domestic/home video-tape recorder. This suggests it is a) in private hands and b) from a TV-broadcast (although not from ’56, would need to be post ’72) – location unknown. I’m trying to track this thru. With perseverance (and sometimes lateral thinking – perhaps even good fortune), something will surely be uncovered although whether you’ll get to actually see it I can’t yet say (and we’ll cross that pesky copyright bridge if/when we get to it) progress of sorts I guess – will keep you informed. Trust this offers some hope…
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Hi Jack,
Check out this new book from France on Legion unforms:
https://www.forties-factory.com/librairie/4241-la-legion-etrangere-1832-1962-histoire-des-uniformes-9782840485360.html
Perhaps this may be worth a review on your blog.
I follow this publisher for WWII related books.
We worked together in identifying the photo of the Legionnaires and the American Indians during the Fourth WWI Bond Drive.
For a while the World War I Native American Warriors Facebook Group used that photo as their FB Group cover photo.
Your work had profound meaning as Native Americans are documenting their WWI history.
I have followed your blog since our work together.
Yours,
Leonard
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Thank you Leonard. I will definitely be looking to purchase this book in the future.
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You are welcome.Jack. I will continue to share Legion related items with you.
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This is the book I got from another French publisher about my late father’s 45th Infantry Division.
He served in their 45th Signal Company from January, 1945 to the end of the war.
With my limited French reading skills, I found it to be accurate.
As with most short histories, most of the focus in on the front line rifle units but this one is comprehensive as it does cite other units. A photo of the 45th Signal Company at work in Sicily in 1943 (before my late father joined) is included.
I have shared it with my French friends interested in my late father’s service.
http://www.histoireetcollections.com/en/xxth-century/3935-his0685-la-45e-division-d-infanterie-americaine-9782352504573.html?search_query=45th&results=1
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One fine combat record for the 45th. N. Afirca, Sicily, Salerno, Cassino, Anzio, then from the south of France up to the Vosges, the Siegfried Line and into Germany to liberate Dachau.
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On behalf of my late father, who as a member of their Signal Company which is sometimes described of the shaft of the spear with the combat units being the point, and was very humble about his service, thank you.
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I was going through your section on comics about the Legion, and I think you missed one…This is a short comic story called “CAMERONE!” by Chuck Dixon and Ron Wagner. It appeared in Marvel Comic’s Savage Tales #7 in 1985. You have to scroll down about midway through this page to find it, but you can’t miss it. Enjoy. https://www.zipcomic.com/savage-tales-1985-issue-7
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Nice find. Thanks for the tip. I’ll save that one for April. That is also a nice comic site–I usually go to Comic Book Plus but this is worth some digging.
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Here’s another one…Back in the 90’s (late 80’s?) there was a series about a Legionnaire called “Battron” by Wayne Vansant. I can’t find a link or examples of the original series, but it was good and gritty. Copies of the original are available here (http://www.necpress.com/Ticksearch.aspx?q=%5BWW2%5D) and this is a link to a more recent Battron graphic novel with samples: http://www.granddesign.us/?page_id=1881 Love your site by the way!
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Hi Jack,
This is a (very) belated congratulatory letter on the tenth anniversary of your website! I am a regular follower, but tend to do my reading in catch-up batches. I share your obvious fascination with the old Legion. Like you, my fascination dates back many, many decades. My period of interest extends somewhat past the end of yours and includes the First Indochina War, and in particular DBP, which was, I believe, the death knell of the ‘Old Legion.’ The old units were destroyed and many of the ‘old sweats’ lost. I have been putting together research on DBP for years now and am at present writing another account of the battle (as if there were not enough already!).
Have been to the Museum at Aubagne and both met and corresponded with Legionnaires and, needless to say, always coming away with good stories.
Keep the good work coming!
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Hello JJ, Our interests match up, the Old Legionin the days of Beau Geste. Here is a sidelight to DBP that not many people know. Desertions were common as troopships like the Pasteur returning to France passed though the Suez Canal. They simply jumped overboard. Once on British(?) / neutral (?) territory they were safe. So troopships rounded the Cape. There were some desertions in the Durban area, shark-infested water. Unfortunately for them they were returned to the ship. Some lept overboard rounding the Cape and were never seen again.i was 16 at the time but living 500 miles away. i never saw the troopships, but collected every newspaper report. Before i visited the Museum at Aubagne in 2006(?), i wrote asking if they wanted the cuttings. A Gereral replied, “Yes, as they had nothing at all about the incidents.” So I took them. A Major Guyot welcomed me with VIP treatment. I felt great that my collection of so long ago was appreciated and ended up in the proper place. Jack Wagner also has a Legion scrap-book of mine comprising everythin i ever treasured about the Legion. Good luck with your DBP book. I have written a sequel to the Beau Geste trilogy (self-published). A what-if examination.
Eugene
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Eugene,
Good to hear from you. I have several other news articles about deserters jumping ship to Indo-China which along with the clippings you gave me should shed more light on this “opportunity”. Desertion is not something to brag about so I don’t think the Higher HQ of the Legion would make any statements about this trend. I imagine that there is much adventure involved with each Legionnaire who jumped ship.
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Thanks for the affirmative comments. DBP was certainly a large nail in the coffin of the FFL which was eventually shut for good on the old Legion in Algeria in the 1960’s. Who could have believed the Legion would have left Sidi Bel Abbes?
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Last month I published my father Edmund Murray’s book ‘Churchill’s Legionnaire’. It is about Dad’s service in the FFL (1937 – 1945) in Algeria, Morocco, and Indochina. Available from Amazon etc.
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That looks like a good read. Thanks for the heads up. It gets released in the U.S. 30 June. https://www.amazon.com/Churchills-Legionnaire-Edmund-Murray-Bill/dp/1913491250/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=Churchill%E2%80%99s+Legionnaire&qid=1620308818&sr=8-3
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Churchill’s Legionnaire culminates in the Long March (Great Retreat) which started on 8th March 1945 following the Japanese invasion of Indochina. In 1950, Winston Churchill selected Dad to be his bodyguard. Why? Because he had served in the French Foreign Legion and Churchill knew that he could shoot, fight and speak French with fluency. He also understood the art of oil painting which was a minor consideration.
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Dear Jack,
I’m writing simply to say “Thank you for all your hard work maintaining Mon Legionnaire and please continue!” I’ve broused a few of other’s comments above and it’s clear your efforts are much appreciated by many a fan which only increases as time marches on. I have to confess that I now really look forward to the 15th of each month hoping to discover new postings in this blog. In the interest of brevity, I’m including a link below of a 1.72 scale fort I built a long time ago inspired by the 1966 Beau Geste movie. There are comments with the photos explaining a little of my fascination with such an unlikely success story as the French Foreign Legion. Again, Merci beaucoup!
David Hennen (aka Garrison Clay)
http://www.hat.com/Othr8/Clay01P.html
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Thanks for the kind words David. Awesome fort. I hope to feature some of your pictures in an upcoming post on the venerable Airfix’s Fort Sahara. I’ve never seen it assembled in the most creative way you have done. Thanks for sharing. À bientôt.
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Hi, I am in the process of producing a set of Skirmish Wargames rules called Mourir Pour l’Indochine which takes place during the French Indochina war. I was wondering if I could have permission to use two photos from your Blockhouses articles. one is the 60 man triangular position and the other is a photo of a block house on the de lattre line? Thanks for the consideration. Shawn
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Hi,
I was wondering about your opinion of the following: in and around the Richat Structure of Mauritania, many forts have been spotted through satellite images. A few coordinates:
21,41649° N, 11,22831° W
21,58644° N, 11,29197° W
21,58533° N, 11,29052° W
21,12279° N, 11,37307° W
21,12015° N, 11,27620° W
21,12095° N, 11,28011° W
21,11774° N, 11,27386° W
18°48’23.7″N 11°39’00.7″W
21,09053° N, 11,45339° W
The origin of these ruins has as of yet not been determined. Does is seem possible to you that these sites date back to the French Foreign Legion, when comparing the architectural layout, size, shape and location within this area? Is there any record of where the Legion had its forts and how many there were? How could we know definitively?
Thanks!
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Stijn,
I looked at those odd structures and I’m pretty sure that they were not built by the French military, at least not as long term fortifications. They seem to resemble livestock enclosures although I’m not sure what those round corners signify–they might be slightly elevated watch towers. Looking at a 1958 map of the area there are numerous intermittent waterways bisecting the area to the southwest of the “eye”. Also some oases and small villages radiate from the town of Ouadane https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouadane The area is along an historical caravan/trade route so it’s possible those were shelters for the caravans. They are often called Bordjs and were the literal “caravanserai”. Back in the day these structures kept the pack and herd animals together overnight or for several days before pressing on. Nowadays they might still be used by nomadic herdsmen but it doesn’t look like they are in good condition. It’s an interesting question because the Foreign Legion were indeed known for throwing together improvised walls and defensive structures during their bivouacs. These would be small, like the structures you are pointing out (50m x 50m or so). Over time, if patrols passed the same location, they would continue to add to the walls, towers and interiors. The French were militarily active mostly in the eastern area of Mauritania with still standing forts at Ain Ben Tilli and Chegga. So my conclusion is 90% local caravan structures, 10% chance ad-hoc military enclosures. https://monlegionnaire.files.wordpress.com/2023/04/ouadane.jpg
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Hi Jack,
Thank you for your elaborate response! I considered caravanserai as well, but I do still have a few questions after this: was it common for these buildings to directly next to another caravanserai? Because several instances of these satellite images feature two of the same buildings in close proximity. On the one hand I could imagine that the owners could build a second building next to the original if business was good, or maybe they were built together as a sort of hot spot such that the two buildings could mutually increase each others popularity, but if this was not the case it seems strange that there would be several buildings built in the same spot when they were supposed to be pitstops along long journeys.
Secondly, all of the caravanserai that I found on the internet seem to be precisely rectangular, while these structures are often irregularly shaped or triangular. Are there any caravanserai known to be like this? Also, do the locations make sense with regards to the local trade routes? One would think they should be easily accessible along the road. The ruins within the Richat structure are all located within a diameter of 25 kilometres but not linearly distributed, is this what one would expect from these road inns?
Atlantis together is currently the inly research team investigating these structures, they made a few 3d models by going to the structures themselves and scanning them, but on these scans the walls seems to be made from irregular rubble rocks, instead of the rectangular bricks used in the caravanserai I could find on the internet. Maybe this could point to the improvised structures which you mentioned, but Iâm not sure.
https://www.atlantis-together.com/discover
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Discoverhttps://www.atlantis-together.com/discover
atlantis-together.comhttps://www.atlantis-together.com/discover
What is your view on this?
Ps. I am conducting this research as a part of a video essay I am writing about the claim that the Richat was the original city of Atlantis. My goals is to cite all my sources so that it can be seriously investigated instead of being prematurely disregarded because of it being perceived as myth or the arguments being badly worked out. I refer to peer reviewed academic papers on the local geology, archaeology and mythology, as well as close-reading the original description of Plato (even looking at the original Greek words themselves)(this site checks an uncanny majority of the boxes regarding this exact description, unlike any other proposed location ever before). If the theory is true, these ruins could be 12.000 years old (matching Platoâs description) and the product of one of the, if not the earliest large-scale human civilisation. The catastrophe which wiped them out could then have been a natural disaster as a part of the Younger Drias. It would have been a dark-skinned neolithic civilisation that emerged during the saharan fertile period, when it was a lush, fertile and irrigated tropical region, in the same general area where the first modern humans arose. It is already established scientific fact that humans existed in these places at this time. Under these conditions it does not seem impossible that because of the abundance of natural resources and minerals, this ancient culture could have flourished, and be perceived by other contemporaneous humans as very advanced, and thus remembered as such, though this does not mean they were more advanced than us today. They could have erected these forts from the natural rocks laying around, when the richat structure was irrigated by the rivers on the mountains surrounding the structure to the north (which still contains ancient riverbeds and deposits from this time), thus creating the iconic ringed water-city.
Of course these structures might be way more recent, which would problematise the idea, which is why I want to investigate this possibility as well, before blindly assuming they are neolithic.
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The French, particularly the Foreign Legion, would construct their long term fortifications out of abobe bricks made by themselves at the building site as well as making lime ovens for cement and sealing. Ad-hoc enclosures were often built when bivouacking in hostile territory by making use of stones, rocks and boulders to create a slight wall that defenders can stand behind. I presume the local caravans did not shape square rocks to build their enclosures until more recent times. Local rocks and mud would do the trick. The shapes of the French forts vary but I do believe I’ve not seen a triangular fort. I’ve not researched caravanserai to know what their common shapes were.
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One extra detail that might be significant: all of these structures seem to be built next to ancient river beds, and within the richat structure they only appear on the elevated rings but not in between them. This would fit the idea that the lower rings were filled with water and forts were built alongside of them. If this was not the case and they are far more recent, it seems very coincidental that they all follow this pattern.
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For a military force, higher is always better mainly for observation purposes but also you want any attackers to have to climb up to your embrasures. These links will show you an actual ruin of a small French fort in Algeria circa 1900. https://monlegionnaire.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/fort-el-moungar.pdf The imagery was crap when I put that together but here are two Google Earth pics (grabbed this A.M.) of what it looks like now. You can see there were two structures. One was the fort that is still standing and the other was very likely a holding pen for the French convoys of the time that contracted camels to bring supplies and water to isolated posts further down the Oued Zousfana.
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