wwii axis reenactment forum

John Wilson wrote:ffl=elite french troops?, made up of foreigners since its inception.

Quite right John the only true French to be found in the Legion are the officers most of which come from the top 10% in the military colleges. No Frenchman is allowed by French law to join the Legion, but it can be "got around" they claim Belgium, Monagast or Swiss French nationality when enlisting. Mind you despite having the drop on everyone else in the language stakes they are fecking useles legionaires & "most" of them dont last too long

Have a look at the Film LOST COMMAND starring Anthony Quinn. starts of in Vietnam at the battle of Dien Bien Phu then onto Algeria & the betrayal afterwards. A good if dated film made in 1966.

Imperial war museum in london has a vast array of captured German weapons in its glass cases captured in Vietnam , mg34's , mg42's , k98's and other weapons . always worth a look . The place is free to enter and the staff are extremely well trained in answering your queries .

"Have a look at the Film LOST COMMAND starring Anthony Quinn. starts of in Vietnam at the battle of Dien Bien Phu then onto Algeria & the betrayal afterwards. A good if dated film made in 1966."

That's a very good film but you can follow it up with "The battle for Algiers "

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058946/

how ever the Devils Guard does take some beating ive read it a few times and still find bits I had forgotten

Greetings
An intresting thread.
French WW2 and postwar history is intresting but very confusing in parts, there is a lot of
research needed to get to grips with it all.
Especially WW2 when French were fighting on opposite sides, a lot of it was "blacked out"
by the press especially when the Allies entered Syria in 41, an intresting "impasse" was the
confrontation of "Free French" Legionnaires from the 3rd REI (later bcame the 13TH Demi-
Brigade) and the 6th Regiment who were fighting on the Vichy side.
Apparantly the British let the French sort it out between themselves ending with most being
given the opportunity to "change sides", most of these men later fought at "Bir Hacheim" in 42.
As for the Post war especially in "Indo-China" the French were in no mood to be trifled with
and were still smarting over events in WW2, the stories of Waffen-SS serving with the Legion
were mostly exaggerated, there were German troops but mostly from the Wehrmacht or from
French speaking countries being given the chance to redeem themselves, an intresting "semi-
Autobiography called "The Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer tells the story of an Alsation/
German who had joined the "Gross Deutchland" then when the War was over was "made" to
enlist with the French.
As for Algieria there was no "betrayal" as such which also seems to be exagerrated, it basicaly
stems from the fact that the French decided to hand over the Algerians their Independance in
1961/62 and a lot of Legionnaires rejected this idea.
There was a short lived mutiny which involved some Officers and men from the 1st BEP which
distingiuished itself in "Dien Bien Phu" in Indo-China but was later disbanded because of this
episode. The mutineers tried to involve the 2nd REP who "flirted" with the mutiny but for the
most part distanced themselves from it but some highly decorated Officers were imprisoned.
During the end a Para-Military group were formed called the "OAS" which apparantly had some
Ex Legionnaires involved as well as others but most of these when caught were executed by
firing Squad.
One firing squad/courtmartial incident involving an ex Legionnaire/OAS member ironically
shouted out "Vive La France" just before he was shot.
Good hunting Peiper.

missyd wrote:The Devil's guard book is very expensive .... offers start around 40 euros and go up to 300 Euros for used examples ....

I did was looking on Ebay for that book the other night and some had starting prices at around£9.99 for original prints. There is also a second edition with a different cover as well.
I may invest in this book as regardless of its authenticity it's meant to be a bloody good read.

Sean wrote:

missyd wrote:The Devil's guard book is very expensive .... offers start around 40 euros and go up to 300 Euros for used examples ....

I did was looking on Ebay for that book the other night and some had starting prices at around£9.99 for original prints. There is also a second edition with a different cover as well.
I may invest in this book as regardless of its authenticity it's meant to be a bloody good read.

It is a good read Sean if you wait you will get a cheaper copy i waited month's on Ebay for one to come up Bri

I think I have it on pdf somewhere if anyone wants it.

"they are fecking useles legionaires & "most" of them dont last too long"

This kind of comment does you no kind of service. It is obvious that you are not in the slightest bit acquanted with the combat record of the French troops who fought in Indochina, not least Dien Bien Phu.
I might add that the Legionnaires who you quite rightly hold in such high esteem where the first to be overrun and massacred at Dien Bien Phu (the 13 DBLE). The "Fecking useles" French, mostly para's, held on for months of the very worst kind of trench fighting.

The French might not make good Legionnaires but then they don't need to. The legion was, historically, set up so that foreigners could be used up in the worst assignments, and not French lads. Think your way round that one.

Ted wrote:Mind you despite having the drop on everyone else in the language stakes they are fecking useles legionaires & "most" of them dont last too long[/b]

And this was something you observed during your extended service in the Legion ?

Cookie wrote:
The French might not make good Legionnaires but then they don't need to. The legion was, historically, set up so that foreigners could be used up in the worst assignments, and not French lads. Think your way round that one.

Bon mon ami
That's very true Cookie!
Iam in agreement with you.
The French junior Officers from St Cyr, transferred to the Legion because,
the speed of promotion was very rapid, that was because the casualty rate
was very high, due to the French Goverment using the Foreign-Legion first in
all the hot spots!
Regards Peiper

Mikkel wrote:

Ted wrote:Mind you despite having the drop on everyone else in the language stakes they are fecking useles legionaires & "most" of them dont last too long[/b]

And this was something you observed during your extended service in the Legion ?

Funnily enough "YES"

Cookie wrote:"they are fecking useles legionaires & "most" of them dont last too long"

This kind of comment does you no kind of service. It is obvious that you are not in the slightest bit acquanted with the combat record of the French troops who fought in Indochina, not least Dien Bien Phu.
I might add that the Legionnaires who you quite rightly hold in such high esteem where the first to be overrun and massacred at Dien Bien Phu (the 13 DBLE). The "Fecking useles" French, mostly para's, held on for months of the very worst kind of trench fighting.

The French might not make good Legionnaires but then they don't need to. The legion was, historically, set up so that foreigners could be used up in the worst assignments, and not French lads. Think your way round that one.

try re-reading my post before shooting from the lip.
i did'nt say the anciens at dien bien phu nor indo-china did'nt have the balls. The service record speaks for itself. I said that from experiance "French" legionaires & yes they can be, but they sign up as swiss or belg or cannuck to get around the legal thing. They on a whole do not get on very well in the Legion. In French units a la para, no problem, but not very well as legionaires.
& i dont need to think my way round anything, i already know that .
nuff said get topic back on track. end of.

Ive heard that Devils guard is more fiction than fact. It apparently spawned 2 sequels in witch the main character ends up fighting for the US. Theres quite an indepth look at it on wikipedia.

Ropes,
Yes indeed. You can find people fighting for this in both corners, so as with allthings best to come up with your own opinion. Either way it's a good read, and even if it has been a bit exagerated (would'nt be the first aka bravo two zero) there was allways the original fact that spawned the whole thing of.