30th August 2020

                       Honneur et Fidélité

There can be few groups with as romantic a mythology as the French Foreign Legion, or Légion étrangère.

  "You can join as a fugitive from the law and you don’t even have to give your real name."

 Both these assumptions are incorrect although it may have had some crédence  in 1831 when the Legion first began.

 Nowadays, strict background checks are made by Interpol and France’s Intelligences services but petty crime may be overlooked in some circumstances.

 

Fording a river in full kit may have hidden dangers: currents and predators

The selection process is rigorous; only one in nine applicants even get through the doors. Basic training is harsh and many will never get to wear the traditional white kepi.  Injury and even death during training are not unknown.

  Applicants must be between 17 and 40 and foreign (not French), though this rule can be relaxed -  up 15% of legionnaires are thought to be French. 

 The Legion can afford to be picky. Every day, dozens of men, from all over the world,  turn up at recruiting station across France (and this is the only way to join, a personal visit)  eager to prove themselves with this elite force.

 

The Legion can be made up of 140 different nationalities but French is the common language, so learning is compulsory.  There are daily lessons but as training often leads to pain, injury  and sleep-deprivation, this isn’t easy either.

 Theoretically, you can leave the Legion any time during the first month but if the Legion itself decides you’re not up to the mark, they’ll dismiss you instantly without question or explanation, just ‘Non - allez vous!’

 

Legionnaire - 1863 Mexican Campaign

Recruits who survive what is reputed to be the most arduous military training in the world both physically and psychologically can expect a good pay rate and excellent food and lodgings whilst on base (jungle warfare training may depend on foraging for bugs).    The diet includes wine from the Legion’s own vineyards in Provence, tended by former legionnaires in the veterans home there.

Women were not permitted  to join the Legion until 2000 when Defence Minister Alain Richard changed the rules, saying he’d like to see 20% female recruitment over the next 20 years.

 

Susan Travers 1909-2003

Prior to that, only one woman ever to be a distinguished Legionnaire was an English nurse: Susan Travers who joined Free French Forces during World War II.

Travers, known as ‘La Miss’ by her comrades, served as nurse and ambulance driver in the French Red Cross, then as a full member of the Legion in Vietnam during the First Indochina War.

 

Since its inception, the Legion has served in most theatres of war.  

The 13th Demi Brigade, formed for service in Nor way, was in the UK when the French Armistice was declared in June 1940.  It was deployed to the British 8th Army in North Africa and distinguished itself in the Battle of Bir Hakeim in which Susan Travers played a heroic part, afterwards being warded her first Croix de Geurre.

 The Legion is the only branch of the French military that does not swear allegiance to France but to the Foreign Legion itself,  although after 3 years service, a Legionnaire, whatever his nationality, may apply for French citizenship.

Any soldier injured during conflict may apply immediately for citizenship under "Français par le sang versé" ("French by spilled blood").

Modern day Legionnaires can be Sapeurs, Paratrooper, Commandoes and  ever other profession needed by today's armed forces.

Legionnaires in an armoured transport

The Legion has its own band but they are quick to point out they are highly trained, super-efficient soldiers first and only then, amateur bandsmen.

Because traditionally the Legionnaires march at a slower pace than other branches of the French military (a pace known in the Legion at 'the crawl') they are alwasy last in any military parade.

Sapeurs- Pioniers  wear beards and leather aprons and carry axes (best not to get on their wrong side).

"Legionnaire, you are a volunteer serving France with honour and fidelity.

Each legionnaire is your brother in arms whatever his nationality, his race or his religion might be. You show him the same close solidarity that links the members of the same family."

The Grenade in Flames symbol of the Legion

The march down the Champs Elysee, showing 'the crawl'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yASlGCLkBSw

Legionnaires on patrol in Paris during civil unrest