by Douglas Boyd
[258] Seeger Letters and Diary, p. 69; also P A Rockwell American Fighters in the Foreign Legion 1914 - 1918 Boston & New York, Houghton Mifflin 1930, pp. 47-9
[259] Cendrars, pp. 182-4
[260] ibid, pp. 312-14
[261] A. Seeger Poems London, Constable 1917, p. 173
[262] Many self-declared Russians were officially Polish, Romanian etc, depending on where the frontiers were at the time of their birth or enlistment.
[263] L. Poliakoff Histoire de l’Antisemitisme . . 1870 – 1933 Paris, Calman-Lévy 1977, p. 294
[264] Le Crappouillot (issue of August 1934) cites on p. 49: 216 executions in 1914; 315 in 1916 and 136 in 1918. The figures are impossible to verify, although with even so respected a historian as the American Douglas Porch being refused access to the relevant archives, it would seem they come close.
[265] An excellent hour-by-hour account is to be found on the website of Les Bulletins de l’ASMAC under the heading La Légion Etrangère sur le front de Champagne
[266] E. Morlae A Soldier of the Legion Boston & New York, Houghton Mifflin 1916, pp. 51-4
[267] ibid, pp. 32-3
[268] Anderson, pp. 57-8
[269] Porch, p. 334
[270] J. Mosier The Myth of the Great War London, Profile 2002, pp. 236, 241. German losses were consistently grossly inflated by both French and British High Commands throughout the war to ‘justify’ the enormously higher Allied losses
[271] Just to the west of exit 13 on the A1 motorway; Belloy-en-Santerre lies to the east of the same junction.
[272] Jeune legionnaire, enthousaiaste et énergétique, aimant passionnément la France, engagé volontairement au début des hostilités et faisant preuve d’un courage et entrain admirables, glorieusement tombé le 11 juillet 1916 devant Belloy-en-Santerre. A Bel-Abbès 24 juillet 1924, le colonel Boulet-Desbareau, commandant le 4ème Régiment Etranger
[273] Geraghty, p. 186
[274] SHAT 24N, 2912 (RMLE 23 April 1917, p.12)
[275] The ridge was so named for the road built along it for the daughters of Louis XV to enjoy the magnificent views over the countryside in both directions when visiting the Countess of Narbonne in her château nearby. It was, of course, the view that made the ridge so important to both sides.
[276] Col Bouchez’s report of 26 July 1918 in Rollet papers at ALE (abridged)
[277] Rollet papers, undated (ALE)
[278] Porch, p. 376
[279] Founded on 20 April 1916, the squadron was an anomaly because there were more qualified French pilots than planes for them to fly. However, Escadrille Lafayette was credited with 199 ‘kills.’ Ex-legionnaire pilots included Kiffin Rockwell, who shot down two German aircraft before being killed in combat during 1916, and Edward Genet, killed by anti-aircraft fire in April 1917. The black professional boxer Eugene Bullard, who did not ‘fit’ in this WASP squadron, was posted to 107th French Infantry Regiment to get rid of him. One of the generation of black musicians who enriched French musical life between the wars playing jazz in Paris nightclubs, he re-enlisted in 1940 and was wounded in the French retreat that summer before being evacuated to the US.
[280] J. Green Memoirs of Happy Days New York & London, Harper and Brothers 1942, pp. 182-3
[281] Personal file of Cole Porter at ALE
[282] Quatre ans il a peiné, saigné, souffert. / Et puis, un soir il est tombé dans cet enfer. / Qui sait si cet inconnu qui dort sous l’arche immense / mêlant sa gloire épique aux orgueils du passé / n’est pas cet étranger devenu fils de France, /non par le sang reçu mais par le sang versé ?
[283] Liste nominative (unpub MS at ALE)
[284] Porch, p. 386
[285] General Mordacq Le Ministère Clemenceau. Journal d’un Témoin Paris, Plon 1931, vol III, p. 328
[286] SHAT 3H, 93
[287] A derogatory term equivalent to ‘kraut’.
[288] Promoted lieutenant, he served until 1939.
[289] J. Weygand Légionnaire Paris, Flamarrion 1951, pp. 218-19
[290] SHAT 34N, 310 Historique du Régiment 1921 à 1934
[291] It did not work because men preferring a civilian brothel would avoid the penalty for contracting VD there by afterwards going with one of the girls in the BMC, to ensure their names were on her list when they reported sick. If already infected, they infected her and her subsequent clients.
[292] B. Stuart Adventures in Algeria London, Herbert Jenkins 1936, p.18
[293] J. Martin Je suis un Légionnaire Paris, Fayard 1938, p. 177-8
[294] J. Brunon Le Livre d’Or (privately published), p.454
[295] A.R. Cooper Born to Fight Edinburgh and London, Blackwood 1969, p. 166
[296] Published in London by Sampson Low, Marston & Co (no date)
[297] Wellard, p. 95
[298] Engagés volontaires still accomplish remarkable odysseys to reach a recruiting office. The author interviewed in the Police Commissariat at Hendaye a young Armenian would-be recruit who had walked all the way from his home country – a distance of around 4,000 kilometres, crossing frontiers by night and surviving on the leavings thrown away at fast-food outlets.
[299] ‘Ex-Legionnaire 75,645’ Slaves of Morocco London, Samson Low, Marston & Co 1938, pp. 144-6 (abridged)
[300] La Tragédie de Médouina in ‘Vert et Rouge No 28’, 1950, pp. 40-45
[301] Porch, p. 392
[302] epitoma rei militaris, the treatise on warfare written by Flavius Vegetius Renatus (fl. fourth century CE) was still studied at St Cyr in 1894 when Rollet was a cadet there.
[303] Wellard, p. 96
[304] ibid, p. 101
[305] J. Harvey With the Foreign Legion in Syria Fresno, Linden Publishing 2003, pp. 86-7 (orig. pub. London, Hutchinson 1928)
[306] Porch, p. 454
[307] Legion magazine Képi Blanc No 490 of May 1989, p. 28
[308] They probably included the sender of the postcard reproduced as Plate 28. The mis-spelled and ungrammatical message on the back is addressed to Pierre Genty, c/o Madame Genty at La Vigne St René, in Côtes du Nord. It reads: ‘At Valbonne on the 7th My dear little one, two words to tell you I am in good health and I hope my card finds you the same. I am going on leave Tuesday or Wednesday but you can write to me at home. It’s only for seven days – afterwards it’s the front. But don’t worry about me, I hope to see you before leaving for the front. (illegible) I leave you for a moment. (signed) He who loves you and thinks of you.’
[309] Képi Blanc No 490 of May 1989, p. 47
[310] Z. Szajkowski Jews and the Foreign Legion New York, KATV 1975, pp. 74-5
[311] Porch, p. 464
[312] P. Johnson A History of the Modern World London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1983, quoted in Geraghty, p. 217
[313] Although the number includes 1,500 German sailors rescued from Kriegsmarine ships, that still leaves the defending ground forces outnumbering the attackers by two to one.
[314] P-O. Lapie La Légion Etrangère à Narvik London, John Murray 1941, pp. 30-34
10. Anderson, p. 70
[315] C. Favrel Ci-devant légionnaire Paris, Presses de la Cité 1963, p. 164
[316] Anderson, p. 70
[317] ibid
[318] Porch, p. 471
[319] French vessels in British ports were permitted to leave unhindered until 28 June.
[320] P. Carell Afrika Korps Paris, J’ai Lu 1963, p. 278. 2,000 of these men did serve in Rommel’s Afrika Korps, initially in labour battalions until re-assigned to his infantry, some of them seeing action against 13 DBLE fighting on the Free French side at Bir Hakeim in 1942.
[321] G. de Sairigné Carnet de Route de Lieutenant Gabriel Sairigné: 1 July Unpub. diary in ALE archives
[322] Anderson, p. 71
[323] The Knickebein technology being used was simple triangulation. Luftwaffe bombers followed one radio beam to the point where it was intersected by another from a different bearing directly over the target.
[324] De Sairigné, p.
42
[325] Geraghty, p. 269
[326] S. Travers Tomorrow to be Brave London, Corgi 2001, pp. 60-63
[327] ibid, p. 78
[328] ibid, p. 105
[329] Geraghty, p. 222
[330] Unpub. letter of Colonel Barre dated 1 October 1981 in ALE archives
[331] C. Buckley Five Ventures London, HMSO 1954, pp. 46-7
[332] ibid, p. 44
[333] A-P. Comor L’Epopée de la 13e demi-brigade de la Légion Etrangère 1940-45 Paris, Nouvelles Editions Latines 1989, pp. 161-2
[334] Travers, pp. 146-61
[335] Worden, pp. 49-50
[336] Travers, p. 189
[337] Geraghty, p. 243
[338] See photo in Travers, p. 208
[339] Geraghty, p. 245
[340] Travers, pp. 202-5
[341] ibid, p. 207
[342] ibid, pp. 208-11
[343] Geraghty, p. 259
[344] Travers, pp. 218-228 and Koenig quoted in Geraghty, p. 265
[345] H. Amouroux La Grande Histoire de France sous l’Occupation Paris, Laffont 1979, Vol IV, pp. 268-9
[346] Porch, p. 484
[347] See various photos in Travers, p. 208
[348] A. Perrot-White French Legionnaire London, John Murray 1953, pp. 182-97
[349] C. Williams The Last Great Frenchman London, Little Brown 1993, p. 200
[350] ibid, p. 204
[351] From 50,000 men in 1940, Legion strength excluding 13 DBLE had fallen to 18,000. See Porch, p. 490.
[352] Anderson, p. 79
[353] Porch, p. 485
[354] ibid, p. 493
[355] SHAT 12P 83 of 10 March 1945
[356] Blamed by many Allied leaders for slowing down the main invasion in the north, with the result that Stalin was able to grab most of central and south-eastern Europe
[357] Comor, pp. 285-7
[358] See N. Tolstoy Victims of Yalta London, Hodder and Stoughton 1977.
[359] Personal communication to the author
[360] Since 1930 all Legion units in Vietnam had been grouped under 5 REI, which thus became the Indo-Chinese regiment.
[361] Anderson, p. 85
[362] He was sometimes called Tsakiropoulos, possibly a confusion of his real name and the name under which he had enlisted
[363] P. Sergent Les maréchaux de la Légion Paris, Fayard 1987, p. 369
[364] Real name Dewavrin
[365] Sergent Les maréchaux, p. 363
[366] G. Sabattier Le Destin de l’Indochine Paris, Plon 1952
[367] Anderson, p. 85
[368] Sergent Les maréchaux, p. 194
[369] Geraghty, p. 270
[370] Lord Mountbatten Report on Post-Surrender Tasks London, HMSO quoted in M Arnold-Foster The World at War London, Thames Methuen 1983, p. 323
[371] The full title was ‘Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi’, meaning League for the Independence of Vietnam.
[372] J.P. Harrison The Endless War New York, Columbia Univ 1989, p. 109
[373] An exact figure was never published.
[374] Cabiro, p. 130
[375] Interviewed to camera in Les Légionnaires allemands dans la Guerre d’Indochine transmitted on Arte-TV 9 February 2005
[376] ibid
[377] ibid
[378] ibid
[379] ibid
[380] On reorganisation, the infantry regiments dropped the ‘I’ from their designation.
[381] Worden, p. 156
[382] Formerly Fort Lamy
[383] Zaire is now called Democratic Republic of Congo. Shaba was formerly Katanga, a province of the Belgian Congo until 1960.
[384] Under the aegis of the Soviet-Cuban Committee chaired by Castro’s brother Raoul, and co-ordinated by Soviet generals Vassili I. Petrov and Sergey Sokolov, Cuban destabilisation operations were ongoing in Algeria, Angola, Benin, Congo Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Libya, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Zambia.
[385] Front National de Libération du Congo, headed by Nathanaël M’Bumba
[386] P.Sergent La Légion saute sur Kolwezi Paris, Presses de la Cité 1978, p. 86
[387] Trained by North Korean instructors
[388] Sergent Kolwezi, p. 55
[389] Sergent Kolwezi, pp. 82-4
[390] Sergent Kolwezi p. 107
[391] ibid, p. 130
[392] ibid, p. 131
[393] ibid
[394] Sergent Kolwezi, p. 150
[395] ibid, p. 151
[396] ibid, p. 229
[397] Reported killed by some unreliable witnesses, but claimed by the Katangans to have been abducted as hostages into Angola. The truth was never established.
[398] Sergent Kolwezi, p. 169
[399] ibid
