French Foreign Legion

If you’re retired military or interested in military history, you might like to pick up a book on the French Foreign Legion. Three Legion titles are suggested below: a classic novel and two nonfiction works, one written by the only woman ever to serve in the Legion.

Although this branch of the French army has lost many important battles, legionnaires have distinguished themselves through fierce, kill-or-be-killed individual combat. Recruits must be 18 to 40 years of age, pass a strict physical exam, and commit to five years’ service. Seven out of ten enlistees are rejected.

Although the Legion does not knowingly accept either French citizens or criminals, it does permit service under a false name. Some men join to escape political punishment, others to seek adventure, still others to avoid punishment for crime. Doctors, lawyers, merchants, and priests—all have served with anonymous distinction. Whatever their life stories and despite labels such as jobless, homeless, and loveless, legionnaires rank among the best soldiers in the world.

Discipline is very harsh, but the Legion never lacks recruits. More than 350,000 have served. Today, the active force numbers about 8,000. Their headquarters is located in Aubagne, France, near Marseilles.

King Louis Philippe created the Legion in 1831 for service outside France. The unit’s flag then, as now, was the tricolor. Its insignia is a small red hand grenade shooting seven flames; you can see it on the legionnaire’s classic cap, called a képi.

The Legion has served most frequently in colonial wars. But it has also fought in all of France's major military campaigns:

During World War I (1914–1918), about 45,000 fought against Germany. Of these, nearly 31,000 were killed, wounded, or missing in action—a casualty rate of 69 percent.

During World War II (1939–1945), legionnaires fought both Japan and Germany, part of the time under General Charles de Gaulle.

After World War II, the Legion continued as a haven for political refugees and former soldiers, particularly Germans. In Indochina from 1946 to 1954, the Legion fought Communist rebels and sparked the final heroic resistance at Dien Bien Phu.

After the independence of Algeria in 1962, most Legion units left Africa. In 1991, legionnaires in Saudi Arabia joined other United Nations’ forces to defeat Iraq in the Persian Gulf War. Today, most legionnaires are stationed in France or the Pacific islands controlled by France.

Suggestions for a least Legion library include the following:

• Percival Christopher Wren, Beau Geste (1924). If you’re new to the Legion, this favorite novel of men and boys might be where to start. Three English brothers join the Legion, battle both a sadistic sergeant and violent Arabs in North Africa, and unravel the mystery of a stolen jewel—the Blue Water sapphire.

• Simon Murray, Legionnaire: Five Years in the French Foreign Legion (2006). A proper Englishman enlists at 19 and keeps a diary (1960–1965). His chronicle shows the Legion pushing men to their breaking point and beyond. In North African training camps, brutal officers turn recruits into cold-blooded killers. Yet Murray not only survives but also thrives, for he shares one vital trait with his hard comrades—a determination never to surrender.

• Susan Travers, with Wendy Holden, Tomorrow to Be Brave (2000). During World War II, Travers trades a life of English privilege for a life of international adventure. In North Africa, she loves the general who commands both the Foreign Legion and the Free French, and she leads a Legion convoy to freedom after being surrounded and outnumbered by Rommel and his tanks. Later, she becomes an officer, the only woman ever to serve officially in the Legion. In 2000 she writes this book, her autobiography, and in 2003 she dies at the age of 94. Her many honors for bravery include the Military Medal and the Légion d’Honneur.