The French Foreign Legion: A Complete History of the Lengendary Fighting Force

by Douglas Porch

Book Overview

The legend of Beau Gaste and the hell-raising, hard-drinking, long-suffering, loyal Legionnaires has been immortalized by countless novels and Hollywood movies. Here Douglas Porch examines the Legion myth and goes beyond it to explore the Legion's mystique and describe its performance from its founding in 1831 to today. 32 pages of halftones; maps; index.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060166525
• ISBN13: 9780060166526
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 1 Pages
• Weight: 3.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.2" x 6.7" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

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Very nice

The Foreign Legion book....

This was such an excellent history of the Legion E'tranger that after I read it in the public library back in West Virginia.... I had to get a copy for myself. What you've seen on the silver screen is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to these men without pasts...... A Definite thumbs Up!!!

Excellent read--- worth every page

Douglas Porch's inside view of the Foreign Legion in great detail keeps the reader enthralled through every page. It's about time this legendary fighting force got the credit it deserves. From campaigning in colonial Africa to the jungles of Tonkin through two World Wars, the Foreign Legion needed someone to tell of their bloody, honorable, and glory-filled history.

Near Complete History of the Legion

This book contains a lot of impressive research on the history and combat performance of the Legion. Unlike other books on this subject Mr. Porch has decided to take an objective, analylitical approach toward his study of the Legion. This may put off some readers because Porch's work is long, and does not contain a lot of exciting passages. This is a serious study of the Legion's origins, history, and combat performance. Those who stick with this long read will find it rewarding, but also time consuming! There is lots of fascinating information here buried between the sometimes excessive analysis. A lot of focus is placed on Legion morale, combat effectiveness, and desertion. Porch spends large portions of time disecting these topics at length throughout the book to try to determine the real efficiency of the Legion and to seperate the myth from the reality. His conclusions are that the Legion performed best when used in colonial operations. It was not suited for European conflicts and World Wars, even though it did perform well in them. The often delicate pyschological make-up of the average Legionaire meant that he was not suited to perform certain tasks. The Legion prides itself on being a corps d'elite of the French army, even though the Legion itself often disdains that asscoiation. The love-hate relationship between France and her Legion is well illustrated in this book. Indeed, this was the very reason why it was formed in 1831 to safely deposit troublesom foreign elements of society. The Legion seeing this, has responded by imposing an insular discipline over the years which either consumes the recruit, or destroys him in the process! For the length of this book, Porch could spend somewhat more time describing the Legion's battles and campaigns. The famed battle at Camerone in Mexico, now so much apart of Legion lore, gets scarsely a few pages, while the Dohomey and Madacascar campaigns receive lengthy treatments. The coverage of topics is sometimes uneven. One of the best early chapters is on the Carlist Wars of Spain in 1838 and how the Legion was loaned out to serve Queen Isabel in what was to become a long and thankless campaign. Then strangely, both the Crimean War and the Italian War of 1859 get just a small chapter together. The constant references to Legion performance and desertion are a bit redundant after a while. Still, there is much that is worthwhile here. The inter-war years chapter when General Rollet attempts to create the traditions of the Legion during the difficult Rif War of the 1920s provides a lot of interesting debate on the popular image we have seen of the Legion in movies and books. Like most Legion histories this one ends after the loss of Algeria in 1961 and provides only a brief look at the attempted challenege to de Gaulle's policy there. There is no chapter on the Legion today which would really round off this book and help make it the deffinitive history which it purports itself to

Best book to date about the Foreign Legion

Douglas Porch is perhaps one of the most widely acknowledged experts on the history of the French army. THE FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION: A COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE LEGENDARY FIGHTING FORCE is but one of his many thoroughly reseached and well-argued historical studies. The subtitle is incorrect though as there is no such thing as a 'complete' history. For one thing, Porch ignores the post 1962 Legion and its numerous excursions in such exotic locales as Chad, the former Zaire, Djibouti, Lebanon, and the Persian Gulf. Beyond this questionable title selection and the aformentioned omissions, there is little cause for complaint as this book is probably the most balanced and comprehensive study of the Foreign Legion yet undertaken. There have been many personal memoirs and battle histories published but this is the first significant attempt at an institutional history. Porch is less concerned with battles (though they are an integral factor) than he is with the Legion's function as a social institution. He focuses on such elements as organization, recruitment, desertion, discipline, morale, alcohol consumption, and combat performance. The Legion was initiated in 1830 to rid France of unwanted foreign emigres and to provide forces for unpopular service in the colonial empire, primarily Algeria. The Legion also provided an outlet for some of the dregs of both French society and the army. The nature and origins of recruits changed over time and reflected the outcome of varous European conflicts in that members of the losing side, be it Spanish republicans in the 1930s or German Nazis in the 1940s, for example, invariably swelled the Legion's rolls. Desertion was an endemic problem but was generally viewed as removing malcontents and improving the overall quality of a unit. It also could be an opportunity for a legionnaire to make a personal statement of creativity and a successful exit was not necessarily the true object. This demonstates some of the unreality of Legion life and its many differences with regular army formations, whether French or not. A variety of factors and concepts combined to create some cohesion, particularly in combat, out of a hodge podge of humanity. Porch has concluded that psychological reasons such as anonymity, a fresh start in life, sense of purpose, and potential for advancement were attractive inducements for enlistment and service. The dismal pay scale certainly belies the traditional jibe that legionnaires were simply mercenaries. Porch also explores the role of discipline and finds that it was generally more verbal than physical. When it did manifest itself physically it could be cruel and unorthadox but frequently appeared worse than was actually the case. These measures were more lenient than death by firing squad which was used for a variety of offenses in regular army formations. Porch also describes the chronic lack of non-commissioned officers which is in contrast to man

Finely researched and well written

Porch's book is well worth the read for those who have an interest in the LE. the only minor flaw as I percieve it is that it dosen't completely cover the LE to the present day. The content is flawlessly researched and the writing is such that at time one can almost smell the cordite and the stench of the trenches in WWI. A must read for every person who has any interest in Military history and men at arms.