The RAF's French Foreign Legion

The RAF's French Foreign Legion
Author: G. H. Bennett
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2011-04-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 1441106626
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This book examines and analyses the relationship between the RAF, the Free French Movement and the French fighter pilots in WWII. A highly significant subject, this has been ignored by academics on both sides of the Channel. This ground-breaking study will fill a significant gap in the historiography of the War. Bennett's painstaking research has unearthed primary source material in both Britain and France including Squadron records, diaries, oral histories and memoirs. In the post-war period the idea of French pilots serving with the RAF seemed anachronistic to both sides. For the French nation the desire to draw a veil over the war years helped to obscure many aspects of the past, and for the British the idea of French pilots did not accord with the myths of "the Few" to whom so much was owed. Those French pilots who served had to make daring escapes. Classed as deserters they risked court martial and execution if caught. They would play a vital role on D-Day and the battle for control of the skies which followed.

The Making of a Legionnaire

The Making of a Legionnaire
Author: Bill Parris
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2007-04-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780304366972
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A British soldier reveals what it takes to serve in the elite French Foreign Legion Penniless, divorced and AWOL from the British forces, Bill Parris volunteered for the French Foreign Legion in the early 1980s. Unlike many British volunteers to the Legion, Bill did not desert. He endured a horrendous training regime and, despite a fear of heights (!) joined the elite Foreign Legion Parachute Regiment. This is more than a war story - it is a personal journey too, as Bill comes to terms with his own inner demons. His five years' service included brutal combat in Rwanda and Chad, events that still trigger nightmares. But he emerged as a man at peace with himself, and with a story to tell.

The French Foreign Legion

The French Foreign Legion
Author: Douglas Boyd
Publisher:
Total Pages: 458
Release: 2016-03-31
Genre:
ISBN: 9781530731664
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What attracts men from 136 different nations to embrace the harsh military code of an army that requires them to lay down their lives for a country not their own, if ordered to do so by politicians whose language many of them hardly speak? Douglas Boyd's history of the Legion answers that question, with fifteen historic photographs and eleven battle/campaign maps. Founded in 1831 to fight France's colonial wars without spilling French blood, this mysterious army is today a world-class fighting force. Training is so tough that five recruits out of six are rejected, never to wear the coveted white kepi. This is a world where fact exceeds the wildest fiction: men fighting literally to the last bullet at Camarón in Mexico in 1863; cooks and clerks with no parachute training volunteering to be dropped into beleaguered Dien Bien Phu in 1954 with the intention of dying beside their comrades; the paras who mutinied in Algeria to bring down the government of France; the heroes who dropped on Kolwezi to rescue thousands of European hostages. Praise for The French Foreign Legion 'A tight and fascinating history of the nearly two centuries of the Legion's activities.' - Brig Anthony Hunter-Choat (UK's senior ex-legionnaire) Perhaps the greatest praise of the book is the fact that legionnaires liked this history of their incredible army so much that they elected author Douglas Boyd an honorary ex-legionnaire. RAF Russian linguist, international businessman, music impresario, BBC Television Producer/Director, Douglas Boyd has been writing full-time since setting up home in a medieval farmhouse in south-west France thirty-five years ago. His published fiction and non-fiction, translated into many languages, includes three novels set against a Legion background: The Eagle and the Snake, The Truth and the Lies, The Honour and the Glory. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on Twitter: @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via http://on.fb.me/1HweQV7. We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press believes that the future is now.

The French Foreign Legion

The French Foreign Legion
Author: Jean-Denis G.G. Lepage
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 255
Release: 2016-04-18
Genre: History
ISBN: 0786462531
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This book gives the reader a straightforward and continuous survey of the history of the French Foreign Legion. By outlining the Legion's vicissitudes, victorious campaigns, epic marches, heroic and sometimes hopeless stands, dirtiest combats and dramatic defeats, but also by briefly placing the Legion back in the historical background of France, and by describing its development, organization, uniforms, equipments and weapons, the author hopes to dispel myths, and try to give a true and accurate picture of what the French Foreign Legion has been from 1831 until today. There are well-researched, detailed line drawings throughout.

The White Kepi

The White Kepi
Author: Walter Kanitz
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
Total Pages: 519
Release: 2017-06-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 1787205762
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Heroic figures galloping across the loose sands of the Sahara, their flowing white kepis a symbol of the highest romance and adventure...or murderers and human derelicts, rejected by society and hunted by the police, seeking escape from prison in the ranks of the Légion Étrangère? Neither picture—so commonly held by the general public—is even partially accurate, writes Walter Kanitz. During World War II, Walter Kanitz fought with the Foreign Legion in Africa. He has done a vast amount of research and reading about the Legion, and has made every possible effort to check his facts. His book represents the first comprehensive and objective history of the French Foreign Legion since its inception in 1831 by the royal decree of Louis Philippe. For the better part of its history, the Foreign Legion, remote, fascinating, somewhat sinister, has been shrouded in mystery. It has been called everything from “Desert Carrion” to the “Legion of Beggars.” It was often said that “dogs bark when the Legion passes.” Yet, in battle, the Légionnaires are famed for a courage and heroism that knows no fear of death. They are considered by most professional soldiers to be, as a unit, the best fighting force in the world. When a new recruit applies for enlistment, he is made to wait 24 hours to reconsider his decision. The ranks are made up of men of all nationalities—Germans, Poles, Czechs, Slavs, Spaniards, Americans. It is the only army in existence today made up of mercenaries who have voluntarily signed to serve five years for the government of France. The discipline is harsh and the pay meager. The call to battle has taken Legion units from Mexico to Norway, from China to Morocco. Outside of battle, life consists of infinite boredom broken only by alcohol and an occasional woman. And yet, says ex-Legionnaire Kanitz, “Qu’importe, quand la Légion passe, que les chiens viennent aboyer après d’elle! Vive la Légion!”

Fighting for the French Foreign Legion

Fighting for the French Foreign Legion
Author: Alex Lochrie
Publisher: Grub Street Publishers
Total Pages: 331
Release: 2009-11-19
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1848846967
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A soldier’s true story of danger and adventure as a modern-day legionnaire in Kuwait, Bosnia, and beyond. With no French language ability, Alex Lochrie approached recruiters for the French Foreign Legion in Paris and embarked on the demanding selection process that followed. When he was accepted, he and other prospective legionnaires were sent to Southern France to begin the harsh recruit training course. The mix of nationalities and backgrounds among his fellows was enormous. New members are traditionally allowed to change their identities—and Lochrie chose to alter his age, becoming twenty-eight instead of thirty-eight. Elite paratrooper training followed in Corsica before Lochrie earned his wings. The FFL is never far from the front line, and in this book he tells of challenging active service in former French colonies in Africa as well as during the first Gulf War, evicting Saddam Hussein from Kuwait, and operations in Bosnia and Sarajevo. This gripping account lifts the veil of mystery and myth, pulling you into the action—and revealing much about the realities of service in the Foreign Legion.

French Foreign Legion

French Foreign Legion
Author: Martin Windrow
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 66
Release: 2013-08-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 1846037239
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Men of action and elite soldiers with a young and dynamic spirit, the French Foreign Legion are capable of doing their duty anywhere anytime. Martin Windrow's superb text examines the history of this famous force from the end of the Second World War onward. This first class addition to the Men-at-Arms series not only contains the usual wealth of accompanying photographs and illustrations, including eight full page colour plates by Mike Chappell, but is extended by a further 16 pages, allowing the author to display the full range of his expert knowledge, including 11 pages devoted to uniforms.

A Royal Adventurer in the Foreign Legion

A Royal Adventurer in the Foreign Legion
Author: Prince Aage
Publisher: Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, Page
Total Pages: 210
Release: 1927
Genre: France
ISBN:
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Søgeord: Legionærer;Franske Elitestyrker; Fransk Militærhistorie; Foreign Legion; Danske i Udenlandsk Tjeneste; Danske Frivillige i Udenlandsk Tjeneste;Legionærliv; Ære; Mod; Troskab; Soldaterkammeratskab; Disciplin; Soldaterliv; Hverdagsliv; Algeriet.

The Legion of the Damned

The Legion of the Damned
Author: Bennett Jeffries Doty
Publisher:
Total Pages: 346
Release: 1928
Genre: France
ISBN:
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Our Friends Beneath the Sands

Our Friends Beneath the Sands
Author: Martin Windrow
Publisher: Phoenix
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011-06-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780753828564
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The gripping true story of the French Foreign Legion in the Sahara. Ever since the 1920s the popular legend of the French Foreign Legion has been formed by P.C. Wren's novel BEAU GESTE - a world of remote forts, warrior tribes, and desperate men of all nationalities enlisting under pseudonyms to fight and die under the desert sun. As with all clichés, the reality is far richer and more surprising than this. In this book Martin Windrow describes desert battles and famous last stands in gripping detail - but he also shows exactly what the Foreign Legion were doing in North Africa in the first place. He explains how French colonial methods there actually had their roots in the jungles of Vietnam, and how the political pressures that kept the empire expanding can be traced to battles on the streets of Paris itself. His description of the Berber tribesmen of Morocco also reveals some disturbing modern parallels: the formidable guerrillas of the 1920s were inspired by an Islamic fundamentalist who was adept at using the world's media to further his cause. Martin Windrow's previous book THE LAST VALLEY received fabulous reviews across the English-speaking world. This unique book, which is the first to examine the 'golden age' of the Foreign Legion has followed suit.