Foreign Legion
By ADRIAN LIDDELL HART* SINCE I returned to England at the beginning of the year, I have often been asked whether the Foreign Legion is " like P.C. Wren." There is a tendency here to dismiss it as a picturesque relic. The French, on the other hand, have good cause to be aware that for the last five years their Legion Etrangere, with its infantry, mechanised cavalry, parachute battalions, engineer companies, commandos and gunboats, has borne the brunt of the vital war in Indo-China with great courage and resourcefulness. They know that the Legion " works " in 1952, and, indeed, some of those respon- sible consider it as not only the embodiment of a romantic military tradition but-as a challenge to some current ideas.
The seeming ignorance in this country of any but the more Hollywood features of the Legion among generally well-informed people is the more surprising as there is nothing unusually secret about the Legion in comparison with other military forces. For obvious reasons the French authorities may be inclined to minimise the role of the Foreign Legion in Indo- China to the French public, and many of the four hundred books which have been published about the Legion may not be very informative about present conditions. But the authorities doubtless appreciate that undue reticence would now be impossible to maintain—and disadvantageous. The Americans, for instance, have bases in French North Africa— and considerable interest in some of the problems of European integration which the Legion attempts to solve.
" Legio Pairia Nostra." Officially there are no national groups or loyalties in the Legion. When Louis-Philippe founded it in 1830, national units were formed, but a few years later, in the light of experience, they were merged with com- .plete success. Today it is the lack of national or racial diversity as a whole, rather than the fact that fifty-seven nationalities are nominally " represented " in the ranks, that presents a difficult problem for the French authorities. It is claimed that the proportion of Germans is over eighty per cent., though the authorities put it considerably lower. In fact, it is hard, and somewhat misleading, to settle on any figure, for the life of the Legion provides dramatic proof of the extent to which individual national loyalties and differences on the Conti- nent have been lost since the war, at least among the younger generation. In general, it is only true to say that an over- whelming number of legionnaires fall within the German orbit, without necessarily being " citizens " of Germany, as defined by the French Government. Austrians, Sudetens, Volks- deutsche from Eastern Europe; Hungarian.s, Flemings, Dutch who served in the German forces; possibly some Alsatians and German Swiss—all are ready to sing " Deutschland Ober Alles " or even the Horst Wessel on occasion, more out of camaraderie than political conviction. Paradoxically, the barracks of the (French) Foreign Legion in Africa and Asia have been more German than Germany since the war.
The Germans don't run the Legion. But the Legion could not run without the Germans. That is the gist of the situation. French officers will admit that a unit is no good unless it has a large nucleus of Germans—and most of them apparently prefer German batmen, drivers and so on. Veterans of the Afrika Korps and the Waffen S.S. have, at least in my experi- ence, made excellent N.C.O.s. Some of them are being made officers. Since the war the Germans have not only entered en masse but en bloc—from prisoner-of-war cages and later from somewhat " under-the-counter " recruiting-depots in the French Zone of Occupation. With characteristic realism, the * The writer, a forme member of the United Nations Secretariat, was granted a special release from the Foreign Legion last January by the French Minister of Defence. French have modified the arrangements—and traditions— of the Legion accordingly. On. the one hand the varied, scattered units of the Legion fare very much like units of the Regular French Army in supply and conditions of service; on the other hand, the authorities are at pains to foster, through such media as social service, uniforms and barrack-arrange- ments, a heightened sense of exclusive Legion-consciousness, l'esprit mystique legionnaire. Under the titular supremacy of its Inspector-General, the Legion is now administered, apart from operational commands, as the " Groupement Autonome de La Legion Etrangere." With Gallic precision, this expression conveys the official French attitude to the Legion in the scheme of military relationships.
The mixture of races presents less difficulty in language, food,. discipline than might be imagined; the men mix French and German expressions in a kind of Legionese as readily as they drink wine with sauerkraut. And there is no problem of loyalty that leadership cannot solve. It is true that there are many desertions, even to the enemy—and more attempted desertions. But in most cases these are the result of restless- ness rather than cowardice or political treachery. In the confused, nerve-wracking, unpopular war of Indo-China, the legionnaires have fought just as hard, to say the least, as the Regular French Forces and under the most trying conditions. They fought for the Legion, their comrades and their own skins.
In a British Army magazine I saw a reference to the Legion by one of our military observers in Indo-China. He referred to " these carefully selected and highly trained troops." Such a description is somewhat misleading. By ordinary military standards the medical examination at Marseilles when I joined was barely adequate, notwithstanding the wide age-range. There were no educational or intelligence tests, and the only psycho- logist present was one trying to join the Legion. And though I saw a number of " wanted " men and other undesirables being removed after the numerous interrogations of the first weeks, it was clear that the Legion still believes that being a good soldier has very little to do with being a good citizen.
As for the training, there was no " square-bashing " and no " indoctrination." Much of the time was spent in " Red Indian " games; and in learning to sing French marching songs —set to German tunes. Within six months of applying to enlist at Marseilles, I had sailed to Oran, passed through the depot at Sidi-bel-Abbes, completed two months' basic infantry training at Saida, travelled out to Saigon in an extremely crowded, slow troopship and taken part in large-scale amphibious operations in the jungle interior of Indo-China as a member of a mechanised cavalry regiment. Once in Indo- China, of course, we had no time for further organised train- ing; the legionnaires are too busy training Viet-Namese when they are not hunting Viet-Minhs. Did I drive a car ? Then I would drive an amphibious " crab."
In explaining the success of the Legion under so many handi- caps, story-tellers like P. C. Wren may possibly be more illuminating even today than " observers " such as I have quoted. For the legionnaires, though they may not be care- fully selected, choose the Legion—knowing its reputation. And the " system " of training, by and large, takes into account the fact that the legionnaires, whatever their faults, are usually enterprising and often highly experienced and intelligent in very various ways.
The Legion does not work very closely by the clock—or by the book. And discipline is very largely in the hands of the N.C.O.s, who enjoy considerable prestige and benefits. Nor does the Legion seem to consider that elaborate administrative and welfare services, organised entertainment and recreation are essential for efficiency and morale. Even the hygienic arrangements are rather casual—without many ill-effects. In fact, the legionnaire travels light in every sense—taking over someone else's clothes and equipment as he moves from station to station round the world and on operations helping himself to what he needs in the,way of food and other things in the " Zones of Pacification." The " system" is fraught with dangers, but somehow it works. It is often harsh, but it is not inhuman. And though it is difficult to assess how far it is applicable to European defence or acceptable to, public ()Pinion here, it would be worth while to experiment, alongside the much-discussed national units of the European Army, with a European Legion —British included. It would be worth while as much from the political standpoint_as from the military to extend a tradition of fighting—and building—which goes back, further than national armies, to the Roman Empire of the West.
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