Download or read book The French Foreign Legion written by Douglas Porch and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-11-01 with total page 1117 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The French Foreign Legion is a complete, captivating study of the famed fighting force, from its inception in 1831 to modern times. Historian Douglas Porch chronicles the Legion’s involvement in Spain, Mexico, Indochina, Madagascar, WWI, Vietnam, and Algiers (to name a few) and delves into the inner workings of legionnaires and their captains. Known for draconian discipline and shrouded in mystery, the secrets of the Legion are guarded by those who have gained admittance into its elite society. In this thoroughly researched and impressive account, Porch reveals the mysteries surrounding a Legion of “unparalleled exoticism, pathos, and drama.”

Download or read book French Foreign L gionnaire 1890 1914 written by Martin Windrow and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2011-08-20 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As France emerged from the Franco-Prussian War she embarked on a period of active colonialism, acquiring territories in South-East Asia and Africa. By the turn of the century much of north, west and central Africa was under French control. In order to police all of these territories, the French needed an army and so the French Foreign Legion was born. In this book, world-renowned Legion expert Martin Windrow analyses what it would have been like to be a member of the French Foreign Legion and how the experience, equipment, tactics and training of the Legion developed in the 80 years between their foundation and the outbreak of the First World War. He investigates their glory years in North Africa and Indochina, and draws extensively on memoirs from two British legionnaires, peppering the text with extraordinary first-hand accounts of the French Foreign Legion.

Download or read book The French Foreign Legion written by Jean-Denis G.G. Lepage and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2016-04-18 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book The French Foreign Legion written by Martin Windrow and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-09-20 with total page 51 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is arguable that no group of fighting men in the history of European arms has been so misrepresented by ill-informed publicity as the French Foreign Legion. Though initially conceived in 1831 as a means of drafting recently discharged foreign soldiers to Algeria, the Legion has developed into a sophisticated force of motorized infantry, airborne troops and light armour. In this book, acclaimed French Army expert Martin Windrow examines the history and uniforms of the French Foreign Legion, from its service in the Carlist War of 1835-36 to World War II and beyond, debunking many of the prevalent myths surrounding this formidable force.

Download or read book Legion of the Lost written by Jaime Salazar and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2006-08-01 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The son of underpaid Mexican immigrants, Jaime earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue. But at twenty-three, he was disillusioned with the corporate fast track. So he became an outcast American in a hard-bitten group of recruits-men on the run from their pasts, men without hope: He joined the French Foreign Legion. From the Legion's notoriously brutal training to Salazar's fierce competitiveness, ultimate disillusionment and dramatic desertion, Legion of the Lost is a compelling, firsthand account of today's French Foreign Legion that will dispel myths while adding to the legend of the finest trained army of warriors the world has ever known.

Download or read book French Foreign Legion for Beginners written by Thomas Gast and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2018-07-30 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the perfect guide for anyone interested in joining the French Foreign Legion. Do you meet the entry requirements? What needs special attention? Will you be able to get out of the contract? Do you have to speak French? How fit do you really have to be? Are tattoos or glasses a problem? How can I prepare physically, etc.? All the answers meet the latest standards. - I advise no one to join the French Foreign Legion on the assumption of glamour or glory - the Author says: Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved. (William Jennings Bryan).

Download or read book French Foreign Legion 1831 71 written by Martin Windrow and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-12-15 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Concluding his bestselling series on the French Foreign Legion, Martin Windrow explores the formation and development of the Legion during its 'first generation'. Raised in 1831, the Legion's formative years would see it fight continuous and savage campaigns in Algeria, aid the Spanish government in the Carlist War, join the British in the Crimean campaign and fight alongside the Swiss in the bloody battles of Magenta and Solferino. With the ever-changing combat environments they found themselves in, the Legion had to constantly adapt in order to survive. Taking advantage of the latest research, this lavishly illustrated study explores the evolution of the uniforms and kit of the French Foreign Legion, from their early campaigns in Algeria through to their iconic Battle of Camerone in Mexico and their role in the Franco-Prussian war.

Download or read book The French Foreign Legion L gion trang re written by Ray Cave and published by . This book was released on 1955 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book French Foreign L gionnaire 1890 1914 written by Martin Windrow and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2011-08-20 with total page 65 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As France emerged from the Franco-Prussian War she embarked on a period of active colonialism, acquiring territories in South-East Asia and Africa. By the turn of the century much of north, west and central Africa was under French control. In order to police all of these territories, the French needed an army and so the French Foreign Legion was born. In this book, world-renowned Legion expert Martin Windrow analyses what it would have been like to be a member of the French Foreign Legion and how the experience, equipment, tactics and training of the Legion developed in the 80 years between their foundation and the outbreak of the First World War. He investigates their glory years in North Africa and Indochina, and draws extensively on memoirs from two British legionnaires, peppering the text with extraordinary first-hand accounts of the French Foreign Legion.

Download or read book The Bugle Sounds Life in the Foreign Legion written by Major Zinovi Pechkoff and published by Andrews UK Limited. This book was released on 2012-04-03 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No military unit - not even the SAS - has been more glamourised, fictionalised, or been the subject of more myth-making than the French Foreign Legion. But despite the hype, quality first-hand accounts of life in the ranks of France's cosmopolitan elite colonial force are relatively rare. This is one of the finest of that select group. It is the work of the adopted son of the famous Russian writer Maxim Gorki. Pechkoff served in the Legion during the Great War, and later in North Africa. He was on peacekeeping duties in Algeria, and fought in the Rif Wars of the 1920s against the forces of the great tribal guerilla leader Abd-el-Krim. This memoir is based on the author's diaries, and was written while he was recovering from wounds in a hospital in the Moroccan capital, Rabat. Pechkoff gives vivid accounts of his rough, tough Legion comrades, and of fierce military action. He was one of a special 'Group Mobile' assigned to relieving Legion outposts besieged by the Rif rebels, and his accounts of the fighting pays tribute to the heroism of both sides. A first-class military memoir which gives the truth behind the romantic 'Beau Geste' image, this book has a foreword by the famous French writer Andre Maurois, a map of Morocco, the music for the legion’s anthem 'Marche de la Legion Etrangere', a frontispiece drawing of a Legionairre, and an appendix giving a brief history of the Legion from its foundation in 1831. A 'must-have' book for all lovers of the Legion and its literature, and for all students of desert and guerilla warfare.

Download or read book The White Kepi written by Walter Kanitz and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2017-06-28 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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!”

Download or read book French Foreign Legion written by Martin Windrow and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-08-20 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book The French Foreign Legion written by John Laffin and published by . This book was released on 1974 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The French Foreign Legion written by Douglas Boyd and published by . This book was released on 2016-03-31 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Legionnaire written by Simon Murray and published by Sidgwick & Jackson. This book was released on 1978 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A pleasure to read and nearly impossible to put down. -Army Times Embodies an experience that many have enjoyed in fantasy-few in reality. -The Washington Post The French Foreign Legion-mysterious, romantic, deadly-is filled with men of dubious character, and hardly the place for a proper Englishman just nineteen years of age. Yet in 1960, Simon Murray traveled alone to Paris, Marseilles, and ultimately Algeria to fulfill the toughest contract of his life: a five-year stint in the Legion. Along the way, he kept a diary. Legionnaire is a compelling, firsthand account of Murray's experience with this legendary band of soldiers. This gripping journal offers stark evidence that the Legion's reputation for pushing men to their breaking points and beyond is well deserved. In the fierce, sun-baked North African desert, strong men cracked under brutal officers, merciless training methods, and barbarous punishments. Yet Murray survived, even thrived. For he shared one trait with these hard men from all nations and backgrounds: a determination never to surrender. The drama, excitement, and color of a good guts-and-glory thriller. -Dr. Henry Kissinger

Download or read book Diary of a Legionnaire written by Gareth Carins and published by Grosvenor House Pub Limited. This book was released on 2007-10-01 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After finishing university but not ready to settle down, Gareth Carins joined the French Foreign Legion in 1996 and served for five years in their elite Parachute Regiment. He experienced at first hand the extremes of human nature, witnessing both the brutal cruelty shown by some Legionnaires in the name of tradition, to the personal sacrifices shown by others. Along the way he met many of the fascinating characters that come from all corners of the world to serve in the ranks of the Foreign Legion. Diary of a Legionnaire is a candid and eye opening insight into this mysterious army, told through Gareth's exciting and at times humorous adventures during the first eighteen months of his service, as we follow him from the brutality of basic training, to the realities of combat in the jungles of West Africa

Download or read book France Soldiers and Africa written by Anthony Clayton and published by Brassey's. This book was released on 1988 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thorough history of the French Army in Africa and of the native peoples of Africa who came into contact with the French. Special attention is paid to the native African soliders attached to the French Army. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR