La Légion Étrangère

Dien Bien Phu was a crossroads which connected Laos with upper Tonkin, later North
Vietnam, and still later, the Soviet Republic of Vietnam. French General Henri Navarre decided
to create an air base and support center there at the road junction. He believed the Viet Minh
were too weak to overwhelm the fire base, supported by air and supplied by both air and
ground. Dien Bien Phu was a valley thirteen miles long, seven miles wide, and was bisected by
the Nam Yum River. The French Army made a series of serious blunders. The selection of the
valley at the extreme range of their air support, the permiter posts, Béatrice, Gabrielle,
Anne-Marie, set up on a number of low hills with the concentration of forces around the air
strip, and the inability of French guns to adequately support all defensive positions.

The Viet Minh held the jungle surrounding the French garrison, but the French Army had
no real idea where the Viet Minh were, what their numbers were, or how to strike them
effectively. The French did not camoflage their bunkers, and left their command posts
vulnerable to artillery that they did not know the Viet Minh possessed. General Vo Nguyen Giap
knew what he planned to do, he had the means to do it, and the French intelligence effort was
totally inadequate.

At the end of the third day, the Viet Minh held the hills surrounding the body of the French
Army and could fire directly on the positions. The French Army's position was grim, but Giap had
problems of his own. He was running low on ammunition, and the suicide charges cost some of
his best formations. The battle had become a siege.

French morale improved when, on the fourth day, the 1e BEP destroyed two companies of
Viet Minh on the highway between the airport and the French position named Isabelle. Even
though the French won the skirmish, they lost 151 dead and 72 wounded in that action alone.

A number of Indochinese troops deserted as did some legionnaires and a hand full of
regulars. They were referred to as the "Rats of Nam Yum" because they pilfered supplies
dropped at night by parachute and denied them to the garrison. The French dropped about 120
tons of supplies to the besieged defenders of Dien Bien Phu between March 13 and May 7, of
which about 100 tons were recovered by the army. The balance was retrieved by the Rats of
Nam Yum and the Viet Minh.

Giap ordered suicide attacks repeatedly which yielded mixed results. The French used up
ammunition, Giap's army was thinned considerably, and the garrison held. Giap faced the
combined French army of Algerians, Indochinese, legionnaires and regulars with about 50,000
Viet Minh troops of mixed training and experience. The suicide attacks decimated the French,
but ultimately Giap gave them up for traditional trench warfare. The Viet Minh surrounded Dien
Bien Phu and moved them closer and closer to French lines, until they were able to move
almost directly from the protection of the trenches to the French entrenchments.





In order to support the effort to maintain adequate strength at Dien Bien Phu, the decision
was made to parachute troops into the perimeter. The 1st battalion, 3e étrangère, and 5e
étrangère both called for and received volunteers. The 13e DBLE prevented men from
volunteering for Dien Bien Phu in order to keep the formation up to strength. With out a doubt,
there have never been braver men than those who volunteered to parachute in the dark of night
into the besieged strip of jungle which was under continuous artillery fire from Viet Minh guns.

But guts and bravery can not prevail against a vastly superior army operating in their own
country, properly supplied and modivated. In early May, the Viet Minh rolled up the remnants of
the French Army. On May 1, the legionnaires holding the firebase Huguette collapsed when the
elite Viet Minh 308th Division (the Iron Division) hit them hard. On May 7, firebase Elaine fell.
Later that night, the Viet Minh over-ran Isabelle and with its fall, the battle of Dien Bien Phu
ended.

The death march to prison camps killed far more French troops than the battle had. About
sixty percent of the regular troops and legionnaires died in captivity. Ninty percent of the
Vietnamese troops who fought with the French failed to emerge from the hell of Viet Minh prison
camps. The Vietnamese have never been known for gracious behavior toward prisoners. The
treatment of the legionnaires and other prisoners captured at the conclusion of the battle of Dien
Bien Phu was a particular example of cruelty and unnecessarily harsh treatment of a defeated
foe. In general, it made the Baatan Death March seem tame by comparison.

In the aftermath of the battles to keep Indochina as part of the greater French colonial
interests, the place of the Legion must be considered. One of the reasons the Legion was so
successful was the morale it was able to maintain. The other was the quality of the leadership of
the excellent French officers who lead it. The core of the defence at Dien Bien Phu was the
legionnaires. Certainly the régiment étranger parachutiste at the battle provided the backbone of
the dogged defense which was doomed from the outset, but continued to resist to the end.

Birth Of The Foreign Legion

Formed by
King Louis Philippe
March 10, 1831
It was not very new, since France had always
foreign troops five centuries before France had
foreign troops, under the reign of King Philippe le Bel, [pietons],
then Charles VII, Scottish Guards,
Francois Ier Swiss Guards etc...
In the beginning, the Legion was organized around 7 battalions:

1st Battalion - Swiss
2nd and 3rd Battalions - Swiss and German
4th Battalion - Spanish
5th Battalion - Italian
6th Battalion - Belgian and Dutch
7th Battalion - Polish


During the Spain's campaign in 1835,
Col. Bernelle changed the battalions to
strenghten the unity of the Legion.
The batallions were made of all the nationalities




Legionnaire:
You are a volunteer serving France
faithfully and with honour

Every Legionnaire is your brother at arm,
irrespective of his nationality, race or creed.
You will demonstrate this by an unwavering
and straight forward solidarity which must
always bind together members of the same family

Respectful of the Legions traditions,
honouring your superiors,
disipline and cameradery are your strength,
courage and loyality your virtoues

Proud of your status as that of a Legionnare,
you will display this pride, by your turnout,
always impeccable, your behavior, ever worthy,
though modest, your living-quarters, always tidy

An elite soldier, you will train vigorously,
you will maintain your weapon as if it were your
most precious possession, you will keep your
body in the peak of condition, always fit

A mission once given to you becomes sacred
to you, you will accomplish it to the end of all cost

In combat, you will act without relish of your task,
or hatred, you will respect the vanquished enemy
and will never abandon neither your wounded nor your dead,
nor will you under any circumstances surrender your arms



the most cherished battle in the
history of the Foreign Legion


A convoy carrying gold bullion is about to leave Vera Cruz,
bound for the interior of Mexico.
Escorting the convoy is the
Third Company of the First Battalion of the Foreign Legion.
Its effective strength (due to yellow fever)
is 62 legionnaires (no officers).
Three officers volunteer to go with them:
Captain Danjou, Lt. Vilain (the pay officer), and 2nd Lt. Maudet.

The Mexican sector commander, Colonel Milan,
learns of the convoy and makes plans to capture it.
He musters 2,000 men, including 800 cavalry armed with
Remington and Winchester rifles.
The French have no idea that a large Mexican force
is in the area.

Before 7 a.m. on 30 April, the convoy passes through
the villag