French Ride Forth to Check Islamic Aggresion

[ruthabagah]

I read somewhere that about 66% of the legionnaires who parachuted into the siege of Dien Bien Phu were all ex-wehrmacht/SS.

Yes for Wehrmacht, no for SS. After WW2, a lot of german POW were either asked, or forced (depending of ranks and assignment) to serve the french state for cleaning (Mine removal on the Atlantic wall...), and by 1948, volunteer where incorporated to the Legion. A lot of these men where former Afrika Corps soldiers. This explain why some of the legion's marching song includes german words....

SS are a different story: they were interned in france, then handed over to germany in the late 40'.

[KestrelBike]

Yes for Wehrmacht, no for SS. After WW2, a lot of german POW were either asked, or forced (depending of ranks and assignment) to serve the french state for cleaning (Mine removal on the Atlantic wall...), and by 1948, volunteer where incorporated to the Legion. A lot of these men where former Afrika Corps soldiers. This explain why some of the legion's marching song includes german words....

SS are a different story: they were interned in france, then handed over to germany in the late 40'.

I assumed any In the FFL were Waffen SS and not camp guards, etc?

[ruthabagah]

I assumed any In the FFL were Waffen SS and not camp guards, etc?

No SS and Camp guard should have been admitted in the legion (I do not use FFL, because in my mind it refers to the french resistance). SS, were quickly delt with when captured, and prison guard where not present on french territory in 1945. Also, it is interesting to know that in general "Lager" guards where 2nd, 3rd grade troop unfit for front line duties.

[rondog]

Might as well try to eradicate all the cockroaches and rats in New York City with flyswatters and sticks. One-handed.

[flan7211]

The French Foriegn Legion did have a fair share of SS in their ranks but there is a difference between field and political SS. Most political SS troops worked in admin, policing, and the camps. The field SS were "crack" SS army units. Still committed plenty of atrocities but many of them were able to escape the noose. A good amount of them landed in the FFL where they fought in Algeria and Indochina.

[ruthabagah]

The French Foriegn Legion did have a fair share of SS in their ranks but there is a difference between field and political SS. Most political SS troops worked in admin, policing, and the camps. The field SS were "crack" SS army units. Still committed plenty of atrocities but many of them were able to escape the noose. A good amount of them landed in the FFL where they fought in Algeria and Indochina.

Sorry to contradict you, but these account of SS fighting in indochina are mostly a creation. The book Devils Guard (or devils brigade) was often used as a reference for these rumor, but the this is a fiction novell and the actual figures do not support the presence of german Legionnaires in DBP.

From Bernard Fall's 'Hell in a Very Small Place : the Siege of Dien Bien Phu'
(Bernard Fall is one, if not THE leading authorities on the history of the FFL.)

"from the chapter "Finale" p.439 :
...Contrary to the accepted myth that the Foreign Legion was made up largely of "former SS troopers," many of the Foreign Legionnaires came from the East European countries overrun by the Soviet armies in 1945. (since the average age of the Foreign Legionnaire was about 23 in 1954, most of them had been small boys in 1945.)

from the chapter "Epilogue" p. 451 :
...Lastly, there is the myth of Dien Bien Phu as a "German battle," in which the Germans were said to "indeed made up nearly half of the French forces."...On March 12, 1954 - the day before the battle began in earnest - there were a total of 2,969 Foreign Legionnaires in the fortress, out of a garrison of 10,814. Of the almost 4,300 parachuted reinforcements, a total of 962 belonged to the Foreign Legion. Even if one wrongly assumes (there were important Spanish and Eastern European elements among the Legionnaires at Dien Bien Phu) that 50% of the Legionnaires were German, then only 1,900 men out of more than 15,000 who participated in the battle could have been of German origin. But old myths, particularly when reinforced by prejudice, die hard.

It's likely that a handful of former Waffen-SS soldiers served in the Legion during the French-Indochina war. But despite the literary efforts of Robert Lewis Elford with his "Devils Guard" books in the 1970's and the speculation of SS veterans in the BILOM (Bataillion d'Infanterie Légère d'Outre Mer) unit (composed of former FRENCH Milice members, collaborators and several Waffen-SS from the French volunteers SS Charlemagne division), I haven't seen much evidence to indicate that there were a significant number of SS veterans fighting in Indochina, or that they played a disproportionate role in their units or had a disproportionate effect on the course of events."

[Pancho Villa]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...90O0C720130126

French special forces in Mali with air support on Saturday seized the airport and a key bridge over the Niger River at the Islamist rebel-held stronghold of Gao as France accelerated its ground offensive against al Qaeda-allied fighters.

"The rebels have melted in to the local population. There is harassment. The operation is still under way. It is a bit complicated," a French officer in Mali, who asked not to be named, told Reuters, referring to the assault on Gao.