Germany As a Culture of Remembrance Promises And Limits of Writing History Book

The French Foreign Legion has often been portrayed with romance and a dash of fantasy. Tony Geraghty tells the story of the legion, tracing their formation and outlining the principles of a legionnaire. From the outset, the legion is shown to have been made up of mostly foreigners, including bands of native warriors from the French colonies. The Legion, as Mr. Geraghty shows, has often had a relationship with the French government that is similar to an evil stepmother with an unwanted stepchild.

The book describes in good detail the events of the major battles which the Legionnaires have been involved in. Starting with Waterloo through to World War I and II, the French involvement in Indo-China and onto the struggle and mutiny of Algeria and the Legion in modern times, each battle saw the loss of scores of legionnaires, either through desertion or death. I was particularly astonished by the Legion’s feats in Camerone and most especially in Indo-China. As with Camerone, Dien Bien Phu was a ferocious battle, with so many lives lost and men made and broken. Mr Geraghty introduces us to the remarkable men (and one woman) of the Legion; men such as Colonel Pierre Jeanpierre, Captain Jean Danjou and many others whose names have gone down in Legion accounts as larger than life figures.

All in all, this is a well-researched introduction to the Foreign Legion and how French politics have shaped and influenced their existence.