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Author: G. H. Bennett Publisher: A&C Black ISBN: 1441106626 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 289
Book Description
This book examines and analyses the relationship between the RAF, the Free French Movement and the French fighter pilots in WWII. A highly significant subject, this has been ignored by academics on both sides of the Channel. This ground-breaking study will fill a significant gap in the historiography of the War. Bennett's painstaking research has unearthed primary source material in both Britain and France including Squadron records, diaries, oral histories and memoirs. In the post-war period the idea of French pilots serving with the RAF seemed anachronistic to both sides. For the French nation the desire to draw a veil over the war years helped to obscure many aspects of the past, and for the British the idea of French pilots did not accord with the myths of "the Few" to whom so much was owed. Those French pilots who served had to make daring escapes. Classed as deserters they risked court martial and execution if caught. They would play a vital role on D-Day and the battle for control of the skies which followed.
Author: G. H. Bennett Publisher: A&C Black ISBN: 1441106626 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 289
Book Description
This book examines and analyses the relationship between the RAF, the Free French Movement and the French fighter pilots in WWII. A highly significant subject, this has been ignored by academics on both sides of the Channel. This ground-breaking study will fill a significant gap in the historiography of the War. Bennett's painstaking research has unearthed primary source material in both Britain and France including Squadron records, diaries, oral histories and memoirs. In the post-war period the idea of French pilots serving with the RAF seemed anachronistic to both sides. For the French nation the desire to draw a veil over the war years helped to obscure many aspects of the past, and for the British the idea of French pilots did not accord with the myths of "the Few" to whom so much was owed. Those French pilots who served had to make daring escapes. Classed as deserters they risked court martial and execution if caught. They would play a vital role on D-Day and the battle for control of the skies which followed.
Author: G. H. Bennett Publisher: A&C Black ISBN: 1441192050 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 398
Book Description
This book examines and analyses the relationship between the RAF, the Free French Movement and the French fighter pilots in WWII. A highly significant subject, this has been ignored by academics on both sides of the Channel. This ground-breaking study will fill a significant gap in the historiography of the War. Bennett's painstaking research has unearthed primary source material in both Britain and France including Squadron records, diaries, oral histories and memoirs. In the post-war period the idea of French pilots serving with the RAF seemed anachronistic to both sides. For the French nation the desire to draw a veil over the war years helped to obscure many aspects of the past, and for the British the idea of French pilots did not accord with the myths of "the Few" to whom so much was owed. Those French pilots who served had to make daring escapes. Classed as deserters they risked court martial and execution if caught. They would play a vital role on D-Day and the battle for control of the skies which followed.
Author: Bill Parris Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson ISBN: 9780304366972 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 256
Book Description
A British soldier reveals what it takes to serve in the elite French Foreign Legion Penniless, divorced and AWOL from the British forces, Bill Parris volunteered for the French Foreign Legion in the early 1980s. Unlike many British volunteers to the Legion, Bill did not desert. He endured a horrendous training regime and, despite a fear of heights (!) joined the elite Foreign Legion Parachute Regiment. This is more than a war story - it is a personal journey too, as Bill comes to terms with his own inner demons. His five years' service included brutal combat in Rwanda and Chad, events that still trigger nightmares. But he emerged as a man at peace with himself, and with a story to tell.
Author: Douglas Boyd Publisher: ISBN: 9781530731664 Category : Languages : en Pages : 458
Book Description
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.
Author: Jean-Denis G.G. Lepage Publisher: McFarland ISBN: 0786462531 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 255
Book Description
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.
Author: Walter Kanitz Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing ISBN: 1787205762 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 519
Book Description
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!”
Author: Martin Windrow Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN: 1846037239 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 66
Book Description
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.
Author: Douglas Boyd Publisher: Ian Allen Pub ISBN: 9780711035003 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 464
Book Description
The French Foreign Legion is an extraordinary and unique army, specifically created for foreign nationals wishing to serve in the French Armed Forces, but commanded by French officers. For nearly two centuries, adventure seekers or men on the run from all around the globe have found a home in the Foreign Legion and shed blood for France. In this book, author Douglas Boyd has been given unrivalled access to the Legion to tell its story from its inception in the 1830s, when it was primarily used to protect and expand the French colonial empire during the nineteenth century, but it has also fought in almost all French wars including the Franco-Prussian War and both World Wars. The Legion is today known as an elite military unit whose training focuses not only on traditional military skills, but also on its strong esprit de corps.
Author: Prince Aage Publisher: Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, Page ISBN: Category : France Languages : en Pages : 210
Book Description
Søgeord: Legionærer;Franske Elitestyrker; Fransk Militærhistorie; Foreign Legion; Danske i Udenlandsk Tjeneste; Danske Frivillige i Udenlandsk Tjeneste;Legionærliv; Ære; Mod; Troskab; Soldaterkammeratskab; Disciplin; Soldaterliv; Hverdagsliv; Algeriet.