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Post by rockape867 on Mar 6, 2019 5:12:10 GMT -5
I got my copy from Abe Books. Much cheaper than Amazon, and still copies available.
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dienbienphu
Entraînement
"The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"- Final message from DBP
Posts: 24
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Post by dienbienphu on Mar 11, 2019 8:09:38 GMT -5
I'll pick one up at the earliest convenience; thanks for the help!
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Post by Kenneth on Mar 27, 2019 7:36:22 GMT -5
Although I don't have the one about paratroopers in Indochina, I do have both the one about the Foreign Legion in Indochina (in English) and the other one about the Foreign Legion in Algeria (in French). My wife got both of them for me for Christmas, probably from Amazon.
Both books are excellent. They are very thorough and will almost certainly contain some detail of information that you didn't know already. There is some overlap between the two books, though, but the two theaters are so different that much that applies to one does not apply to the other. The English translation is a little suspect in places, though, but not critical. The author or translator uses "canvas" to describe a lot of fabrics that we probably wouldn't think of as canvas, for example. There are also several terms that I've never heard of before, like "revolver pocket" for hip pocket and a few terms for fabrics that I've never seen before. But there are between the two books descriptions of things I've not seen elsewhere, which is not to say they haven't been written about before. Things like the very early French battledress uniforms, the uniforms manufactured in Indochina and so on. There are a few things you might expect greater detail on, like the blue sash, which is covered in one sentence. But there is page after page about the distinctive uniform items worn by the Saharienne porte units in Algeria.
The two books are by different authors, by the way.
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Post by Kenneth on Sept 2, 2019 7:39:30 GMT -5
I thought I'd throw in another comment here about a recent acquisition of mine. It's well after the periods in question, however, but it does reflect some Legion dress eccentricities.
The item is a khaki (tan) dress shirt in a polyester-wool blend. It was the issue shirt probably in the 1980, presumably replacing the summer cotton khaki uniforms. There were matching pants, too. I don't know when it came into use or became obsolete but there are different uniforms in use now. I also believe there are no longer separate summer and winter uniforms, other than the use of short-sleeve shirts. This seems to be a universal trend. The material is very similar to the navy blue U.S. Navy long-sleeve shirt, which may also be obsolete. The material, however, was in use for summer dress uniform suits for officers and senior enlisted before the end of the Algerian war, rather like the U.S. tropical worsted uniforms of the period.
Anyway, the interesting thing about the shirt from our standpoint is the multitude of creases on the front, the back and the sleeves, exactly as noted in several references. I don't think they are permanent creases and may have been a headache for the soldiers. There were also several thread loops on the sleeves and chest for attaching patches and other insignia. There were none with the garment, so I can't be positive that it was issued to the Foreign Legion and I don't know if that style of shirt creases is followed in other French army units.
On the subject of museums, I visited the French Army museum in Paris a few years ago when my daughter was living overseas. It's in the building with Napoleon's tomb. With almost any large museum, you never get to see that much and I don't remember anything about the Foreign Legion or much of anything from after 1940.
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