Forgotten German veterans of France's Vietnam war

[2RHPZ]

Forgotten German veterans of France's Vietnam war
02 May 2004

By James Mackenzie

WEINHEIM AN DER BERGSTRASSE, Germany, May 2 (*******) - Four years after the end of World War Two, while much of Germany still lay in ruins, 17-year-old Egon Pohl left his home to join the Foreign Legion and France's war in Vietnam.
"It was adventure and a new home," said Pohl, who lied about his age to join the elite French force along with thousands of others trying to escape the chaos and rubble of post-war Germany.
An estimated 35,000 Germans served during the eight-year conflict that ended 50 years ago this week when a disastrous defeat at the battle of Dien Bien Phu on May 7, 1954 brought about the fall of France's colonial empire in Indochina.
Many were combat veterans from the army or SS members recruited straight from prisoner of war camps after Germany's defeat.
But many uprooted and disoriented younger men whose homes and family had been lost were also attracted by the promise of adventure and a new start as well as good food and pay.
"I came back from Russia and had nowhere else to go," said Heinz Kaiser, whose parents had both been killed in the war and who joined the Legion in 1953 after his home in the former eastern German region of Silesia was absorbed into Poland.
Highly regarded by the French for their discipline and bravery, Germans made up over half the Foreign Legion units that bore much of the heaviest fighting against the communist Viet Minh forces of Ho Chi Minh.
In a brutal, but now little-known war in which untold numbers of Vietnamese died, more than 10,000 Legionnaires were killed, out of about 70,000 who fought as France battled to keep possessions the Legion had helped conquer from 1883.
On a tranquil spring evening in south Germany, Kaiser, Pohl and others like Manfred Laubscher, who won one of France's top decorations, the Medaille Militaire, in a paratrooper battalion or Rudolf Schneider, who won the same medal as a sergeant in a mainly Vietnamese infantry unit, look back with former comrades.
They recall manning remote bush forts far from the elegant colonial capital Hanoi or patrolling paddy fields and elephant grass where American troops fought more than a decade later.
But direct sightings of their elusive enemy were scarce.
"We only really saw them when they wanted," said Wilhelm Roessler, who spent much of his service in the jungles of Laos.
Exceptions were battles like Dien Bien Phu, where 1,600 Germans took part in an epic defeat masterminded by Vietnamese General Vo Nguyen Giap that became known as France's Stalingrad.
Giap led the Viet Minh, a coalition of communists and nationalists, in the legendary siege of Colonel Christian de Castries's forces in the town of Dien Bien Phu, about 490 km (300 miles) northwest of Hanoi.
FEROCIOUS DISCIPLINE, POWDERED WINE
Serving alongside French and Vietnamese units and Algerian, Moroccan or Senegalese troops from France's colonial empire, the Legion was the backbone of a multinational army fighting a distant war that raised little enthusiasm in a war-weary France.
For their part, the Germans and their Italian, Spanish or eastern European colleagues, felt their main attachment to the Legion rather than to France and few made much effort to speak any other language than German.
"I learned some French, but only because I was interested," said Pohl. Otherwise, most learned only the main French words of command, took their orders from German sergeants and sang German marching songs as they tramped along the dusty roads.
Despite this, the Legion was one of the most decorated units in the French army, its tradition upheld by ferocious discipline and ruthless punishment for those who failed to keep up.
But it also provided strong comradeship and an alternative family as well as stereotypically French comforts such as good food and limitless quantities of wine, even supplied in concentrated or powdered form when troops were in the field.
"We had the right to wine as part of our contract," said Heinrich Back, who served in the later Algerian war and who now heads an "Amicale" or veterans' association in Mannheim.
But despite the strong cohesion of the Legion, a small number of Germans did desert the French to join the Viet Minh and two former German Legionnaires even became top officials in the Viet Minh's propaganda and intelligence services.
AMBIGUITY
Although joining a foreign army was frowned on in Germany, post-war governments could not risk angering France by stopping it outright and there was no shortage of recruits for Indochina.
"The Legion always gets recruits from countries which aren't doing well economically," Back said.
While many saw Legionnaires as irresponsible adventurers, they exerted a strong fascination in the conformist Germany of the 1950s, reflected in the huge success of the sentimental song "Der Legionaer", which spent weeks in the charts in 1958.
However once Germany's "Economic Miracle" brought prosperity in the 1960s, the supply of German recruits dried up and today, only a handful serve in the much-reduced Legion, although there are over 40 veterans' associations in Germany.
Given the insistence in both Paris and Berlin on the ever closer defence ties between the two countries, there is an irony to the fact that so little attention is paid to the thousands of Germans who fought in France's colonial wars.
"We're treated like emperors when we go to France but in Germany, people of our generation still think we're hoodlums," said Wolfgang Fluegge, who joined the Legion in 1954.
But none of the men regrets his time in the Legion. "You won't find any Legionnaire who regrets it," they said.

[deutschersoldat]

nice article

[David Lehmann]

Concerning the "Waffen-SS in the French Foreign Legion in Indochina" myth :

From discussions on the http://forum.axishistory.com/ forum where I am present under the name of 'Panzermeyer'.

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 FRENCH SS veterans in the BILOM (Bataillon d'infanterie légère d'Outre Mer) units (composed of former French Milice members, collaborators and several Waffen-SS from the Charlemagne division), I haven't seen much concrete 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. It's not like Jochen Peiper was chasing "Charlie" through the Plain of Jars in 1955.

Here's what historian (and author of the excellent book on the 13th SS, Himmler's Bosnian Division) had to say on the subject of SS in the FFL :

The "SS in Indochina" myth began even before the release of the novel The Devil's Guard. It originated from Soviet-bloc Communist sources and the PCF (French Communist Party) in France itself. In addition, several memoirs were published by Legion deserters in the DDR in the 1950s that further perpetuated the story. However, all of the serious historians of the Legion agree that it was false. Their analyses can be summed up as follows : The best book on the subject by far is Eckard Michels' Deutsche in der Fremdenlegion, 1871-1965: Mythen und Realitaeten. Although he was denied access to the Legion's own archive in Aubagne, Michels was able to view some great files in the SHAT at Chateau Vincennes. Michels studied the available data and concluded that a (very) small number of ex-Waffen-SS men were able to enter the Legion before 1947. This is when the French government caught wind of the story and demanded a crackdown. After that, Legion recruiters screened prospective volunteers very carefully. One French officer stated that the number of SS men accepted into the Legion shortly after the war was "not more than 60 or 70."

Regards,

David

[OldRecon]

Think I've read somewhere that a lot of Germans also served in the French "regular" Colonial para battalions immediately after WW-2??
What about that?

[2RHPZ]

Good site to get more stuff:

http://members.lycos.co.uk/Indochine/index.html

[fantassin]

No foreigners (except Vietnamese of course) were allowed in French units outside the foreign legion.

Thanks David for setting the record straight on the so-called "thousands" of former Waffen SS in Indochina.

Another myth that's been perpetuated by fiction writers and uninformed individuals....

[David Lehmann]

There were also of course other people from the colonies (or French department like Algeria) like North Africans (Algerians - sometimes the same men that will be in the FLN later -, Tunisians, Morrocans, a few Senegalese) and of course as you said many Indochinese, not only Vietnamese. These men were mainly Annamese (Vietnamese are from Tonkin, Annam and Cochinchine) but also many men from the mountaineous tribes such as the Meo and Hmong who often were used in special forces, with several French SAS or other commandos (commandos-marine) officers.

David

[fdt]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0306808420/103-0745785-8389436?v=glance

Read Herbert Werner's "Iron Coffins" book. He describes quite detailed manner the French Foreign Legion recruitment methods amongst the German POWs. It was quite far from volunteering... Famine and ill treatment of the prisoners were very efficient ways to make'em change their minds about "volunteering" FL... :(

[ZeroPositive]

good read thanks

[uTu]

Forgotten German veterans of France's Vietnam war
02 May 2004

By James Mackenzie

WEINHEIM AN DER BERGSTRASSE, Germany, May 2 (*******) - Four years after the end of World War Two,
quote.
we are so fortunate

[Jackel]

I read the book the Devils Guard about 10 years ago. I thought it was a good read. However I belive it is out of print.

[2RHPZ]

After WWII had ended, France became increasingly involved in a desperate struggle against nationalist and communist forces in the regions of modern Vietnam. It was the increasingly desperate nature of the bloody conflict in Indo-China so soon after the taxing efforts of the Second World War that led to the formation of one of the most obscure and little known units in the history of warfare - a unit of former Wehrmacht POWs culled from French prisons and POW camps to serve in Indo-China. Although not the only unit to consist of WWII POWs of German and French decent, it was the first and is most certainly the least known to serve France during the post-WWII years.

The first move to create this unit began on the 27th of May, 1948 when French Minister of Justice Andre Marie requested from the regional directors of the French prison system information on how many prisoners might be interested in serving in Indo-China to "make amends to the nation".

From the politicians to the military establishment the ripple effect was put in motion and soon after the decision was made to raise a demi-brigade of three battalions of political prisoners (i.e. former members of the Wehrmacht, Waffen-SS, Kriegsmarine, French collaborationist organizations, etc, including both Germans and especially Frenchmen who had been volunteers in the German Armed Forces). On July 6th, 1948, the first battalion of this demi-brigade was formed and named "1re Bataillon d'Infanterie legere d'Outre-Mer", otherwise known as BILOM (short for "light infantry battalion for over-seas").

BILOM units weren't originally formed to go to Indo-China. They were intended to be stationed in various French colonies such as French-Guyana and French Polynesia. It was hoped that BILOM units would free up the French Foreign Legion, which was badly needed in Indo-China. BILOM units were originally designed for occupation and policing duties and therefore were structured as light infantry with no heavy weapons. BILOM units were not a part of the FFL as is sometimes misunderstood.

Only political prisoners were to be used to fill the ranks of this BILOM unit. Although the men chosen would be freed from the French prison and POW camp system there was no chance of amnesty. The men of the unit wouldn't be allowed to serve as officers, wouldn't be eligible for promotion, had no insignia, and they could carry no pennant or unit flag.

In August of 1948 less than 500 men had been accepted for service in this BILOM unit. The men were transported to Frejus in France and provided with rudimentary uniforms and equipment. Here they were trained and formed into a cohesive unit. In an ironic twist of fate, some of the men training the newly formed BILOM were themselves former members of the FFI!

Service for BILOM became a reality on December 11th, 1948 when the 1st Company of BILOM (1/BILOM) consisting of 4 officers, 20 NCO's, 148 men, and portions of BILOM HQ sailed from France to Indo-China onboard the SS Pasteur, arriving in Saigon on December 26th, 1948. From January 3rd, 1949 until March 17th, 1949, 1/BILOM fought exclusively in Cambodia. On March 18th, 1949 1/BILOM was transferred to Sud Annan near the region of Nha Trang. Throughout their service in Cambodia and at Sud Annan 1/BILOM took part in patrols, ambushes, search and destroy operations, sharp engagements, and heavy fighting, all the while taking numerous losses in combat against the Viet Minh.

The 2/BILOM arrived alongside 1/BILOM at Sud Annan on May 17th, 1949. Consisting of 2 officers, 6 NCO's, and 57 men, 2/BILOM had left France on the SS Compiegne and arrived in Saigon on May 8th. 29 more men of 2/BILOM arrived for service later in June. Of special note is the first military award for valor which was presented to men of BILOM in the form of the French croix de guerre on June 20th, 1949.

After many months of dedicated service to France under harsh and relatively unforgiving circumstances in southeast Asia, the former Axis POWs of WWII found themselves accepted into the regular units of the French forces in Indo-China as the newly designated 1 and 2 Companies of the "1re Compagnia de Marche du Sud Annam" otherwise known as 1/CMSA and 2/CMSA. The men of BILOM would go on to be integrated into other French units and would serve with France until their forces were finally pulled out from Indo-China, only to be replaced by American unit who themselves would go on fighting for many more years against the same determined enemy.

[Tom The Hunter]

These german volunteers were most SS, that comitted attrocities all around the Europe, France too!
What a shame to permit to such assasins to wear the french uniform.
Not that french army needed german criminals to behave in that barbaric way that they behaved in Vietnam and Algeria.

[2RHPZ]

France - Lost Legion
Broadcast: 8/4/2003
Reporter: Mark Corcoran

CORCORAN: For 172 years, they've been a constant in the slow march of French history. Foreigners prepared to fight and die for France. . . the men of the Foreign Legion. The Legion carefully cultivates an image of glory and honour, of a toughness bordering on brutality, of battles fought against impossible odds in Indo-China and North Africa. It's a culture of inevitable death. Thirty five thousand Legionnaires have died for France.

These days the 7,500 strong Legion is the first unit France sends into harm's way, be it peacekeeping or intervening in some distant African war. For surviving veterans, there's often no happy ending in retirement. Some march off to a civilian life of depression, alcoholism and violence. The only reassurance, the Legion's vow to look after its own, to never leave a man behind.

In a corner of Provence, some of the world's most dangerous winemakers are hard at work. For this is, officially at least, a French Army base, the Invalides Institute of the Foreign Legion. A retirement chateau for 120 Legion veterans trying to earn their keep with dignity – producing medal-winning reds, whites and roses.

COMMANDANT GILBERT HENSINGER: For example in 2000, a rose was awarded a gold medal at the Paris Agricultural Wine Fair – which is the biggest award you can hope to win.

CORCORAN: Brought in to help the old timers with the harvest is a group of new recruits, mostly from Eastern Europe and the Balkans. In a time honoured tradition, the Foreign Legion will give them a new identity and eventually a precious French passport. Young men wanting to escape their past working alongside veterans with no future – none willing to share their thoughts.

At midday the old soldiers file in for lunch. The mystic of the Legion stripped bare by men who've stared into the abyss of war for too long. Alcohol, divorce or mental illness forcing many to return to the only family they know. According to Chateau Commandant Gilbert Hensinger, these are men who have been damaged by life.

COMMANDANT GILBERT HENSINGER: My job, my role is to help the bums become lords again, Lords they once might have been in their lives, but the uncertainties of life, the knocks they have taken, have turned them into bums. Often on arrival here they are just that, bums.

CORCORAN: More than a few have been on the wrong side of the law. One former Legionnaire was sent here by the courts after he carved up a bar with a chainsaw and took his family hostage. Today a new resident is welcomed after serving a stretch in prison.

COMMANDANT GILBERT HENSINGER: [Introducing Mr Pasquale in the Dining Room] Mr Pasquale has come to us from the north, Boulogne-sur-Mer. Starting from this morning, he's now a member of the camp team as painter, as he was a painter after leaving the Legion. Welcome Mr Pasquale and let's get to work!

MR PASQUALE: Thank you Commandant.

CORCORAN: The Institute was established in 1953, at the height of France's colonial war in Indochina. The French military was locked in a losing battle against Vietnamese nationalists, with the Legion bearing the brunt of the fighting.

COMMANDANT GILBERT HENSINGER: The severe fighting which took place in Indochina generated a great number of casualties. Young legionnaires with legs and arms amputated.

CORCORAN: Many wounded Legionnaires were German, among them veterans of Hitler's armies with no wish to return to the ruins of post-war Germany. A few also feared investigation over Nazi war crimes. We were able to confirm that two German veterans still living here served as officers in the SS, though no one was willing to identify them.

COMMANDANT GILBERT HENSINGER: Nearly seventy percent of the Legionnaires were German and many of these men couldn't go back for a variety of reasons, as you can easily understand.

CORCORAN: As a rule, the Legion always protects the men from their past but there is one old German with an extraordinary history that Commandant Hensinger is prepared to reveal. One of the few veterans here who uses his real name.

COMMANDANT GILBERT HENSINGER: Here are two photos of Mr Freytag at the controls of his Messerschmidt 109.

CORCORAN: Retired Legionnaire Freytag was once Luftwaffe Major Siegfried Freytag - fighter ace and recipient of the prestigious Knight's Cross.

COMMANDANT GILBERT HENSINGER: He was credited with 104 aerial victories and was shot down twice himself. I don’t want to upset you, but he shot down a lot of Anglo Saxon pilots. I'm sure there's an Australian in there.

CORCORAN: He survived the Second World War only to discover that all his family and friends had perished. Joining the Legion, he fought in Indochina as a humble infantryman. He's been here at the Institute for 32 years - a lonely distant figure now well into his 80s. But the past he tried to flee still haunts him, remaining both the best and worst of times in Siegfried Freytag's long life.

SIEGFRIED FREYTAG: The happiest? When I entered the German Air Force and the hardest? When I heard about my mother's death, my parents and comrades.

CORCORAN: Not everyone works in the vineyards. Some younger pensioners keep the demons at bay by turning out gift shop souvenirs, perpetuating the legend of the Legion in stark contrast to the lives they've actually led.

CERAMIC SHOP SUPERVISOR: We try to do as much as possible by hand because the goal is to give the retired legionnaires work and not just mass produce.

CORCORAN: The ceramic shop supervisor, a Spaniard, worked as a graphic designer before signing up. In contrast to so many of his comrades here, he had a long and happy career in the Legion that ended at France's nuclear test site at Muroroa Atoll, boarding and seizing anti-nuclear protest boats.

CERAMIC SHOP SUPERVISOR: I became an officer and eventually left the service after commanding two companies. One company here in metropolitan France and another in Tahiti when the nuclear tests were held in 1996, which you Australians didn’t like so much. Then I took my retirement.

CORCORAN: And when the old Legionnaires finally fade way, they join their comrades here, just beyond the vines.

COMMANDANT GILBERT HENSINGER: Yes my work with the Legionnaires at the Institute, as you say, ends here. Any Legionnaire who dies at the Institute is buried here with full military honours.

CORCORAN: They are buried under names given to them by the Legion. The end of lives seeking redemption from a past they'd fled.

COMMANDANT GILBERT HENSINGER: If they weren't in the Institution, the uncertainties of life might have led them to a much more anonymous and lonely burial.

CORCORAN: But even here the mythology marches on – for according to the Legion, this field of foreigners, so many lost souls in life, have been bestowed a great honour by becoming a Frenchmen in death.

COMMANDANT GILBERT HENSINGER: The Legion never abandons its own, whether in combat or in ordinary life – that is our motto.

[ABNINF]

Never does it say in The Devil's Guard that there are "thousands of SS soldiers" in the foreign legion. It actually reflects that there are very few. The SS soldiers formed the leadership for the most part. When the so called "Nazi Battalion" was formed, they took German soldiers from all over the Legion to comprise them into a battalion. It never said that they were screening for SS soldiers exclusively.

[Kitsune]

This is the ongoing battle: The "Waffens-SS soldiers in the Legion" myth vs David Lehmann.

Will David bury the myth, or will the myth bury David in the end?

We will see. We will see...

;)

[gaijinsamurai]

Thanks, CAG and David! If I could be 20-something again, I would love to join the FFL!

[Johnny_H02]

Awsome, I honestly never heard of this.

Really cool. Thx

[steel bonnet]

I just think it`s ashame that the french are trying to debunk the sacrifice made by these German`s & other national volunteers in favour of French people.

At this time there will have been many Germans (WSS inc) who`d have jumped at this than to return to a conquered nation being carved up. Add to that the fear of War crimes possibly coming back to haunt some of them.

This was a clean slate for many,a far away place with a country that technically is German (been owned many a time by them) anyway calling the shots.

That there memories are being pissed on is shamefull. There actions prior to being FFL`s shouldn`t come into it after all isn`t that part of the FFL credo?

Face it takes Other nations to bail the Frenchies out in anything or even lead them into battle too. Napoleon,William the Conqueror were NOT French,De Gaulle hid in London & then followed the ALLIED invasion into his own Nation.

Anyway not wanting to start a slagging match,just don`t think it`s right that the French again choose to correct there History to make them look better.

SB

[Belial]

wow ...

[Yosy]

I just think it`s ashame that the french are trying to debunk the sacrifice made by these German`s & other national volunteers in favour of French people.

At this time there will have been many Germans (WSS inc) who`d have jumped at this than to return to a conquered nation being carved up. Add to that the fear of War crimes possibly coming back to haunt some of them.

This was a clean slate for many,a far away place with a country that technically is German (been owned many a time by them) anyway calling the shots.

That there memories are being pissed on is shamefull. There actions prior to being FFL`s shouldn`t come into it after all isn`t that part of the FFL credo?

Face it takes Other nations to bail the Frenchies out in anything or even lead them into battle too. Napoleon,William the Conqueror were NOT French,De Gaulle hid in London & then followed the ALLIED invasion into his own Nation.

Anyway not wanting to start a slagging match,just don`t think it`s right that the French again choose to correct there History to make them look better.

SB
:cantbeli:

Another french basher. Go study french military history and report back please.