The "Battalion of the Damned"

[hist2004]

During the French war in Indochina, the Foreign Legion suffered it's highest caualty rate ever, with
around 10,000 legionnaries killed in action.The Foreign Legion usually had something like 30,000 men
in country. 1 Calvary regiment, 3 Infantry regiments and 2 regiments of "Paras" or Airborne troops.
2,000 Legionnaires deserted between 1946-1954. An unbelievable high rate. Even more disturbing
some Germans formed themselves into bandit groups attacking both sides or joining the Viet Minh.
The largest contingent( about 30%) in the Legion were Germans.the German soldiers were often WWII
POWs, former Abweher operatives in Asia, and war criminals fleeing persecution, or those finding it hard
to get a job in post-war Germany(French recruiting posts popped up in the zones they occupied, despite
the disapproval of the other Allied nations). With such a large body of Germans, the French felt safe
issuing their troops vintage Reich weapons like the MP40(complete with the origianl German language manuals).
This probably also accounts for the odd Luger 9mm pistol that US forces would occasionally find in the later
Vietnam war.
One solid "German Battalion" was formed and was accused of atrocities by the Viet Minh."The "Battalion of the
Damned" as they preferred to call themselves had lived exactly 1,243 days. during which it destroyed 7,466
guerillas by body count, 221 Viet Minh bases, supply dumps, and camps; it liberated 311 military and civilian
prisoners from terrorist captivity and covered roughly 11,000 kilometres on foot. They lost 515 men - to them
a very heavy loss.The Viet Minh had scored a resounding victory, to be followed 700 days later by the tragedy
of Dien Bien Phu, the ultimate French humiliation.

Regards & Thanks,
Hist2004

[Roger Rabbit]

Do you know of any books about these events?

[hist2004]

Do you know of any books about these events?

Unfortunately no, it was difficult enough gathering the info. If there are any
inaccuracies please feel free to update or correct.

Regards & Thanks,
Hist2004

[W(M)D]

Do you know of any books about these events?

There is definitely a book written by a former SS or German paratroop officer who served in said battalion. I read it years ago and was an interesting read, something along the lines of Russian front fighting but in SE Asia.
Unfortunately the book's name escapes me but try some form of google search called 'Battalion of the Damned'.

[Ngati Tumatauenga]

I believe its called 'The devils guard'.

[David Lehmann]

This book is a fiction, a novel.

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=44775&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=vietnam+foriegn+foreign+legion&start=0

David

[throat warbler mangrove]

I have often wondered about the book, "Devil's Guard," since I read it as a school boy and later in the USMC. A U.S. military gear catalog once advertised the book as required reading by the officer corps of a south African country [or words to that effect]. I've seen posts that have questioned its veracity and I agree that its mostly fiction. However, I wonder where the author, George Robert Elford, got his inspiration and background information, and whether the book's protagonist, Hans Josef Wagemueller, was based on a true character. Regardless of whether its fact or fiction, the tactics in the book ring true if not the extent to which they were applied or the battles described. And I wonder who is George Robert Elford? Has anyone ever heard of him outside of the context of the "Devil's Guard or its sequels?

Elford's sequel books are garbage and unbelievable.

[Huck Mucus]

I remember that book. You gave it to me on ship. I recall the instance where the Viet Mihn had a bunch of French guys surrounded at some fort and the Devils Guard was called to the rescue. When held up in route by some French who would not pass an area controlled by the Viet Mihn, the Guard gathered up all the local women and children, placed them on their vehicles and drove right on through. When they arrived outside the fort, the "enemy" was telling the French to surrender or they'd lop off a head of a prisoner for every day the French held. The French were about to surrender when the Guard showed up and started lopping heads of there own. The Viet Mihn let the prisoners go, packed their bags and left. At least that is how I remember it from a quarter century ago.

The worst piece of crap I read was "The Five Fingers." Cpl. B. loaned it to me. WAY over the top.

[David Lehmann]

Hello,

As pointed out the important role of former Waffen-SS troops in the French Foreign Legion is just a myth. And the unit called the "Battalion of the damned" is the BILOM, a French unit made up of French former Waffen-SS and collaborationists who were in jail in France for political reason, there are no German members in this unit and it is not part of the French Foreign Legion.


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. 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."

To know more about this unit there is a book in French language by Raymond Muelle (a former member of the 11e Choc) : "Le bataillon des damnés" (Grancher) ISBN : 2-7339-0741-7.

http://www.lehussard-librairie.com/catalog/images/Bataillon_damnes.jpg

The BILOM was formed in 1948 (very poorly equipped and armed) and engaged in Cambodia and South Annam in 1949-1950. I also never heard about warcrimes etc. concerning this unit, it is probably one additional effect from the communist propaganda. Some of these men like Henri Barlon fought in the Sturmbrigade Frankreich, then in the BILOM in Indochina, then in Korea in the French battalion, then again in Indochina in the GM100 (Groupement Mobile 100, fighting after Dien Bien Phu until July 1954), POW in the Viet-Minh retaliation camps, then parachutist in Algeria and survived.

Regards,

David

[hist2004]

Thanks to David for answering my request for additional information.

Regards,
Hist2004

[David Lehmann]

A word concerning the author of this book (and many others) :
Raymond Muelle was born in 1921. In 1940 he tried to join Great Britain via Spain. He went secretely in North Africa and enlisted in the 3rd Morrocan Spahis Regiment, officers school of Cherchell, 1er Chasseurs d'Afrique regiment and Bataillon de Choc (commandos). He participated to the liberation of Grenoble and the battles in the Vosges, in Alsace, Germany and Austria with the French forces. After WW2 he spent two periods in Indochina in a French Former Legion airborne unit. Battalion commander in the 11e bataillon de choc in Algeria and finally in the action service of the SDECE (ancestor of the DGSE). Favorable to the putsch against De Gaulle in Algeria he was arrested, judged and put in jail.

Regards,

David

[fantassin]

Bang goes the theory that the only good soldiers in the French army in Indochina were the famous ex SS....

Some will be disappointed...