FOREIGN LEGION

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 3, 3 December 1931, Page 3

FOREIGN LEGION

. “GREAT FIGHTING FORCE.”

Many interesting and little-known facts about the Erench Foreign Legion were related by Admiral Sir Guy Gaunt, iu an address given at Sydney recently. Afetr mentioning that he had known the Legion well—-.both in war and in peace—Sir Guy Gaunt said that at one time the;e were a’ large number of Englishmen in the Legion, but during the last few years it had been composed almost entirely of Russians and Germans. Among the officers of the corps was a brother of the King of Denmark. He had been an officer of the Danish Guards, but tiring of the ordinary guard mounting he joined the Legion, and would shortly bo in command of the battalion.

“Once in the Legion, a man. is perfectly safe,” said Sir Guy Gaunt. “The Erench will not surrender him — in fact they will not even admit of his existence. Personally, why a man wants to join the Legion, when by hitting a policeman or something else lie could get into a local gaol and have much better times, entirely defeats mo.”

The corps, at the present time, lie •aid. consisted of about 16,000 men under the command of a very fine soldier named Itoulet, who inspired the niost extraordinary confidence and admiration among officers and men. Awful tales were told of the severity and discipline of the Foreign Legion, and they could hardly be exaggerated. The oorps was a great fighting force. “To give you some idea how men will try to get away from the battalion,” he said, “on their passage through the Suez Canal, or when laid up iu any harbour, they are kept below in hatches under a strong guard. I also know an Englishman who shot himself through the arm in the hope of being invalided out—but they stuck to him. The Legion never publishes a casualty list. It would not be very much good announcing that Private Jones had been killed, when everyone knew that his name was Smith ! The only way one gets to know that the Legion has been ‘getting it in the neck’ is when you see a Jot of officers’ names among tho casualties. “The marching of the Legion is an example to the fighting regiments of the world. They pride themselves on it. The men sing all the time, and the officers make a point of getting off their horses and walking with the men. Once in the Legion a man seems to have no nationality, but they are the most loyal corps that you can possibly get; this large body of men drawn from all quarters of the world into the Legion that boasts ‘you enlist to die.’ ”