French Foreign Legion 1872–1914 (Men-at-Arms) Paperback – July 20, 2010

The book gives excellent pictures of what uniforms the Legion wore in Inchochine, Dahomey, and Madagascar compared to the uniforms that you typically see the Legion wore in Morocco and Algeria. Good information about French operations in Vietnam. Good information about the different French military units, what their roles were, and who comprise those units.

Great

Excellent overview of this iconic fighting force at one of its periods of greatest glory.

Another FFL book by Martin Windrow. need I say more. If you are into the FFL this is another great book focusing on a specific time frame of FFL history. Oustanding reading and illustrations.

excellent book, packaged very well, well worth the money

A jolly riveting read.

This is the first book in the three sets of the FFL by Martin Windrow; it must be read together with Osprey's "French Foreign Légionnaire 1890-1914" of the Warrior series and "Our Friends Beneath the Sands: The French Foreign Legion in France's Colonial Conquests 1870-1935", a 695-pages long hardcover book. This book is an excellent addition to the Osprey Man-at-Arms series and for the literature around the French Foreign Legion.The period studied is that of the "Golden Age" of the FFL, when it helped France to build its colonial empire. After the Franco-Prussian War, the French Foreign Legion was the strongest and the only all-volunteer white infantry regiment in the French Army. The Legion would fight in far flung battlefields in Algeria, Vietnam, West Africa, Madagascar, the "Sud-Oranais" and Morocco. The legionnaires would prove so effective that the Legion was steadily tripled in size to 12 large battalions. Martin Windrow explains how - and why - the Legion fought the way it did, and how it gained such a reputation for endurance and bravery.Following the format of the Men-at-Arms series, this book describes the organization, campaigns and uniforms of the Legion during the period. It has high quality color plates from Osprey legend Mike Chappell, black and white pictures, maps and drawings. A common sight in those images is that almost everybody has a moustache. As expected, Mike Chappell makes a great job in presenting the Legion's famous uniforms, especially the "blue-iron grey" greatcoat ("capote") and the képi with white cover and neck-flap. The representations are well balanced between campaign dress, marching order, barracks dress and and cerimonial dress, like a smartly dressed corporal in plate H2, with impeccable parade uniform and medals.While the officers in the Metroplitan Army considered the colonial soldiers to be professionally ill-educated and socially inferior "cowboys", the colonial army saw vastly more active service and regarded the Metropolitans as rigid and snobbish "book-soldiers". The Legion, part of the colonial army, demonstrated unrivalled endurance and hardihood, becoming one of the main instruments of French colonial expansion. The brave and hard men of the French Foreign Legion are well represented by this book, which is a great addition to anyone interested in military history, modelling, and for the FFL enthusiast, it is a must-have.

A history of the work of the French Foreign Legion from 1872-1914.The book does a solid job of showing the various deployments of Foreign Legion troops--from Vietnam to West Africa (e.g., Dahomey and French West Africa), Madagascar, the border between Morocco and Algeria, and Morocco itself. The story notes the role of the Legion along with other French Forces.Some maps help out and there are illustrations of the uniforms of French troops.It would have been nice to have had some detail about the nature of the Legion, its training, and so on. A useful book, but somewhat one dimensional. We really learn little of the origns of the Legion, what set it apart from other elements of the French military, and its contributions to the security of France.

Very good basic books

Como suele ser habitual en esta editorial, el libro recoge de forma resumida pero con rigor las diferentes campañas en que estuvo envuelta la Legión Francesa durante 1872 a 1914.Comienza con una introducción sobre las formas de reclutamiento que tenía Francis para combatir fuera de sus fronteras, ente las que estaba la Legión.A continuación se detallan las diferentes campañas y unidades que acompañaron a la Legión en sus combates en Argelia, Dahomei, Vietnam, Madagascar y especialmente por duración e importancia de los enfrentamientos, en el sur de Marruecos, a lo largo de más de 20 años de intento de pacificación de esa zona.La información aportada para cada campaña es más que suficiente para hacerse una idea de cómo se combatía, las inclemencias del tiempo, la moral y preparación de sus enemigos, etc.Las láminas, del gran Mike Chapell son de una gran calidad y describen con gran realismo la apariencia de estas tropas durante este tiempo.

good book!

La réputation des publications Osprey n'est plus à faire. LA qualité de la recherche et celle de l'illustration font de cette collection, une excellente base de travail pour le grand public. Et en plus, on est obligé de perfectionner son anglais!

Informative