GPS May 2020

Germans in the
French Foreign Legion
Jerry H. Miller
The ‘French Foreign Legion’ is a voluntary military group composed
primarily of non-French volunteers. As an arm of the French military,
Legion members are not so-called mercenaries but serve minimum
five-year-duty contracts. Serving twenty years entitles participants to a
French-paid pension as well as lifetime health care at military hospitals.
The Legion was organized in 1831 for missions in Algeria, which
mostly consisted ofsuppression of local uprisings. Between 1831-1999, it
was actively involved in twenty-four wars or campaigns worldwide. The
Foreign Legion as well as the Paratrooper Unit Command are considered
the elite of French fighting forces.
German-speakers were volunteers in the Legion from its origin,
becoming 35% of its total force post World War II.
Before German prisoners of war were released from French camps at
the end of the war, the Legion is known to have recruited inmates.
Upon release from Allied camps in Europe & abroad, many former
members of the German Wehrmacht returned home to civilian life often
finding towns and cities in ruins with few employment opportunities.
Some of those young men, had volunteered or were drafted into German
service between 1939-1945 prior to completion of apprenticeship or
occupation training. Many of those returnees therefore returned to civilian
life with only qualifications relating to military service motivating
them to join the Legion.
In post-war French-Occupation-Zone Germany, an estimated third
of men between 18-20 years of age were enrolled in the Legion, not all
of whom were volunteers, since the French were known to have pressed
some of them knowingly or unknowingly into service. After signing
volunteer contracts, they were smuggled into France wearing uniforms
and brought to Legion bases.
The numbers of German speakers in the Legion were highest during
the French Indo-China and Algerian conflicts of the 1950s, decreasing
by 1962. A large number of casualties occurred with the French defeat
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