French Foreign Legion Paratroopers

The decision, in Spring 1948, to form two battalions of Foreign Legion paratroopers was prompted by the requirement for enlarged airborne forces in the First Indochina War (1946), and the healthy recruitment then employed by the Legion. There were some initial doubts. The Legion were known to be magnificent heavy infantry, but were felt by some to lack the flexibility and agility demanded by independent airborne operations. In the Legion itself there were some misgivings over the possible clash between the self-consciously exclusive 'para mentality', and the Legion's own very marked esprit de corps. Over time, however, all these doubts evaporated with experience.

---

Some books that may interest you

Living in Medieval England By: Kathryn Warner	Hannibal's Last Battle By: Joshua B. Allfree, John Cairns, Brian Todd Carey	Air War D-Day: Assaults from the Sky By: Martin Bowman
Bletchley Park's Secret Room By: Joss Pearson	All Quiet on the Home Front By: Steve Humphries, Richard van Emden	A Century of Air Warfare With Nine (IX) Squadron, RAF By: Gordon Thorburn
Aero-Neurosis By: Mark C Wilkins	Skagerrak By: Gary Staff	The History of the Waterloo Campaign By: W. Siborne