The French Imperial experiment of the French Foreign Legion was born from a questionable and colonial desire to raise a force, “that could face danger and human losses without drawing the political backlash that French-born victims would elicit”; curiously known as the combatants without legal existence.
Hollywood romanticised this tough band to ‘scions of aristocratic families leaving behind gambling debts’ from any land or ethnicity (150 nationalities!) to become the fabled French Legionnaires.
No questions were asked nor documents sought and enrollment came with the option to hide or change their identities forever. These mercenaries fought for the Legion and not France itself, hence the motto ‘Legio Patria Nostra’ or Legion is my country!
While such brouhaha and bombast may spark public imagination, it also makes for a sobering contrast when viewed against the professional and regular soldiers sworn to a nation and its constitution. Disciple is the first and foremost casualty and history suggests dangerously very ‘iffy’ results. With a sizeable composition of Germans in its ranks, the Legionnaires simply refused to put up a fight against Nazis in World War II.