INDOCHINA; FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Photograph album showing the Second Foreign Infantry Regiment in the First Indochina War. A snapshot of life in the French Foreign Legion during the First Indochina War. The album shows the regiment on parade, aerial shots of gun emplacements, and the Col de Nuages (Hai Van Pass), which would see a fatal derailment in 1953. One of the photographs shows future prime minister Tran Van Huu inspecting troops alongside a legion officer.This album contains many photographs of south Vietnam, including Nha Trang, Ai Nghia, Hoa My, Dong Phu, and Quang Nam. Some the prints are tourist photographs of local people or official studio photography of military parades, but the majority are more candid shots of soldiers and gun emplacements which seem to have been taken by the legionnaire. The opening leaves focus on the French Foreign Legion's Camerone Day celebrations on 30 April 1951, showing the regiment parading its colours and with the popular Pionniers unit in full dress. A number of the senior officers are identified on the reverse of the prints."The 1st Battalion under Major Le Toulec left Africa and landed in Indochina in early 1949. It was stationed in Annam (present-day Central Vietnam), south of Tourene (now Da Nang). This city was about 300 miles (500 km) north of Nha Trang, the 2e REI HQ... The legionnaires were mainly tasked with maintaining order in the sector, as well as patrolling the main routes and keeping them safe and passable" (French Foreign Legion Information). There

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