Customer Reviews

Camerone: The French Foreign Legion's Greatest Battle

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Good read, but way too pricey for quality. Several pictures and plates lack any color and don't show up well at all.

In Aubagne France, on April 30 of every year, a wooden hand is solemnly paraded in a ceremony commemorating the most sacred battle of the French Foreign Legion. In a dusty hamlet in a remote corner of Mexico, Captain Danjou, the owner of the hand, and 64 other Legionnaires held off a force of over 2000 Mexicans, until the last handful of survivors, wounded and out of ammunition, prepared a bayonet charge. Camerone exemplifies the courage and sacrifice of the Legion, in a tradition which is carried forth even today. The story is told well here,with clear maps and illustrations.

Men have fought in many guises and in many places for their honor, for that of their comrades and for a cause, regardless of cost, something civilians don't seem to understrand. Belleau Woods was such a battle against overwhelming fire power, as was Normandy, Iwo Jima, Hue City, and Khe Sahn.

One such battle that cost the lives of those defending was fought at the Alamo Mission in San Antonio de Bexar, Texas, in 1836, where some 83 Texicans fough for independence against the overwhelming odds of Santa Ana's army - some 5,000 strong. Another desperate battle, strangely enough against overwhelming Mexican odds of some 2,000, was that fought in 1863 by a battered company of 62 French Foreign Legionnaires at Cameron, about 30 miles from Vera Cruz.

The 62 Legionnaires fought galiantly to the last, killing an estimated 500 Mexican soldatos and guerrilleros during their stand. The last act of bravery, when their ammunition ran out, was a bayonet change by not more than a handful of the remaining Legionnaires.

This book by Ryan captures not only the spirit of brave men in a desperate battle, but also the spirit of the Foreign Legion, which is celebrated by Legionnaires, wherever they are, on April 30.

An excellent story that, like the story of the Alamo, proves truth is not only stranger than fiction, it is often more readable.

Via la Legion and Seper Fi Legionnaires!