Houssin, Jean-Michel S'Engager

Le XIe Régiment Étranger d’Infanterie. Campagne de France. Novembre 1939 - Juin 1940

At the request of the Commander of the Foreign Legion Recruitment Group (GRLE), the author here dedicates himself to the history of the 11th Foreign Legion Infantry Regiment. Today, the GRLE serves as the custodian of the traditions of the 11th REI. It safeguards the regimental standard and organizes numerous events to commemorate the regiments all-too-brief historya history written by these men with their very blood upon the soil of the Meuse. While not the culmination of these commemorative efforts, this book is nonetheless of central importance, forming part of a multifaceted tribute. Since 2018, a succession of exhibitions, conferences, nativity scenes, and military ceremonies have been held to tell the regiment's story. It was a short-lived regiment that perished in the maelstrom of the French armies' collapse in 193940. It represented an extraordinary gathering of men from the most diverse backgrounds. Legionnaires of all rankswhether reservists or regularswho had volunteered for the duration of the war, formed a cohesive unit that withstood the fierce assaults of the Wehrmacht. Only the capitulation of the French Army could finally break these Legionnairesmen who, from that moment on, continued the fight along many other paths.