Kajuko, T. Dien Bien Phu. Die Fallschirmjäger der Fremdenlegion in Indochina

A novelistic account of the French Foreign Legion. Arthur Engel experienced the war in Indochina as a paratrooper in the French Foreign Legion in the 1st BEP and the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954. In this novel-like biography, the author Terry Kajuko has processed his father's experiences. In addition to interesting personal experiences, this book, which includes over 250 photographs and maps, explains numerous facts and backgrounds of the Indochina War, the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and the French Foreign Legion.

"Trained as paratroopers in Algeria and shipped to Indochina, they were in no ordinary war, but a jungle war of microcosm. A war without a coherent front. The operational area of an elite soldier, the paratrooper. In the north, on the border with Laos and not far from China, the best colonial troops were floating out of the sky or being dropped on the assembled landing strip in no time at all. It was the largest airborne operation in the Indochina and later Vietnam War. In the ensuing battle in a valley called Dien Biên Phu, mobile combat units were housed in pieced-together earthen fortifications that were in no way adequately secured against shellfire. Surrounded by a superbly armed superior force, the Viet Minh, protected in trenches. General Giap's artillery fired in complete surprise from well camouflaged positions high up in the mountains where every shell fired was a hit."