FULL MOVIE - Warriors of the French Foreign Legion

it's been called an army of thieves and cutthroats I got into trouble back in in the States a band of hired killers was in the Australian Army and I was kicked out from the burning sands of northern Africa to the jungles of South America whenever the odds are long and the battle fears the French Foreign Legion has been called into action I think they're more disposable they are ready for death [Music] for Persian Gulf 1991 an allied coalition unleashes Operation Desert Storm American forces lead the assault [Music] 100 hours later the Iraqis are defeated and Kuwait is liberated [Music] over 30 nations came together to form the coalition but one band of soldiers stood apart the French Foreign Legion a regiment shrouded in secrecy and littered with mystique they shouldered a heavy burden guard the coalition's left flank from counter-attack general Norman Schwarzkopf commanded the Allied coalition believe him did a great job they had the mobility that was required for that kind of a operation a lot of people said when we went proposed the operation in the first place but we just bogged down in the sand or we'd hit the rocks or something like that they didn't have all so that was really the idea of go for [Music] fuel no the Legion still exists even fewer have been inside since its inception nearly two centuries ago the Legion goes where a legionary is most needed they're part of the regular French army but no one holding a French passport is allowed to join only foreigners can enlist and once you're in you may not make it out the legion was created as a way to funnel immigrants and criminals out of france and onto the battlefield an idea as old as war itself mercenaries who fight for profit whatever the cost in a quiet town in the northeastern United States Thomas Kadesh goes about his daily routine for two and a half years he's worked as an auditor for a local oil company his weapons today are calculators and computers but they weren't always inside thomas Hyde's secret memories of times past and battles fought from 1980 to 1985 Kadesh served in the French Foreign Legion by the time he joined he'd already spent 4 and a half years in the US Marine Corps when being one of the few and the proud lost its edge he went looking for something more adventurous when I joined the Legion I didn't know whether or not I had lived through the five years my goal was to be a mercenary life expectancy of a mercenary isn't very high I figured my life expectancy as a Legionnaire could be about the same today more than 8,000 men from over 130 countries served in the French Foreign Legion Chinese British Australians bin Americans Colonel bouquet is the commander of the legions elite 2nd parachute regiment there's only one difference between the French Foreign Legion and the the rest of the French army it is the fact that we accept foreigners for everything else it is almost exactly the same the same rules the same equipment the same weapons the same vehicles the same structures same organization with one exception while french law allows women to serve in the army the legion itself won't let them in general bernard Grail is the highest ranking officer in the French Foreign Legion for the moment it is impossible for us to accept women into the legion because our training system and our day-to-day life within the legions it's just won't allow us to make this family work and create a cohesive unit from this group of foreigners we have to place everybody into a big bowl close the lid and shake it around and like they do in other countries we can't separate the men from the women each man is here by his own choice for Monsieur Bob successive honorable some are on the run others seek a challenge most grave adventure and here the calling of the warrior if you're gonna join an army you don't want to spend all your time in garrison you don't to waste your time training and training and training and never getting a chance to use it if you join the Legion more likely than not you don't go to combat this is where their story begins Paris for tennis on the entry point into the Legion millions of men have passed through these gates into a dark and secretive world where only one in 12 is accepted a fierce competition to be one of the chosen few lesson it's the only institution of its kind in the world the only one that gives a man a second chance whatever the reason if the man wants to shed his old skin leave behind his entire life he can come to us and start over be reborn in a way without a lot of questions about his past the point is that when everything is alright for you in your life you don't get the ID to join the French Foreign Legion only people who had some kinds of failure in their life get the ID to join the Legion that's to say that they had a problem not everyone comes with baggage but some do twenty-eight-year-old Randolph Clark was rejected by the US military he discovered the Legion on the Internet two months later he arrived in Paris when I was around 18 19 I had gotten in some trouble back in in the States and kind of sailed around a bit went to college I decided that I needed to make something happen the Legion offers every recruit a fresh start and a new identity if he chooses a guy who's speaking of broken English they'd wait here and somebody else came in who spoke English much better and said why do you want to join the Legion so I told him why I wanted to join the Legion and he looked at my passport and he said wait here about five minutes later he came back with a piece of paper it was a different name typed on it he said sign this your name is now Jeffrey Keith under their new name they sign a five-year contract but promises a rendezvous with danger from this moment a recruit begins a new life whether he's looking ahead pour over his shoulder if he chooses to shun his past it won't get through the front gate Colonel Mishka yakovlev the idea is that in effect we'll sign the contract under fake identity and latter's I know Nima we create a disconnect between the you you were as a civilian before and who you are now as a Legionnaire someone who's looking for you you're not there anymore you've left this planet [Music] the new recruits get shipped south down to the outskirts of Marseille in the town of O'Banion here they undergo three weeks of rigorous testing those who make the cut face a tougher ordeal sixteen weeks of basic training in southwestern France at the garrison of custom notary [Music] few recruits know what goes on here but the rumors alone drive some away we heard that people got beaten to death in training and if you made a mistake you could get shot that their live-fire exercises were really live-fire we heard things like that and wondered whether or not they were true the truth itself is tough enough a pounding begins immediately an intense test of physical fitness mental well-being and the sheer will to live they have a different style than than the Americans it's it's a lot of physical go you go you go you go you go you have no choice don't sit down don't cry about it you go your Legionnaire Legionnaires train as they would fight and fight as they train and they're trained to be expendable more often than not they are sent to some of the most dangerous places in the world they usually like to send a legion first because if things do work out fine then they can give the glory to the French army and if they don't well so a few foreigners got killed no big deal 1997 chaos breaks out in the republic of congo thousands of europeans are trapped in the middle of a civil war most european governments stand silently in the wings too nervous to intervene but the French have an option the others lack an army of foreigners willing to fight for France or die trying I think there are more disposable they have accepted to give their life for the new family they are eventually ready for death the Legion deploys 600 commandos from the 2nd paratroop regiment on the ground they encounter the legacy of france's colonial past anti-french sentiment on both sides makes the Legionnaires targets themselves after days of attacks and counter-attacks they round up the foreign nationals and Shepherd them to the airport one Legionnaire is killed five others gravely wounded Ian Lawson there's a 13 year veteran of the French Foreign Legion we have a q8 at six and a half thousand people over there and just under two it's some refused to go in to do the job it's too dangerous we're asked to don't went and we did the job showed the world that we could do it but that's the way it goes that idea is drilled into every recruit at Castel nunnery once the order is given the mission is sacred and it will be accomplished but at what cost after a few weeks of basic training recruits break into smaller units and travel to camps outside customary a 20-minute drive to the north is a secluded French Foreign Legion installation known as the farm the recruits suffer together as a team the training methods aren't sophisticated exposure to cold not enough food not enough sleep being an American I was used to eating a normal breakfast breakfast in the Legion is a small piece of bread and a cup of coffee and you don't get to eat anything until about 9 or 10 o'clock in the morning they're always running a food deficit so you're starving to death constantly constantly cold when the legion was created in the early 1800s it quickly gained a reputation as a band of gritty loners and rebels molded together into a single warrior unit they fought around the world from Mexico to Morocco along the way they developed a fierce pride at a set of grim traditions one is known as march or die when the legion was in the desert they would march places together and if you lagged behind there were always rebels hiding watching your every movement waiting to kill that lone weak person [Music] [Applause] soon enough some are desperate to stop a handful of desert every year those caught may suffer beatings and imprisonment the legions history of brutality is well documented but also well hidden it's about teamwork an esprit de corps to create the kind of soldiers who will stick together in the face of anything the legion has a motto legio patria Nostra the Legion is our homeland you give up all your ties to everything else and you swear allegiance to the Legion salud if all the force of a legion is that we are all here United for the same cause different cultures different traditions different religions different colors and different mentalities instead of fragmenting the unit their diversity forges a bond that keeps them together after a while nationalities fade away its first month you're an American but after a while once we get to know your comrades and then that fades away you no longer an American Legion has a hundred odd nationality serving it can draw on the experience of just about every nation in the world so rather than having a unique way of doing things the Legion can provide a hundred different ways of doing things another force bonds the soldiers together language French is the only language every recruit speaks many arrived not knowing a single word he simply showed up at the door wanting to be a Legionnaire he's Mongolian and of course they have a totally different alphabet and culture we took him in just like the others but of course it's hard because we've never had a Mongolian and our two languages are so different when you first join the Foreign Legion it's a jungle you've got a very very bad level of French boys have got to month service of service in the army or in the in the Foreign Legion it's normally not gonna speak the language the Legion makes sure you learn one way or another you learn faster you get your head kicked in yeah it starts off and they're really reasonably lenient if you don't understand things they take into account that you've only been there a short period of time but the longer you're there the more they expect you to know and if you don't get with the program fast it can get quite painful after a few weeks a new devotion sets in a devotion to the Legion itself above all else 1962 after a bloody decade of war France reluctantly grants independence to Algeria long a French territory and a legion battlefield forced to leave thousands of Legionnaire graves behind them the Legion felt betrayed and set in motion a coup d'etat their plan to assassinate French president Charles de Gaulle a Legionnaire sniper was chosen and sent to Paris ultimately the plot failed some speculate that it was foiled when de Gaulle's route was changed at the last minute but the Legion suffered irreparable damage the French government acted to ensure such an insurrection could never be repeated the elite first parachute regiment was disbanded and another created in its place it was moved offshore far from the seat of government but well within the sights of the French army they realized that the Legion itself as an independent army could be very dangerous to the French government so what they did was they brought it under the auspices of the French army itself whereas prior to that the Legion was totally independent [Applause] today's recruits enter a legion far different than that of a half century ago it's very important to keep the Legionnaires training all the time you keep them busy because we were used to say that Legionnaire who is not working is a Legionnaire able to do mistake discipline dedication and loyalty are the order of the day orders flow from a French officer to Foreign Legion air without question army a mom a grenade in one way it is easier to control in the French Foreign Legion for the chief because you know that you're given order and you will be obeyed from under this summit to saw my product service wrong when a guy asked to move a mountain the kind of st. Francis right somewhere I move that we will do it because he said to do it it's not it's not blind player brainwashing it so he says that it can be done all okay fine it can be done right recruits are taught to ignore the political or moral implications of their mission where the government decides to send you that's where they send you if you start to toss back and forth while politically this is wrong then you think twice about fulfilling your mission they are looking for a family they are looking for a place where they have a specific job where they get orders where they don't have to to think well they just have to obey and they are looking for some kind of security in this new place they have chosen for their life for those who keep going a proud moment for waits at the finish line after one month of basic training the recruits are considered Legionnaires fit to wear the kepi Blanc the legions trademark white hat it's proud feeling when you put on the white hat and it's an exclusive club very exclusive club very few people wear them once you become a Legionnaire after that one nice period of time then the training really started and they can get tough because you've shown you can make it through that first bit of training the basic indoctrination beyond that then they have to teach you everything that's involved in being a Legionnaire from day to day [Music] it's all in preparation for what lies ahead as they move into the real world with real battles in some of the most unforgiving conditions on earth for almost two centuries the desert has been a battleground of the French Foreign Legion [Music] Chad Tunisia Morocco the great Garrison's of the African Dunes once legionnaires past their 4 months of basic training they may wind up here Djibouti one of the hottest countries on earth the thing about Djibouti is it's so far away from what we consider to be the conventional world you're away from the eyes of anybody anything can happen you have follow orders because if you don't you can disappear perched on the Horn of Africa this former French territory is a mere fraction the size of France with one hundredth of population but it's where the action is captain Phillip Dell Appel commands a legion unit isolated in the desert it is a very good place for us because it is closed from Somalia Ethiopia Eritrea so pieces which are quite dangerous the Legion has come at a request to the Djibouti government to guard the borders and for terrorists looking for a new home the actual been West what dollar of the wizard that walk it's an AOL it's difficult dangerous work oh here they have a saying Bouazizi despotic only three things can live in this desert snakes scorpions and French Legionnaires to learn how to survive in these extreme conditions new Legionnaires hit the beach at art oblige the desert training center home to the legions one-month graduate course of the sands I think the training in the desert is very important for us French soldiers are numerous in Africa and we have to know the specific conditions of fighting in deserts so very good school for us to be here in Djibouti yeah oh yeah goes what early each morning Legionnaires like wolfgramm awake for desert commando training I'm expecting I want to find out a mature and capable mentally and physically of course I'm searching of adventure even at 6 a.m. the mercury climbs above 100 degrees reared on the ski slopes of Slovenia he's never tackled conditions like this before he's been kept awake for the past 36 hours he paddled all night then did a forced march until 4:00 a.m. it's difficult to prepare for a challenge like this it's one time it's the last I hope Legionnaires pride themselves on their camaraderie but they also learn to function as an army of one like all elite units they master hand-to-hand combat using whatever's available the subtleties of the knife and the garage we're not special force I think that is where we have an advantage it's not exactly training specifically in knowing how to do things the Legion has something else a certain capability to withstand hardship and URIs the Legion is self-sufficient anywhere the American military when they go in if they don't have it with them their loss we're so used to dealing with making do with nothing that we take what we need water and ammo time and again the Legionnaires have tested their capacity to survive against all odds 1954 Indochina after an epic 56 days siege Legionnaires surrender at Dien Bien Phu it's the beginning of the end for the French in Southeast Asia after nearly a decade of war 10,000 Legionnaires have perished but for those who fought on against overwhelming odds it was a part of something ingrained into every Legion air the notion they would rather die than surrender he wants to give absolute ly everything to the Legion in the worst battle situations that's where a Legionnaire truly shows himself in the last century over 30,000 Legionnaires have died in combat a casualty rate of 1 in 10 this is the mainstay of their grim legacy a Legionnaire knows that one day or another without wishing it you may not come back from a mission I think that they all have this understanding there's a famous Frankie general general maker EA who said Rosetta lesion Apple movie oh she was on voila ml your Legionnaire to die I'll send you where you can die when you join the Legion death is just another one of those things that happens it's accepted you gotta be aware of you could go to another country and fight and die for a different country and for me that was a chance I'm willing to take in an era of burgeoning civil war the Legion is more active than ever there is always the chance that we'll be called into as it's happening now in Afghanistan we've already operated in Kosovo there's a chance we might be called into Macedonia our company is already operated in Chad and the Legion throughout his history is always operated in any hot spot in the world with its global reach the legion once again came under attack as the enforcer of french colonialism algeria in the 1960s was the low point desperate for independence algerian freedom fighters faced off against the legion for years the battle raged thousands on both sides died in the end the legion was not only defeated but denounced for its brutality not everything is peaches and cream the world is a rough place for a lot of people just because things are cushy here in America for most people it doesn't mean that that's what they are elsewhere in the world when you have a jungle out there sometimes somebody's got to go in and keep things in order and it's not always easy to keep things in order sometimes certain measures have to be taken the Legion continues to play a major role in supporting French interests around the world the Legion is always doing something somewhere right now there are probably half a dozen operations going on in the world involving Legionnaires that you'll probably never hear about places like South America [Music] we're Legionnaires come face-to-face with the hidden dangers of the Amazon [Music] dawn in French Guiana an ocean away from the Eiffel Tower a little piece of France in the jungles of the Amazon [Music] sunrise reveals the tranquil beauty of this wilderness and something else this is camp huts jungle training Foreign Legion style armies from around the world come here to Train only the Legionnaires keep coming back Fergal Keating is a jungle warfare specialist nearing the end of his second five-year contract he's come here to pass on all he knows about survival and combat under extreme conditions how hard is it here in the jungle at the center it will depend on the attitude of the student if he's strong strong minded the jungle is with a strong become weak and the weak becomes strong it's a very good test of character factor builder as in real combat there's no safety net here accidents are just another part of Legionnaire life if you train hard there are a few casualties it's a real risk and if you die well that's one of those unfortunate aspects of training we send the Legionnaires out into the jungle to live survive and fight in this environment basically they will have to live off the land we will put them more or less through a tough time that we won't really annihilate them if you night the jungle itself will take care of that the thing that makes a Legionnaire tougher than any other insoles in the world it's a mental toughness you have to be able to deal with harsh situations food surroundings everything being tough and you have to have the attitude that you're gonna be tougher malaria dengue fever yellow fever just a few of the natural hazards major Marco Bertie is a legion doctor assigned to the regiment in French Guiana amazonian the Amazonian jungle is a place where there are sicknesses and diseases that aren't even in medical journals they're so rare that we don't even have names for they haven't been documented because man doesn't often go that deeply into this jungle there is also the danger of snake scorpion and spider bites but here Legionnaires like Bernhard Robin himer learned to be at home the British and Americans started doing this sort of jungle penetration during the Second World War and I think we lost one of the last military units that keeps up this trade I've been able to offend a cocoon into the jungle compute the autonomous state for two three four weeks get it out as we are at the moment we could survive we've got enough food and ammunition for perhaps 48 hours in the jungle out here the Legion has two missions to protect this French territory against smuggling and drug running and to guard the European Space Agency's Ariane rocket program and the ever increasing threat of terrorism our company in particular has the ability to go pretty well anywhere in the jungle so the regiment has a serious role in guarding the site and just keeping our military presence as recent events have shown us terrorists could attack anywhere the jungle has a way of holding on to people as the officers like to say the Legionnaire may leave Guyana but Guyana will never leave the Legionnaire [Music] we will get out of the deal after three weeks of an operation it will be very people be a change man just to say that it would be very change man [Music] if there's an elite unit of the French Foreign Legion its the paratroopers who make up the Airborne's second regiment based on the island of corsica just off the coast of southern France these men are the best the legion has to offer here at camp Rafale 1,100 Legionnaires and 60 French officers hone their skills to a fighting edge their reward the top combat assignments in the Legion there's nobody in the regiment who doesn't jump everybody has to jump if you're a clerk if you're a cook doesn't matter what you do you still jump they jump in all kinds of conditions and terrain even in full gear at night far out to sea patty Malone has been at it with the Legion for the past 18 years not an easy it's not you know it's not a pushover thing we're just soldiers professional soldiers trained into a professional job the action begins at 15,000 feet and the training ensures they'll be ready when the real battles come with hundreds of jumps to their credit they're the masters of freefall I would compare us to any any other project regiment in the world we can keep up with Emily port insertion is the backbone of Special Operations be like those conducted in the world's war on terror small commando units made up of seven man teams race against the clock from insertion to extraction they have only 11 minutes to complete their mission the key is to be swift silent and deadly one of our strongest points is we can go in any on any situation and we always come out and always come out on top we can adapt to any situation anything I'll go into the mountains of one depends we don't care just going in and get it done gonna get the job done to prove our repetition to prove that we are what we are that we offer as good as people say we are today's Legionnaire may be technologically superior to his predecessor but both share a common origin inside the Legionnaires are the same they were 1,500 years ago when they join they they learn to to build an armor outside there are really strong men good warriors Voinovich very disciplined they look impressive but each of them has a hidden face no matter their reason for joining their willingness to face death makes them the perfect soldiers when he enlists a Legionnaire puts his fate in his commanders hands no questions asked we get sent somewhere to fight either we finish it always start basically the French Army's got no scruples whatsoever descenders to places where you die because we're foreigners serving under the banner of the United Nations hasn't thrown off their stride 1993 we're in Sarajevo we had to wear the very blue there was a big big discussion should the Foreign Legion we are very blue if you get sent to do that particular job to fill in that particular task the color of the berry doesn't matter for us it's uh it's coming that comes it comes within what will never change is the way Legionnaires and the Legion see each other I think the Legion will always remain a home for some people who had troubles in their life and who wants to find something hard to realize themselves that's what makes a little new unique when you've got a bunch of guys that lived together for five years they get to know each other you know you know when not the pushy and when to push and give guys snuck in ahead like you know not to do it hey guys you have lo ups and downs you know it's like a family you know after five years a Legionnaires service ends chances are he's gone through combat if so odds are one in 10 he didn't make it out alive if he survives combat and serves out his contract he's free to leave before he does he has a choice take back his old identity or keep his Legionnaire name with a new French passport Thomas Kadesh decided to go back to his old self with his identity restored they returned home and eventually married but his years of service in the Legion took their toll where you've served for five years under a different name suddenly you become once again the person you were before you begin [Music] can you go back to your life can you go back to who you were when you joined you're still the same person but you're not for those who choose to stay the legion can become a home they never leave and after a lifetime of adventure they retired to demand a new a chateau in southern France where the legion looks after its own they owe their allegiance not to a king not to a constitution updates to the organization they are probably the ultimate builders the penultimate builders of this thing called unit cohesion at the end of Operation Desert Storm the legion awarded us general Norman Schwarzkopf one of its highest honors when they made me a member of the Legion they gave me a card with a telephone the law said if you are anywhere in the world and you get in trouble call this number and we will come to your aid feared by many condemned by others the French Foreign Legion is unlike any other fighting force in the world [Music] an army within an army a depository for the world's misfits adventurers and romantics Legionnaires live by a code of honor based on discipline solidarity and respect they fight for France but swear allegiance only to each other their holdovers from a simpler time warriors first countrymen last fighting together until the bitter end [Music] [Applause]

Channel: The Legionnaire

Views: 417,537

Rating: 4.8515325 out of 5

Keywords: French Foreign Legion

Id: vBMh6dChjW8

Length: 50min 1sec (3001 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 26 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Nimreddi]

You spelled Mercenaries wrong.