The Greatest Last Stand You've Never Heard Of

today's video covers a literal mexican last stand by the french foreign legion cool but first this video is brought to you by the one and only nordvpn do you remember what the internet was like in 1998 telling your sister to get off the phone so you could check your email waiting 30-40 seconds to access that page ugly websites made with busted html while the internet has changed a lot in 25 years millions of people are still surfing the web as if aol was king of the internet it's time to bring your surfing habits into the 21st century with nordvpn for instance you can use an oil ppm to protect yourself from iptrack as an aggressive advertisers with their military-grade encryption it works great whether you're sporting a mac or a pc plus an order is based over in panama which makes it a great option for both americans and europeans and look a common misconception is that vpns are only for people who want to play defense but they're not just for protecting yourself you'll be amazed the different streaming options you have when you jump over to a different location protect yourself or just play around buy for yourself or consider it as a gift for another internet user in your life with nordvpn you've got lots of options and right now you guys can take advantage of a special deal the nordvpn is running any purchase of a two-year plan comes with a massive discount and a bonus month for free and if you make a purchase and decide a vpn isn't for you nordvpn offers a 30-day money-back guarantee [Music] the french foreign legion is among the most legendary fighting forces in the world created by french king louis philippe in 1831 the legion is unique in allowing volunteers from foreign nations to enlist and fight on behalf of the french state recruits may enlist under an assumed name and after three years of service are eligible for french citizenship meaning that for much of its history the legion has been a haven for criminals rogues and others seeking a fresh start in life while modern recruiting standards are considerably more restrictive the legion has lost little of its mystique and elite image though this often comes at a steep price considered an essentially expendable force the legion has long been dispatched the most remote and hostile corners of the french empire often facing near insurmountable odds but time and time again the men of the legion have proven more than up to the challenge earning a fearsome reputation as a tough-as-nails unit ever ready to fight to the last man a martial spirit perfectly captured by their unofficial motto march or die every elite military force has its one legendary battle a single action that forever defines the unit and its men for the french foreign legion that action is the 1863 battle of cameron the most badass last stand that you've never heard of the battle of cameron was part of a conflict that is all but forgotten today the second french intervention in mexico also known as the mexican adventure in 1860 following a three-year civil war liberal politician benito juarez ascended to the presidency of mexico and began implementing reforms meant to weaken the power of mexico's traditional ruling classes the catholic church and the wealthy land owners as well as the influence of foreign nations this included declaring a two-year moratorium on debt repayments to france spain and the united kingdom in response on october 31 1861 these three nations signed the convention of london threatening mexico with invasion unless it resumed payments and opened up free trade in the region but emperor napoleon iii of france had ulterior motives for invading mexico seeking to turn the country into a client state of the french empire with a government-friendly to french political and economic interests to this end he planned to install austrian archduke ferdinand maximilian von habsburg as emperor of mexico an arrangement which also served as a gesture of reconciliation between france and austria in the wake of the second italian war of independence this strategy was risky due to the american monroe doctrine of opposing foreign intervention in latin america however the united states was embroiled in its own civil war and wary of foreign governments recognizing the legitimacy of the confederacy the american government did little to oppose the intervention troops of the tripartite alliance landed in veracruz on december 8 1861 and began pushing inland towards mexico city following a series of allied victories in early march 1862 the mexican minister of foreign affairs manuel de bladdo met with spanish general juan prim to explain that the moratorium on debt repayment was only temporary convinced by his explanation and alarmed france's plans to conquer the country spain and the united states withdrew their forces from mexico on may 5th 1862 the french suffered a serious setback when their army was defeated at the battle of puebla an event that is still celebrated today in mexico as cinco de mayo fighting alone and with their advance halted by the defeated puebla in early 1863 the french brought in fresh reinforcements including the first and second battalions of the french foreign legion and mounted a new advance on mexico city on march the 16th an army of 28 thousand men under general eli foreign began laying siege the mexican city of puebla the last mexican stronghold before the capital as part of this operation the foreign legion were tasked with protecting french supply lines from attack by mexican troops and bandits with the second battalion protecting the road from tauria to soledad and the first battalion the road onwards to chikuweta it was a miserable exhausting task the kind the legion was so often called upon to perform the tropical lowlands around veracruz were unbearably hot and humid and prone to frequent rainstorms and flash floods making the already primitive roads even more impossible as legionnaire de sparta torno wrote in his diary these marches are terribly tiring with privations of food of clothes we sleep for five or six days at the foot of trees in the water almost always torrential rain and no change of clothes no way to get dry impossible to light a fire always sleeping in wet clothes the next day the march resumes in the same clothes it is an ordeal few people realize adding to the misery was the dreaded vomiter or yellow fever which by the end of intervention had killed off more than a third of the legion's strengths in late april 1863 a convoy was dispatched from veracruz to puebla carrying 3 million francs in gold bullion siege guns and 60 wagons of ammunition however native spies had informed the french that a large mexican force was waiting to ambush the convoy near paolo verde and legion foot patrols were sent out to find it in the early morning hours of april 30th the third company of three officers and 62 legionnaires was on route from chikuite to palo verde around 50 kilometers southwest of veracruz the company was commanded by captain jean d'angeau a decorated veteran of the crimean war who had lost his left hand in 1853 when his musket exploded and he wore a wooden prosthesis in its place at 7am the company reached paolo verde and set about preparing their morning coffee but an hour later a lookout spotted a force of 250 mexican cavalrymen under the command of captain thomas argenzanus heading south seeking a more defensible position captain danger ordered his men to fall back to the asean de la trinidad in nearby camaron an abandoned two-story farmhouse enclosed by stone walls 3 metres tall and 50 meters wide unknown to the legionnaires 10 kilometers northeast of cameron laila joya headquarters of colonel francisco de paula milan and his three thousand men soon after captain algonzanes's patrol reported the presence of the legionnaires milan dispatched a squadron of dragoons and four infantry battalions to cameron to annihilate them before they could discover the location and size of the force preparing to attack the convoy soon after reaching the hacienda captain danger attempted to withdraw his men along the road at paseo del mancho but the company was suddenly attacked by milan's cavalry dejo ordered his men to form a hollow square and unleashed volley after volley at the charging mexicans breaking up the attack and allowing them to retreat down a cactus-filled ditch back to the farm compound however 16 legionnaires were captured during the retreat leaving only 49 to defend the position the mexicans launched a second attack but again the legionnaires easily repelled them with concentrated gunfire meanwhile the convoy warned of the third company's predicament turned around and retreated back to la soledad at the time colonel milan arrived at cameron with a force of 1400 men and completely surrounded the hacienda he sent captain ramona lane forward with a white flag of truce to offer surrender terms to the french but captain d'angelo refused simply stating we have plenty of ammunition and shall continue to fight once lane had departed danger turned his men and made them swear on his wooden hand that they would fight to the death rather than surrender he then passed around a bottle of wine to lift their spirits corporal louis maine one of the few french survivors of the battle later explained the logic of dangerous decision as the enemy had shown neither infantry nor artillery we could defend ourselves for a long time against cavryman no matter how numerous it was not with their short carbines without bayonets that they could overwhelm a company of the legion behind walls at 11 o'clock the mexicans attacked only to be repulsed again by disciplined player from the legionnaires however during the engagement captain danger was struck in the chest by a bullet and was killed and second lieutenant napoleon villar assumed command for a second time the mexicans sent captain lane forward to offer surrender terms only to be answered in typical french fashion with a single word despite the blazing sun and being nearly out of water the legionnaires fought on for another four hours repulsing attack after attack but the numbers were rapidly dwindling and by 2 pm only 20 remained who could still fight at 2 30 lieutenant villain was shot and killed and command passed to second lieutenant clemont morday at 5 pm the roof of the farmhouse caught fire filling the compound with choking black smoke and mexican soldiers managed to scale the walls and poured deadly plunging fire down onto the legionnaires by 5 30 only 12 legionnaires remained colonel milan ordered his men out of the compound and offered the french surrender for a third time but once again the legionnaires refused and the attacks continued by 6pm the company's ammunition was all but exhausted and their numbers were down to only five men lieutenant morday corporal main and legionnaires wenzel ketteau and constantine louis maine later described what happened next we held the enemy at a distance but we could not hold out much longer as our bullets were almost exhausted soon we had only one each it was six o'clock and we had fought since the morning ready fire said the lieutenant we discharged our five rifles and he in front we jumped forward with fixed bayonets we were met by a formidable volley threw himself in front of his officer to make a rampart with his body and was struck by 19 bullets despite his devotion the lieutenant himself was hit by two bullets wenzel also fell wounded in the shoulder but he got up immediately three of us were still on our feet wenzel constantine and zy we were about to jump over the lieutenant's body and charge again but the mexicans surrounded us with their bare notes at our chests we thought we had breathed our last when a senior officer who was in the front rank of the assailants ordered them to stop and with abrasque movement of his saver raised their bare nets which threatened us surrender he told us we will surrender i replied if you leave us our arms and treat our lieutenant who was wounded he agreed he offered me his arm gave the other to the wounded wenzel and they brought a stretcher for the lieutenant we arrived behind a small rise where cunnimalam was is that all that is left he asked when he saw us and when told yes these are not men they are demons in the end the 65 legionnaires camera managed to hold out for nine hours against a force of some 3 300 mexicans inflicting nearly 500 casualties only 17 frenchmen survived the battle most of whom had been captured early in the battle they were imprisoned at lehigh before being freed in a prisoner exchange on july the 14th the battle of cameron became the stuff of legend the defining battle that perfectly encapsulated the legion's martial butchies to this day april 30 is celebrated by the legion as cameron day on that day the preserved wooden hand of captain dungeon was taken out of the legion museum of memory and paraded down the sacred way at legion headquarters in uban outside marseille along with the battles of tonkin and tiankwan during the 1884-1885 sino-french war cameron is immortalized in the legion's official marching song lebado while the battle of cameron forged the french foreign legion's immortal reputation france's global image would not be so lucky on june 7 1863 french troops finally occupied mexico city and on april 10 1864 ferdinand maximilian assumed the throne as emperor maximilian the first but his rule was doomed from the start not only did he fail to win the support of the country's substantial indigenous population but his liberal reforms such as abolishing child labor and land tenancy laws alienated conservative mexicans leaving maximilian with few allies furthermore the presence of a foreign national on the mexican throne gave benito juarez as republicans an air of righteous patriotic legitimacy and the country was plunged once again into civil war with french troops fighting a brutal insurgency in the countryside in 1865 the end of the american civil war allowed the us government to turn their attention to the situation south of the border and in may 1866 american pressure forced emperor napoleon iii to withdraw his forces from mexico in 1867 emperor maximilian was captured by republican forces convicted of treason and executed by firing squad on june 19. the government of benito juarez was reinstated soon afterwards and mexico has remained a republic ever since meanwhile the french foreign legion would go from glory to glory serving with distinction in the far corners of the french empire such as indochina algeria morocco and equatorial africa as well as in the trenches of the first world war and as part of the free french forces following the fall of france in 1940 and they are still going strong today largely operating in former colonial hot spots such as chad and djibouti an elite organization steeped in tradition and with a uniquely strong spirited core the french foreign legion will likely serve as the french military's go-to unit for tough jobs for decades to come so i really hope you found that video interesting if you did please do hit that thumbs up button below don't forget to subscribe please do check out our fantastic sponsor nordvpn link below and thank you for watching

Channel: Today I Found Out

Views: 165,109

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Length: 13min 5sec (785 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 30 2021