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Die Fremdenlegion in Indochina

Hannibal_Barca

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Here is something to bring smile on "adjutant" and "Peter Lyderik" face. ;) An excellent German website about German legionnaires in Indochina, including personal stories, load of pictures, excerpts from war diaries, order of battle, short histories for each of the Legion bataillon, descriptions of battles, list of officers and NCOs from 1er and 2eme BEP etc. The author really did an excellent work! Unfortunately the website is entirely in German language, but it is worth seeing it just for the sake of pictures. It is interesting to see how the legionnaires still wore the tropical helmets in the first years of Indochina conflict.

http://www.more-majorum.de/projekte/memorial/index.html

Does anyone know who was this Lieutenant Nomura? Japanese?

http://www.more-majorum.de/ereignisse/dienbienphu/1bep1954.html
 

sdelapresilla

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Here is something to bring smile on "adjutant" and "Peter Lyderik" face. ;) An excellent German website about German legionnaires in Indochina, including personal stories, load of pictures, excerpts from war diaries, order of battle, short histories for each of the Legion bataillon, descriptions of battles, list of officers and NCOs from 1er and 2eme BEP etc. The author really did an excellent work! Unfortunately the website is entirely in German language, but it is worth seeing it just for the sake of pictures. It is interesting to see how the legionnaires still wore the tropical helmets in the first years of Indochina conflict.

http://www.more-majorum.de/projekte/memorial/index.html

Does anyone know who was this Lieutenant Nomura? Japanese?

http://www.more-majorum.de/ereignisse/dienbienphu/1bep1954.html

Thanks for sharing, mate. I took some German classes because my girlfriend graduated from a German school in Caracas, ******* real good website.
 

Rapace

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(...) Does anyone know who was this Lieutenant Nomura? Japanese?
Yes, of Japanese origin. I've read a short biography of him somewhere. Off the top of my mind, a descendant of a Japanese admiral (I think he was precisely nicknamed “l'Amiral” in 1er BEP, because this origin).
 
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Ensiferum

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Hope you guys did not see this before.
Sry for those who dont speak German, but its a great doku.
Quite an amount of German blood spilled in these rice fields I would say...

[video=youtube;RcFhQysmD2s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcFhQysmD2s[/video]
 

gatorojo ✞

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When I was in Saigon in the late '60s, there was an article about an E-5 Sgt in the MPs who had started in the Wehrmacht, joined the Legion in '46 and was posted to Indochine where he remained after the '54 Geneva peace treaty before going to the States, joining the US Army and eventually getting posted back to Vietnam.

I wish I'd had a chance to meet him and buy him a couple of beers. I'm sure that he has some interesting tales to tell.
 

sdelapresilla

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When I was in Saigon in the late '60s, there was an article about an E-5 Sgt in the MPs who had started in the Wehrmacht, joined the Legion in '46 and was posted to Indochine where he remained after the '54 Geneva peace treaty before going to the States, joining the US Army and eventually getting posted back to Vietnam.

I wish I'd had a chance to meet him and buy him a couple of beers. I'm sure that he has some interesting tales to tell.
Oh my God, you think? Wehrmacht, French Foreign Legion and US Army in all those times? He could write the best selling book of all time, haha.
 

Hannibal_Barca

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Yes, of Japanese origin. I've read a short biography of him somewhere. Off the top of my mind, a descendant of a Japanese admiral (I think he was precisely nicknamed ‘l'Amiral’ in 1er BEP, because of this origin).
Thank you. This is a very interesting piece of information. I wonder if his father was Admiral (ret.) Kichisaburo Nomura. He was Japanese ambassador in United States in 1941 and handled the negotiations with the Americans during the last months before Pearl Harbor. Do you perhaps remember when he joined the Legion? Before 1941 or after 1945?

When I was in Saigon in the late '60s, there was an article about an E-5 Sgt in the MPs who had started in the Wehrmacht, joined the Legion in '46 and was posted to Indochine where he remained after the '54 Geneva peace treaty before going to the States, joining the US Army and eventually getting posted back to Vietnam.
On the More Majorum website there is a story (look for the Recherchen - externe Recherchen) of a German legionnaire who settled down in Vietnam after 1955 and lived there with his Vietnamese family until late 1960s when he returned home.

W.
 

Ensiferum

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Some good historical footage of German legionnaire in Indochina here aswell. Starting at 1:00.
Yes, lots of them stayed in Vietnam and had families there. Many legionnaires from all countries became attached to the land.

[video=youtube;D6kQPQNCUuI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6kQPQNCUuI[/video]
 

sdelapresilla

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Some good historical footage of German legionnaire in Indochina here aswell. Starting at 1:00.
Yes, lots of them stayed in Vietnam and had families there. Many legionnaires from all countries became attached to the land.
Wow, amazing ******* stories... Really. Many thanks for sharing, my friend!
 

Rapace

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Some good historical footage of German legionnaire in Indochina here aswell. Starting at 1:00.
Yes, lots of them stayed in Vietnam and had families there. Many legionnaires from all countries became attached to the land.
Some interesting figures of some famous figures of CEFEO (Corps Expéditionnaire Français en Extrême-Orient, French Expeditionary Corps in Indochina).
At 2:27 - pictures of officers of 1er BEP
At 2:33 - Lt Louis (‘Loulou’) Martin - Coy commander with 1er BEP at DBP.
At 2:40 - Lt André Lecocq of 1er BEP - KIA 22.Mar.1954 at DBP (on the left hand side, next to the guy with sunglasses)
At 3:12 - Col Jean Sassi (with glasses, smoking a cigarette) of the GCMA (Groupement de Commandos Mixtes Aéroportés), guerrilla unit with French cadre and mountaineers of the ethnic minorities in Indochina (Hmongs, Méos, etc.). He led the so called ‘Operation D’ aimed at striking Vietminh logistics and communication lines around DBP to relieve the besieged garrison.
At 3:16 - Capt Bernard Cabiro Coy commander of 1er BEP - Seriously wounded on 5.Mar.1954 near DBP on hill 781. He was medevaced and did not participate in the battle itself that started 13.Mar.
At 3:59 - Assault against hill 781, near DBP, filmed by Pierre Schoedoerffer.
 
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