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Valley of the Shadow: The Siege of Dien Bien Phu

Nickfury

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dusaboss

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Yes Peter thanks a lot. I like to read so much. Can't go in bed if I don't read at least 200 pages. :) :) OMG. Thanks god for audio books.

I think that most of guys who go to FFL don't like too much of reading. Don't get me wrong, there is many smart guys there, but no so many nerds. Me personally I was always good in math, I like natural Sciences, but literature and languages are definitely not my thing.

I don't like to read. Yep couple books really got me interested and like to read to get information. Something as science books.

There is tons and tons of stupid crap printed out there. I hate when people bragging about fact how many books they read not paying attention on what they read. There's many literature out there which after reading them, you don't make you smarter. In fact you get little bit dumber. :)

Any way Peter thanks man. Maybe I will decide to read one FFL book. I read two until now. Which one is according to you "Must Read Before You Die" ?
 
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Dusaboss,

Don't put yourself down. You are a university graduate. Hence I bow to you, for I am not.
I am however a certificated linguist . Hence I am qualified to spout shit !
 

Joseph Cosgrove

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I think that most of guys who go to FFL don't like too much of reading.

Dusa, you are quite wrong there. A book on compagnie tournante is a must. As is a small short wave wireless radio to capture the BBC overseas channels. Ok today you have your kindle and other modern devices, but nothing beats a good book when out on terrain until the light goes out and then it's the BBC.
 

Peter Lyderik

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@ dusaboss

"Which one is according to you "Must Read Before You Die"?"

Depends what kind of book you want. A memoir or a history about the Legion. I like Douglas Porch's French Foreign Legion book from 1991 a lot. It is so good so it was translated into French, but is about the Legion only until 1962.

The two books you have read, what are their titles?
 

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@ dusaboss

"Which one is according to you "Must Read Before You Die"?"

Depends what kind of book you want. A memoir or a history about the Legion. I like Douglas Porch's French Foreign Legion book from 1991 a lot. It is so good so it was translated into French, but is about the Legion only until 1962.

The two books you have read, what are their titles?

I read Simon Murray - Legionnaire and Milorad Ulemek - Legionar (no translation in english). So, if I read third book about FFL I would like one which title isn't "Legionnaire". :)

I would like to read something unusual. With no many focus on history, training and other usual stuff in Legion and army overall.
 

Peter Lyderik

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Then get this one: A Sociology of the Total Organization: Atomistic Unity in the French Foreign Legion by Mikaela Sundberg from 2015 :)
 

dusaboss

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Then get this one: A Sociology of the Total Organization: Atomistic Unity in the French Foreign Legion by Mikaela Sundberg from 2015 :)

By title I would say that book is mainly focused on negative aspects of FFL. Is it?
 

Joseph Cosgrove

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Joe Cos, on company tour of Djibouti (Arta, Jan- July 1991) I bought a radio from the 13DBLE foyer. A/Chef Legris told me to come and wake him up if the 'shit hit the fan'. Heard it first on the BBC just after midnight. Sat with Legris having a coffee at the Sous off's listening as the Allies went in. Good radio reception up in the hills of Arta!

That's what I'm saying Ossie, mate. In Tchad we knew that we were going on intervention to RCA before the captain announced it because the BBC had got a tip off that French paratroopers were to be deployed from Tchad.

This was about 2 hours before we were put on alert.

As for books, I swapped a shitty book with Paul Hoey for Ken Follet's pillers of the earth. Which I then swapped with Pinky (Ivan Pinkham) for Jeffery Archer's As the crow flies. Two books worth their weight in gold on a tournant.
 

Peter Lyderik

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Some info from Osprey: https://ospreypublishing.com/blog/Big_Reveal_2017_GNM_part_2/

Valley of the Shadow: The Siege of Dien Bien Phu
Following the end of World War II, France attempted to reassert control over its colonies in Indo-China. In Vietnam, this was resisted by the Viet Minh, leading to the First Indo-China War. By 1954, the French army was on the defensive and determined to force the Viet Minh into a decisive set-piece battle at Dien Bien Phu.
Over the past five decades, Western authors have generally followed a standard narrative of the siege of Dien Bien Phu, depicting the Viet Minh besiegers as a faceless horde which overwhelmed the intrepid garrison by sheer weight of numbers, superior firepower, and logistics. However, a wealth of new Vietnamese-language sources tell a very different story, revealing for the first time the true Viet Minh order of battle and the details of the severe logistical constraints within which the besiegers had to operate.
Using these sources, complemented by interviews with French veterans and research in the French Army and French Foreign Legion archives, this is a new telling of the climactic battle in the Indo-China War, the conflict that set the stage for the Vietnam War a decade later.
 
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