Specifically created for foreign nationals wishing to serve in the French Armed Forces, the world famous French Foreign Legion is known as an elite military unit whose training focuses not only on traditional military skills but also on its strong esprit de corps. As its men come from different countries with different cultures, this is a widely accepted solution to strengthen them enough to work as a team. Consequently, training is often described as not only physically challenging, but also extremely stressful psychologically.

This high quality, full colour album features some 650 photos and documents, 400 of which cover in full colour the legion's campaign in Indochina, when the Foreign Legion saw its numbers swell due to the incorporation of World War II veterans who couldn't adapt to civilian life. Although the Foreign Legion was an elite force, it also took a heavy toll during the war: constantly being deployed in operations, it even reached the point that whole units were annihilated in combat, in what was a traditional Foreign Legion battlefield. Units of the Foreign Legion were also involved in the defence of Dien Bien Phu and lost a large number of men in the battle.

This book is an all-encompassing account of the French Foreign Legion and their continuing fight following World War II.

French Language