EUROPA MILITARIA SPECIAL No 15 FFL OPERATIONS 1990-2000

Photograph essay on the French Foreign Legion, compiled by one of Europe's leading military photo-journalists who has accompanied the Legion on active service * Since its withdrawal from Algeria in the 1960s its regiments have been transformed. Although it still has outposts in Africa, South America and the islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the Legion today has minimal responsibility for providing colonial garrisons. Based in France, and among the first to receive new weapons, its units of mechanised infantry and engineers, armoured cavalry and paratroopers are now among the most powerful and sophisticated assets of the French army. As a result the legionnaires of recent decades have seen a great deal of overseas service in the spearhead of France's rapid reaction forces, particularly in Africa and the Middle East but also in the Balkans. Yves Debay has accompanied the Legion on active service. His strikingly illustrated review of the Legion's operations since 1990 is packed with specific information on the units, organisation, recruitment and training, equipment, weapons and current missions of an elite - a corps which has grown so far from its 19th Century image as a refuge for criminals that it can now afford to select only one of every six would-be legionnaires. Now out-of-print and limited stock available.