How well do you really know the French Foreign Legion?
There is perhaps no military organisation more surrounded by mystique and legend than the French Foreign Legion. For almost 200 years, the Legion has accepted volunteers from across the world and fought in campaigns from Algeria and Mexico to Madagascar, Indochina and France itself.
Test your knowledge with 20 questions randomly selected from more than 50 questions, spanning the history of the Legion from its founding in 1831 to the modern era. Every attempt is different.
Score 60% to pass — but expect a challenge.
Want to explore the battles behind the legend?
Explore Foreign Legion Battles and Campaigns: [Battle Studies]
Explore Foreign Legion Equipment: [Colonial Era] · [Indochina] · [Algeria]
Best books on the Foreign Legion: [Colonial Era] · [Indochina]
Results
Honneur et Fidélité!
You know your Legion history. From Camerone and Tonkin to Indochina, Algeria and Kolwezi, you’ve demonstrated a strong knowledge of the battles, personalities and traditions of the French Foreign Legion.
Think you can do better? Try again — every attempt draws a different set of questions.
To learn more about Legion battles and campaigns, and I have walked every one of them, please visit:
French Foreign Legion Campaigns and Battles
No Boudin for you!
The French Foreign Legion has almost two centuries of history, so this was never going to be easy. You’ve encountered only a fraction of it here.
Try again — every attempt draws a different set of questions. Score 60% to pass.
To learn more about Legion battles and campaigns, and I have walked every one of them, please visit:
French Foreign Legion Campaigns and Battles
HD Quiz powered by harmonic design
#1. Why did the defence of Bir Hakeim have significance beyond the immediate fate of the Free French position?
The prolonged defence complicated the Axis timetable during Gazala and provided Free France with an important demonstration of battlefield credibility.
#2. The post-Indochina 1er and 2e Régiments étrangers de parachutistes (REP) developed principally from which type of Legion formation?
The BEPs created in 1948 established the Legion’s permanent airborne tradition. Their experience in Indochina provided the institutional lineage from which the REP formations subsequently emerged. The official Legion chronology dates the creation of the 1er and 2e BEP to 1948.
#3. Under its founding ordinance, where was the new Foreign Legion intended to be employed?
The 1831 ordinance restricted the new Legion to employment outside continental France, with Algeria becoming an early theatre.
#4. In what year were the 1er and 2e Bataillons étrangers de parachutistes (BEP) created?
The 1er and 2e BEP were created in 1948 as the Legion developed its parachute forces during the Indochina War.
#5. ‘Le Boudin’ is the march song of the French Foreign Legion. By definition, ‘Le Boudin’ is a blood sausage, but it is also a slang term for what item of Legion equipment?
Le Boudin is a slang term for the rolled bedding carried on the backpack
#6. During the legendary 1884–85 siege of Tuyên Quang, Legionnaires formed part of the garrison resisting forces of the Black Flags and the Yunnan Army. In which modern country is Tuyên Quang?
From November 1884 to March 1885, a small force of Legionnaires and Tonkinese Tirailleurs was besieged in the ancient citadel of Tuyên Quang by a large force of Chinese mercenary Black Flag troops, and regular Yunnan Army troops. Read more here:
#7. During the 1950 Battle of RC4 (Cao Bang Ridge disaster), which Foreign Legion parachute battalion was effectively destroyed while attempting to assist the retreating French columns?
The 1er Bataillon étranger de parachutistes was committed during the fighting surrounding the evacuation of Cao Bằng and the RC4 columns. It suffered catastrophic losses and subsequently had to be reconstituted. The destruction of French forces along RC4 became one of the defining disasters of the First Indochina War.
Learn more:
1950 Battle of Route Coloniale No. 4 (Cao Bằng Ridge Disaster)
#8. Which French monarch created the Foreign Legion?
Louis-Philippe signed the ordinance creating the Foreign Legion on 10 March 1831.
#9. During which major 1850s conflict did the Foreign Legion fight against Imperial Russia?
Legion units served in the Crimean War as part of the French expeditionary forces against Russia.
#10. Which French officer of 1er BEP was badly wounded in the fighting around Na Kéo on Route Coloniale No. 4 in early October 1950, and later became a senior commander of the Katangese forces during the Congo Crisis — including the forces fighting the Irish company at Jadotville?
Lieutenant Roger Faulques of 1er BEP was gravely wounded during the RC4 disaster and left for dead before being captured by the Việt Minh. Eleven years later he was a senior adviser and de facto commander of Katangese forces during the Congo Crisis; although associated with the forces besieging the Irish company at Jadotville, he commanded from Élisabethville rather than personally directing the battle on the ground.
If you’d read my 15,000-word study of the Battle of Route Coloniale No. 4, you’d already know the answer!
#11. At Điện Biên Phủ in 1954, which statement best describes the Foreign Legion’s role?
The Legion was deeply represented in the entrenched camp, including infantry and parachute formations, and Điện Biên Phủ became one of the greatest collective sacrifices in Legion history. The Legion commemorates it alongside Camerone as one of the central episodes in its institutional memory.
Learn more:
#12. In what year was the French Foreign Legion created?
Louis-Philippe created the Foreign Legion by royal ordinance on 10 March 1831.
#13. Which event in March 1945 devastated the 5e REI and other French forces in Indochina before the First Indochina War formally began?
On 9 March 1945 Japanese forces overthrew the remaining French colonial administration and attacked French garrisons throughout Indochina.
#14. In which West African kingdom did the Foreign Legion fight against regiments of female warriors during French colonial expansion in the 1890s?
The Dahomey Amazons (Fon: Agojie, Agoji, Mino, or Minon) were a Fon all-female military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey (in today’s Benin, West Africa)
#15. Against which Axis commander’s forces did the Free French, including the 13e DBLE, defend Bir Hakeim?
Rommel’s Panzerarmee Afrika attacked the Gazala positions, including the Free French strongpoint at Bir Hakeim.
#16. Which famous poet, author of ‘I have a rendezvous with death’, volunteered for service in the Foreign Legion and was killed in action during the Battle of the Somme?
American poet Alan Seeger was lauded for the poem “I Have a Rendezvous with Death”, a favorite of President John F. Kennedy. A statue representing him is on the monument in the Place des États-Unis, Paris, honoring those American citizens who volunteered to fight for the Third French Republic while their country was still neutral and lost their lives during the war. Seeger is sometimes called the “American Rupert Brooke”.
#17. Which Foreign Legion parachute regiment participated in the 1956 Anglo-French intervention at Suez?
The 1er Régiment étranger de parachutistes participated in the Suez operation in 1956. The intervention followed Egypt’s nationalisation of the Suez Canal and involved British, French and Israeli forces. The Legion’s official historical chronology specifically associates the 1956 Suez operation with 1er REP.
#18. Following Bir Hakeim, at which major 1942 battle did the 13e DBLE again fight Axis forces in Egypt?
The 13e DBLE fought at El Alamein as the Allies turned the strategic situation in North Africa.
#19. In which country was the Battle of Camerone fought in 1863?
Camerone occurred during Napoleon III’s intervention in Mexico.
#20. During the Rif War of the 1920s, Foreign Legion units fought forces led by which opponent?
Abd el-Krim led the Rif resistance and fought both Spanish and French forces in Morocco.
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📚 Further Reading
This battle study nests within the broader analytical framework explored in the Research Hub, where operational methods, operating environments, armies, commanders, and weapons are examined across conflicts and eras. The links below connect related studies across the wider body of battlefield analysis on the BattlefieldTravels site.
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