The bravery of the Foreign Legion has been so conspicuous that on
February 16th, 1906, M. Eugène Etienne, then Minister of War, proposed
that the flag of the 1st Foreign Regiment be decorated with the Legion
of Honour, "in recognition of the acts of devotion, courage, and
abnegation which a troop, ever on a war footing, renders to the country
in the defence of its Colonial possessions." This was done, and at the
Invalides, in a special case, can be seen an old flag of the regiment
bearing the date September 24th, 1862, a flag which had been retaken
from the enemy, and on the staff of which hangs the Cross of the Legion
of Honour, the finest tribute which France can pay to the glorious
deeds of the Foreign Legion.
During the present war a further distinction has been granted the
marching regiment of the Legion. Authority has just been given the men
to wear the _fourragère_, or braid, over the left shoulder. The flag of
this regiment had already been decorated with the Croix de Guerre.
The latest recorded exploit of this gallant corps was the capture,
at the point of the bayonet, of a fortified village strongly held by
the enemy. The men of the Legion held out so vigorously that all the
enemy's counter-attacks were beaten off, and seven hundred and fifty
German prisoners were sent to the rear.
The British residents in Paris and other parts of France who
volunteered for service in the French army and trained at the Magic
City in 1914 were drafted into the Foreign Legion, and the survivors
have reason to be proud of their old corps.
But the complete history of the doings of the Legion during this war
can only be written some time hence. Suffice it to say, in addition
to the above facts, that they have been mentioned in army orders no
fewer than three times--a distinction not won by any other French
regiment. At one time, during the Champagne campaign, they advanced
eighteen kilomètres into the enemy's front, and if only there had been
reinforcements to back them up there is no doubt a great victory would
have been won. The many personal heroic deeds, too, necessitate names
and details which will not yet pass the Censor's scrutiny. But one
incident, in conclusion, perhaps we may mention, as recorded to us by
M. Maurer.
"One of my former men, an Alsatian peasant of the lowest type, speaking
only of his own _patois_ and unable to read or write, came to Paris
after serving fifteen years in the Foreign Legion. I was instrumental
in getting him a place in a public wash-house, where he drew a handcart
for the sum of four francs a day, which, by the by, he promptly spent
in drink as soon as it was handed to him. As soon as war was declared
he was off again to his _métier_. He returned on leave after ten months
in the trenches, and came to see me. Judge of my surprise when I found
he had become a sub-lieutenant, wearing the Croix de Guerre and Croix
Militaire with the three palms! Still unable to speak more than a dozen
words in French he explained in his dialect, when I inquired what he
had done to acquire such distinctions, that he had killed fifty-two
Boches in the most dramatic circumstances. Night after night he had
slipped out of his trench, and like a snake in the grass crawled across
'No Man's Land' to the enemy's listening-posts, which are invariably
under the charge of experienced officers and picked men. He did his
work silently and expeditiously--with a knife. A terrible but true
anecdote of this relentless war!"