"Forts of the French Foreign Legion" Topic

"Tales of the French Foreign Legion in the deserts of North Africa have fired the imagination of many an adventurous school boy. Richard Jeynes was one. Now, as a (grown-up) archaeologist, his investigation of an abandoned fort of the French colonial empire, is bringing those stories to life.

The remote desert outpost of Fort Zinderneuf, from P C Wren's 1925 novel Beau Geste, manned by rugged, desperate legionnaires and surrounded by camel mounted tribesmen has inspired numerous Hollywood films as well as a range of books of a similar genre.

While Wren's claims to have served in the French Foreign Legion are largely unsubstantiated, the small details of life in the Legion are reasonably accurate. The French Foreign Legion was used in campaigns across North Africa. They built isolated forts that became the focus of military actions way beyond the imagination of novel writers and outposts were frequently defended to the last man during the early part of the 20th century. Our investigations took us to two such sites, in southeast Morocco close to the Algerian border: a large fort at Tazzougerte and a blockhouse at Boudenib…"

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Amicalement
Armand

I remember you've posted this before as I have it in my Colonial favourites

You know, if you hit the right office in France, they probably still have files on these--layouts, capacity, water supply. Maybe even a prescribed pattern for a fort of a given size.

Pretty cool!

They must have looked out from the battlements and thought they'd made some very bad life choices!!

Glad you enjoyed it my friend!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand