Few military units attract the attention of Hollywood and novelists as does the Foreign Legion. Those old enough will remember Buster Crabbe as Captain Gallant in the 1950s television serial about the swashbuckling Legionnaires. The non-fictional reality is rather more stark and gritty, and perhaps this volume is much closer to the truth, – even if Gary Cooper and Victor Mature (who both starred in Legion film potboilers) had a better time of it.