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Hi Didier,

I do not think there is anyone publishing works in the UK about General Bigeard. Most books only deal in general campaigns, and they are rare enough. There are only a handful of authors being published in the UK who write about French modern campaigns. One is Martin Windrow, who has published two books, and the other is Alastair Horne, who wrote his book back in the 1970's!

I see it as an enjoyable challenge to find and personally translate French texts. It makes it worth the effort.

Best regards

Mark

The following photos are from a reenactment of the French Army's 2nd Colonial Parachute Regiment (2e Régiment de Parachutistes Coloniaux) during the invasion of the Suez Canal zone on 5th November 1956. As part of operation "Telescope Modified" the French para's, led by Lt. Col. Chateau-Jobert, dropped from French Noratlas transport aircraft onto the estuary opposite Port Said. They advanced along the canal to Port Fouad, where they seized the water treatment works and the town itself.

Thanks for sharing this photo with us Bernhard, it certainly adds a personal, human, element to this subject.

Thanks guys, Dien Bien Phu is a subject I keep returning to and has a real hold over me. I'm always thinking up ways of putting together a photoshoot depicting it. One day I'll find myself a suitable location for a set of water-logged trenches...

Tomorrow is D-Day for my Suez photoshoot, though the weather forecast is rubbish. Watch this space.

The following photos are from a reenactment of the French Foreign Legion 1st Foreign Parachute Battalion (1er Bataillon Étranger de Parachutistes) during the battle for Dien Bien Phu. Depicted are paras conducting a recconaissance in force out of the valley towards the village of Ban Huoi Phuc in January 1954.

Hi Bernhard,

We have looked everywhere here in Great Britain for a MAS 36 CR 39 folding stock rifle but sadly they are just not available. I keep looking though...

I am slowly increasing my collection of French weapons. Other than the MAS 36 CR 39 the only MAS variant I do not have is the MAS 49 semi-automatic rifle, which is similarly rare here.

Thank you for your comments. I will post a series of photos we took as the 1er BEP at Dien Bien Phu in a day or so.

Regards

Mark

The following photos are from a reenactment of the French 3rd Colonial Parachute Regiment (3e Regiment Parachutiste Coloniaux) during the Algerian war. Depicted are paras conducting a search and destroy mission to find an ALN arms cache in the wilderness of Kabylia during the winter months of December 1955 to March 1956.

Bernhard,

Thank you for the information and advice, it is very much appreciated. I will post some more of the photoshoots here in the next few days.

Regards

Mark

Yes, I agree with Hugh, an excellent and illuminating account of something little covered in the English language.

Mark Allen

Thank you for your comment Bernhard, it is very much appreciated. I was particularly impressed by your accounts of the battles in Indochina you have posted here. Accounts like these are rarely translated into English.

I have now conducted four photoshoots covering Indochina and Algeria. I have always sought to make the depiction as accurate as possible. This of course included the depiction of 'les Indigènes' within the French units. Having read all of the books available in the English language I was struck at just how reliant the CEFEO was on local volunteers.

Marcel Bigeard and his 6e BPC and 3e RPC have been, so far, the main drive behind my photoshoots and are themes I continue to return to. I have immense respect for the accomplishments of General Bigeard, despite the complete lack of any of his works being translated into the English language.

I am currently working on two projects, one of which I am sure will be most interesting to you. The first is the evacuation of Cao Bang via Route Coloniale 4 in 1950. I put together a photoshoot to depict a small group of survivors made up of the 3e Régiment Étranger d'Infanterie, Goumiers from the Tabors Marocains, and a Thai partisan guide - from the 'Charton column'. Unfortunately this photoshoot had to be cancelled due to an extreme amount of rainfall which flooded our location for some time. This will be tried again next year.

The second is LtCol Chateau-Jobert's 2e Regiment Parachutiste Coloniaux at Port Fouad in the Suez Canal zone, 1956. This is to take place on 5th August. Hopefully the weather will hold out for us...

Best regards

Mark Allen

Hi all,

I've just joined this forum and have not posted previously. I believe this is the most suitable section to post this in. My apologies to the moderators if it is not...

Over the last five years I have developed a keen interest in the French Indochina war of 1946-54 and the Algerian War of 1954-62. I also spent eight years as a 'reenactor' in a WWII Living History outfit called 'Thunder From Heaven'. During this time we put on many private photoshoots combining our vast collections of equipment - and skills we had learnt working as extras in TV documentaries. I believe that the coverage of WWII has now reached saturation point so have turned away from it to seek new challenges. I now focus my attention almost entirely on Indochina and Algeria.

What follows is a series of photographic reenactments of the battle of Tu Lê in Northern Vietnam, October 1952. This depicts the French 6th Colonial Parachute Battalion and their fighting withdrawal from Tu Lê against 10,000 Viet-Minh soldiers. At the time the '6e BPC' was one of France's most experienced airborne units. Numbering some 600 men, half of whom were Vietnamese, they spearheaded the creation of the Vietnamese National Army, and showed Vietnamese soldiers to be every bit the equal of Europeans.

I researched the battle as thoroughly as possible and tried to source clothing and equipment to make the scenario as authentic as possible. I am constantly finding new sources of information and photos that support, or contradict, my previous research so I will always welcome any constructive criticism. Although I have made every effort to make the photos as authentic as possible they are, of course, subject to unavoidable restrictions due to location, budget, and the availability of equipment.