France Legion Document 1954

[dante]

Had this document for over 20 years, I did get in touch with the Legion old comrades and he was still alive then having left the Legion and worked for Krupp,

Welcome your thoughts

[Bernhard H.Holst]

Hello Dante:

Thank you for showing this document. Because of the unit involved (12./13.DBLE) and the battle of D.B.Ph. I have a special interest, a very good friend of mine , Leg.Erhard Naundorf served in this company again during his second tour of duty in Indochina. He survived the battle of Hoa Binh in 1951-1952 during which this, the III.Battalion of the 13.DBLE lost heavily including the very much liked company commander of the 12.Cie., Capitaine Gille-Naves. Leg.Naundorf was mortally wounded in Annam later in 1952. After the voyage from Algeria to Vietnam,I had met him and several of his comrades in the Nam Dinh , Tonkin area on some occasions while operating in conjunction with their battle group.

The description on this document of the fall of strong point Beatrice during the night of the 13. to the 14. March 1954 sounds very much like what is reflected in other accounts of this battle which practically wiped out one of the best units of the French Foreign Legion in Indochina.

Thanks again for a glimpse at the tragic events of that time,

Bernhard H. Holst

formerly of the 1.REC 1951 - 1953 and again 1954.

[dante]

Bernhard, thanks for your comments, here is a small article on Karlfried Schneider

http://www.dradio.de...politik/263311/

Edited November 30, 2012 by dante

[dante]

"The 73-year-old Karlfried Schneider can still remember well, although now more than half a century has passed:

Das Schönste war, wo mir nach Dien Bien Phu hereinkamen, erst Mal die Bunker bauen. The best thing was, where I came in to Dien Bien Phu, the first time to build bunkers. Da hat man sich ja weiter gar nichts Schlechtes dabei gedacht. Since it has indeed further thought nothing wrong with it. Und wir haben Bunker gebaut und haben gut gegessen, haben unseren Spaß gehabt, und dann kam am 13.3.1954 so gegen Abend, fünf Uhr, strenges Ausgangsverbot. And we have built bunkers and ate well, have had our fun, and then came on 13.3.1954 so against evening, five clock, strict curfew. Und da ahnte ich schon nichts Gutes.And since I already knew nothing good. Und dann ging's auch schon los: Peng, peng, peng, peng...And then it was also going on already: Bang, bang, bang, bang ... - und dann haben wir durchgehalten, bis die Nacht um zwei, drei... - And then we have persevered until the night to two, three ... Und da war unser Posten gefallen! And because our items had fallen! Und das war der erste Posten, der von Dien Bien Phu überhaupt verloren ging. And that was the first item that was of Dien Bien Phu in general lost.

Karlfried Schneider - ehemaliger Soldat in der französischen Fremdenlegion - ist wieder einmal zum monatlichen Veteranen-Treff gekommen, zur so genannten "Amicale", in einer Gaststätte in Frechen bei Köln. Karlfried Schneider - a former soldier in the French Foreign Legion - has come once again for the monthly meeting veterans, the so-called "Amicale", in a restaurant in Frechen near Cologne. Er gehört schon zu den Ältesten der knapp zwei Dutzend Ex-Legionäre - und: er ist inzwischen der einzige von ihnen, der noch in Dien Bien Phu selbst dabei war. He heard the elders of almost two dozen former Legionaries - and: he is now the only one of them who was not even there at Dien Bien Phu".

[Bernhard H.Holst]

Hello Dante.

Thank you for the article.

Of some small interest may be an incident described by Bernard Fall in his book "Hell in a very small place" in which a group of French prisoners are led away from the battle. As they come to a place at which to cross a barbed wire entanglement, a severely wounded Vietminh is laying in the path. One of the French prisoners tried not to step on him when an escorting Vietminh cadre tells him not to mind the wounded man thus: "You can step on him, he has done his duty for his country" .

Bernhard H. Holst

[camerone54]

A very interesting document! Thank you for sharing!