Legionnaire: Five Years in the French Foreign Legion, the World's Toughest Army

Résumé du livre

Simon Murray was 19 when he joined the French Foreign Legion. The romantic myths had not prepared him for 5 years of hard living and discipline. This is his extraordinary insight into the soldiering trade that has passed into military history. 'One of the greatest adventure stories in years.' - Chris Patten 'The drama, excitement and colour of a good guts-and-glory thriller.' - Dr. Henry Kissinger The French Foreign Legion - mysterious, romantic, deadly - is filled with men of dubious character, and hardly the place for a proper Englishman just nineteen years of age. Yet in 1960, Simon Murray traveled alone to Paris, Marseilles, and on to Algeria to fulfill the toughest contract of his life: a five-year stint in the Legion. Along the way, he kept a diary.Legionnaire is a compelling, firsthand account of Murray's experience with this legendary band of soldiers. Subjected to brutal sergeants, merciless training methods and barbaric punishments - all in the hostile, sun-baked North African desert - Murray and his fellow men were pushed to breaking point, and beyond.Sixty years on, it remains a remarkable account of one of the most notorious military groups, a tale of true adventure and one man's determination never to surrender.