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Among the world's elite fighting forces, perhaps none holds more mystique than the famed French
Foreign Legion. Immortalized by the novelist P.C. Wren's Beau Geste, an adventure novel about
life in the Legion that has spawned four famous film adaptations, the famed Legion etrangere,
is seen as a place where cutthroats and refugees can earn a new life, and French citizenship,
through military service. But the French Foreign Legion was not always the elite force that we know
today, and in fact it was nearly disbanded in the 19th century, when one battle changed everything
and established a reputation, and a legend, that is still revered today. The story of the famous
piece of wood that is the heart of one of the world's most elite fighting forces is little
known outside of France, but the epic tale of Jean Danjou, and the Battle of Cameroon, is a tale of
extraordinary bravery in the face of overwhelming odds, and it deserves to be remembered.
In 1830, Charles the Tenth, the last of the French monarchs of the House of Bourbon,
was forced to advocate after what was called the July Revolution, and was replaced by his cousin,
Louis Philippe, the Duke of Orleans. One of the results of the revolution was that France had an
influx of immigrants, some of those who are idealist coming to France because they shared
the liberal ideas of the French Revolution, and others were former soldiers of Napoleon. In 1831
King Louie Philippe decreed the formation of the French Foreign Legion, to be made up of foreign
volunteers. The creation of the force served two purposes, first it helped to remove the domestic
threat of immigrants who could be disruptive to the government, and second, it provided additional
military support for French colonial endeavours. Especially the French conquest of Algeria,
which had become bogged down, and was becoming increasingly unpopular at home. As the goal was to
remove disruptive elements, the Legion allowed men to join anonymously, and any information offered
was taken at face value. That provision ended up allowing French citizens, technically ineligible
for the Legion to join. They were mostly petty criminals, or men running from their past.
As you can imagine, a force made up of foreigners and petty criminals,
that by law, was not allowed to operate inside of metropolitan France, was not particularly
attractive to regular officers, and not highly regarded by the regular army. The early Legion
was rife with discipline issues, desertion, and suffered from a lack of good officers,
and noncommissioned officers. The Legion was used for undesirable deployments,
for example supporting the regency against the Carlists in the Spanish Civil War in 1833. A war
in which the Legion was almost completely decimated by lengthy combat operations,
and almost complete lack of support from both France and Spain. Ironically it was the Carlists
defeat that reinvigorated the Legion as many former spanish rebels fled to France, and into
the French Foreign Legion. The headquarters was in Algeria where the fighting continued until 1847.
In 1848, Louis Philippe was overthrown, and replaced by the first popularly elected French
head of state, Louis Napoleon, the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte. Louis Napoleon was a
reformer at home, but also known for military adventurism abroad. Over the next decade,
the Legion was sent on more undesirable foreign deployments, including the cholera stricken
war in the Crimea, and the bloody second Italian War of Independence. Even though
they proved themselves in combat many times, and had been expanded into a larger force,
they were still poorly regarded within the French military. In 1861, Louie Napoleon invaded Mexico,
in the war of the French Intervention. ostensibly fought over Mexican war debts and free trade,
the war was actually a last attempt at European domination of Mexico. With Louie Napoleon's aim
to install a European monarch who could lead a reliable Catholic counterbalance to the United
States. The Legion was sent to join the war in Mexico in March of 1863, among the
Legionnaires was Captain Jean Danjou. Danjou had attended a prestigious military academy,
and joined the French army in 1848. In 1852, he had transferred to the Foreign Legion,
where he was a veteran of the wars in Algeria, the Crimea, Morocco and Sardinia. In 1853, he
had lost his left hand when his musket exploded, and he had a wooden prosthetic made. In Mexico,
he was a member of the headquarter staff of Colonel Pierre Jeanningros, the commander of
the Foreign Legion in Mexico. In Mexico the Legion had characteristically been given the worst duty
assignments, protecting supply convoys that came up the coast. The commander of the French forces
in Mexico, General Frederic Forey said, “I prefer to leave the foreigners, rather than Frenchmen,
to guard the most unhealthy area where malaria reign.” The Legion was assigned to
man local guard posts, and tropical diseases like malaria, and yellow fever, decimated the ranks.
In 1862, the French had tried to take the Mexican fortress in the city of Puebla by assault. They
had been defeated with heavy losses, and a battle that demonstrated that the war would not be
easily won. The Mexican victory at the Battle of Puebla, May 5th of 1862, is still celebrated today
as Cinco de Mayo. As a response, in 1863, the French had laid siege to the fortress,
a key strong point blocking the French forces from taking the capital in Mexico City.
But the siege had bogged down in the face of fierce Mexican resistance. General Forey had
sent to have a supply train brought up with huge siege cannons, and the armies pay, nearly four
million francs, from the port of Veracruz. That convoy would obviously be the target of Mexican
guerrillas, and the responsibility for protecting the convoy fell to the French Foreign Legion.
The convoy was being escorted by two companies of the Legion. On April 29th, a spy informed Colonel
Jeanningros that a substantial Mexican force had been dispatched to attack the convoy; the colonel
decided to send another company on a patrol to reinforce the convoy. The company chosen, The
Third Company of the 1st Battalion, had a nominal strength of 120 but due to illness, had only 62
Legionnaires fit for duty. As all the company officers were disabled due to illness, Captain
Danjou volunteered to lead the Patrol, accompanied by two lieutenants from the Headquarters Company.
The company left at 1:00 a.m. the morning of April 30th, preferring to march at night to
avoid the heat of the day. By 7:00 a.m. they had arrived at the village of Palo Verde, the extent
of their patrol, without encountering any enemy. Tired from their march they paused for breakfast,
around 8 a.m. the Sentry spied a dust cloud that indicated a cavalry formation, the small patrol of
just 60 men, had just run into approximately 600 Mexican cavalry. Danjou tried to leave
his group back to an abandoned walled hacienda, called camaron, about a half mile away. But the
cavalry caught them before they could get to the safety of the buildings. Caught in the open by ten
times their number in cavalry, Danjou ordered the Legionnaires to form a square, a tight formation
with two ranks, one standing and one kneeling. The cavalry charged! At 50 meters Danjou gave
the order to fire, killing many of the cavalry men, and blunting their attack. Knowing they
could not defend themselves in the open, Danjou ordered the company to make for the hacienda; they
fixed bayonets and charged. Some of the company were killed or captured in the running fight to
the walls, but Danjou, and 46 Legionnaires made it to the hacienda, now defending a little more
than a farmhouse courtyard made of stone walls. A Mexican officer came to Danjou under a white flag,
and offered the opportunity to surrender. Danjou refused, saying that his men had plenty
of ammunition, and would fight. Danjou went to each of his men asking them to pledge to die
rather than be captured. Without hope of holding out until rescue, Danjou intended to distract
as many enemies as he could from attacking the convoy. The Mexican army threw wave after wave of
attack against the Hacienda, but the Legionnaires defended the walls fiercely. The supply mules had
been lost at the start of the battle, and they had little water or food in the oppressive heat.
Around noon, Captain Danjou was struck in the chest by a Mexican bullet, he died a few minutes
later. Two battalions of Mexican infantry arrived bringing the Mexican force up to nearly 2,000,
the Mexicans continued to press the attack, trying to hack holes in the walls. By 6:00 p.m. only
Lieutenant Maudet and four Legionnaires remained, and they were down to the last bullets. They fired
and charged with their bayonets. A Mexican volley killed one Legionnaire and wounded Lieutenant
Maudet. Surrounded, a Mexican Colonel demanded that the last three Legionnaires surrender. They
replied, only if they are allowed to keep their arms, and that they're wounded to be treated.
Astounded by their bravery, the colonel agreed saying, “One refuses nothing to men such as you.”
It is a peculiarity of war that soldiers who are willing to fight their enemy to the death,
still respect that enemy in battle. There was no just cause for the war of the French Intervention,
these Legionnaires were invaders, and yet the Mexican army respected their brave last stand.
When presented with the last three Legionnaires from the battle, the Mexican commander,
Colonel Francisco Milan said in amazement, “These are not men, they are demons.” In the nearly 10
hour battle, the 62 men of the Third Company had caused nearly 600 Mexican casualties, killed or
wounded. True to their word, the Mexicans treated the French wounded, although Lieutenant Maudet
did die later of his wounds. In all, twenty four members of the Third Company survived the battle,
virtually all of those wounded, and most returned to France in July of that year in a prisoner
exchange. Alerted to Milan's presence, the convoy stopped until they could reinforce their guard
and did eventually reach their destination. The Mexicans who were besieged in the Battle
of Puebla surrendered in May of 1863, but the war raged on for another three years before faced with
increasing unpopularity with the war at home, and pressure from the United States, Louie Napoleon
was compelled to withdraw Mexican forces in 1866. Maximilian's remaining forces were defeated in
1867, and Maximilian himself was captured and executed in May of 1867, ending the war.
The Battle of Cameroon is seen as a defining moment in the history of the French Foreign
Legion. It is considered the event that earned them a permanent, and respected place
in the French military. Legionnaires served with great distinction in both World Wars,
suffered greatly in the defeated Dien Bien Phu in the first Indochina War,
and continued to serve today in the Global War on Terror. The French Foreign Legion,
which is still the only unit of the French military that accepts foreign recruits,
is today numbered among the world's most elite fighting forces. Jean Danjous hand was recovered
by a local farmer, and required by the Legion. Some stories say it was recovered by a Belgian
ally, and some say that a former Legionnaire bought it from the farmer. It is kept at the
Legion headquarters in Aubagne, France, and taken out for parade every April 30th, Cameroon Day.
His hand is the most cherished artifact of the Legion, it represents not just a brave battle,
but a defining moment where the legend of the French Foreign Legion was born. It is
a link between the Legion of today, and its storied past, it deserves to be remembered.
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