Quote:
Originally Posted by Khyber
Hi Joe.
Thanks for your very detailed reply. Very helpfu and I really appreciate it. I'm mainly a collector of British Indian army medals and badges but find the French Foreign Legion fascinating with their involvement in North Africa and also their experiences in Indo-China, Dien Bien Phu etc..I find their badges attractive so will try to get a few..
Incidentally are you on the sagongs medal forum?
Regards and best wishes.
Sunil
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One thing I forgot to mention in my post is, be very careful about the "old Legion" unit badges.Most if not all of them were reproduced for the Service Historique de la Legion Etrangère by Drago,the largest and most important badge maker in France.I was told that Drago to differentiate the old original badges from the modern repro added an "R" on the back.......but this to be taken with a large grain of salt.Also you should know that some badges were made in limited quantities,sometimes less than 100 to 200 for some companies of the Legion in some faraway postings.In my case I would be very wary of any Foreign Legion badges dating back from the 1930's or 1940's and sometimes. from units who fought at Dien-Bien-Phu.
Just be sure of what you are buying.Caveat Emptor.
As to yor question about the Sagong Forum.......not a member.
In the French army,a 'regiment' is made up of up to 1200 men....so a lot of badges to be supplied.
One book that you must get is ,INSIGNES DE LA LÉGION ÈTRANGÈRE, By Christian Malcros a bit old as it came out in 1981. ASIN; B00113928UQ from Amazon.co.uk or you may try Ebay.
Cheers
Jo