The Foreign Legion and its soldiers have fascinated for decades. The Beau Geste myth has given them the reputation of dangerous, desperate men who have transferred their allegiance from their country to the Legion itself. Robin Hunter has explored the men behind the myth, and the operations and battles that have earned them fear and respect worldwide. Chronologically charting their 20th-century manoeuvres as a rapid reaction force, Hunter tells the story behind their campaigns: how they held back Rommel's Afrika Korps, resisted Ho Chi Min in the siege of Dien Bien Phu, how they fought in the mountains in the Algerian War and their role in Beiruit and the Gulf War.