Hellhounds of France is a not just a great war book with nonstop action in faraway exotic locations (not only because of their distance, but also on account of the time it was written making them feel even further remote), but also an in-depth look at France's most infamous fighting force – the French Foreign Legion. Set in the 1920s, right between the two great wars of the XX century, the book kicks off with a condemnation by the author of the Legion and of France's foreign policy in general. The brutality faced by the legionnaires along with the subhuman conditions of their existence come up again and again in the book.
The narrator, Legionnaire 1384 or "Barrington", is English; he befriends an American legionnaire, and this friendship carries throughout the book. We see our two anglophone heroes face off terrible odds in battle, sustain dreadful punishments, and even fall in love with enigmatic women including a Druze princess.
From defending isolated forts in the Rif mountains of Morocco from marauding bands of locals dead set on expelling the French, to holding the Druze-inhabited mountains of Syria, the book moves swiftly from battle to battle. The different chapters reveal not only the military tactics of both the Legion and France's expeditionary army but also that of its most formidable enemies. The horrible cost of war isn't lost in the narration; this isn't a book that simply glorifies war nor does it only highlight its costly pitfalls, it showcases both bravery and the devastation of armed conflict.
But as mentioned, this isn't just a war book. Legionnaires face terrible consequences for going astray, mostly that of a salt water-soaked whip on their backs along with inhuman conditions of prisons where often legionnaires are left without any access to daylight for days. This subject becomes the driving force behind the books' latter chapters.
All in all, a great book, and I'd definitely recommed it. Once on a bus from France to Spain, I met a Chilean defector from the FFL who despite having had a long career as a mercenary, did not feel he fit into the Legion at all. It made me curious as to how the Legion has changed over time, will have to see if there are any contemporary books on the subject. As always, suggestions are welcome.
