LN59
Posts: 204
Joined: 1/28/2016
From: France
Status: offline
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quote:
Due to the massive influx of German POWs given the choice to remain captive or fight in Indochina with the Legion, their arrival set in stone today's music in the Legion.
Germans in Indochina?
I confirm. And nuance...
An example. The song "Être et durer" (Being and Lasting) of the Foreign Legion and the Army (Paratroopers; Infanterie de Marine, heiress of the colonial troops, including the 3e RPIMa) was written after 1945 on music from 1935. This is associated to a famous marching song of the Wehrmacht (1937) then of the Bundeswehr (until a German controversy in 2017): Westerwaldlied. However, the German lyrics written in 1932 evoke only the love of a region conducive to hiking and pleasant encounters, the Westerwald, a small mountain range near the Rhine. The inspiration for this song comes from folklore and in good part from the great youth movement founded in 1896, the Wandervogel (the Migratory Bird) dissolved in favor of the Hitler Jugend. The French lyrics are much more warlike than the original, even though it was sung by fierce veterans of the Eastern Front enlisted under the tricolor.
Many German PoW had another choice than "L'Indo". Certainly in violation of the Geneva Conventions when it comes to demining what they and the fighting had left with us. Minefields, bombs and unexploded ordnance, among others. We still find these death machines from the two world wars. There would still be four centuries of "natural" cleaning! In 1945, this involved thousands of km² of coastline, mountainous regions, roads, structures and bombed cities. Out of 200,000 German prisoners of war taken in France and a total of 750,000 (at most) detained at the end of 1945, less than 50,000 had to demine, supervised by the Army. If many of them lost their lives there, this was also the case among the 3200 French volunteers for this terrible work, in addition to many civilians of all ages who were victims of accidents. Dangerous work, essential for the future reconstruction of a country impoverished and ravaged by six years of war and occupation, which began long before May 8, 1945, when our soldiers (450,000 at the end of 1943; 1,200,000 at the end of 1944) and the resistance fighters fought alongside the Allies as well as around pockets of the Atlantic. The French prisoners of 1940 (1,845,000) were far from all having returned to the country at the start of 1945.
The question is: out of a maximum of 750,000 Germans "at the disposal of France" for the period 1945-1948, how many actually joined the French Army?
Less than ten thousand for sure! A few thousand? Perhaps... A few tens or hundreds, much more likely. Which isn't incompatible with what I wrote above about Alsatians and Lorrainers, on the contrary! There are no official statistics on this subject and one can always wonder why. As a reminder, the workforce of the CEFEO (French Expeditionary Corps in the Far East) is estimated at 115,000 for 1946-1949 and 177,000 for 1954. One thing is certain, these German prisoners were undoubtedly more numerous when they were called upon as free and salaried workers (thus volunteers) from 1946.
Quote: "With the exception of prisoners sentenced for common law offences, all German prisoners were released by the end of 1948 at the latest, in accordance with international agreements governing the detention of German prisoners. Some estimate that 30,000 Germans chose to remain in France after their detention" (Wikipedia article linked below).
History is made like this: of complexity. Like Life or any mother tongue. And myths die hard!
I am giving you some useful links so that you can make up your own mind.
I want to make it clear that I've been teaching history for over 37 years and I continue to study it, every day God makes.
Lilian 
Westerwaldlied - Wikipedia article (EN): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westerwaldlied
Westerwaldlied - German March (GE) with lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPxbEw27BDY&ab_channel=DeroVolkTV
The song "Être et durer" by the RPIMa (FR) with lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4rJMGc57mY&ab_channel=ParaFran%C3%A7ais
The Wandervogel youth movement - Wikipedia article (EN): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wandervogel
Demining operation (FR) - Video with text of one page easily translated by Google Translate:
http://museedelaresistanceenligne.org/media4138-OpA
German PoWs of the Second World War in France (see graphic) - Wikipedia (FR):
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Prisoners_of_war_of_the_Second_World_War_in_France#p-lang-btn
German prisoners of war in France (1944-1949) - National Archives (FR):
https://www.siv.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr/siv/cms/content/helpGuide.action;jsessionid=F9BF46DC86FF3F7E355174BA1D923C90?preview=false&uuid=b9319616-b743-4418-abb3-d32f880f15b3
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< Message edited by LN59 -- 2/17/2022 10:11:09 AM >
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"On ne passe pas !"
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"One does not pass! The Covid-19 even less."
Years 2020, 2021 motto, 2022 distant memory
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