The Legion of French Volunteers against Bolshevism Vol. 1: 1941

In this new work, author Eric Le Clanche presents 100 biographies of Volunteers from the Légion des Volontaires Français against Bolshevism, with the distinction that all were enlistees of 1941.

This opens Volume 1: 1941 — The Legion of French Volunteers «On the road to Moscow and victory».

A work arranged chronologically, from enlistment to trial.

The reader will find a wealth of information throughout the volumes to be published. Those interested in the 1939/40 period will also find details on that tragic spring, officers' names, unit affiliations of certain Volunteers, military actions, and information relating to the National Gendarmerie Corps.

Coming from entirely different backgrounds — veterans of the 14/18 conflict, heavily politicised; available NCOs; men in precarious circumstances; White Russians; young politicised idealists; foreigners or stateless individuals; and others embarking on a more personal adventure. Soldiers, workers, peasants, students, dreamers and intellectuals!

All the Volunteers of the 1st Legion were engaged under conditions of extreme climatic severity, with military kit ill-suited to such low temperatures. Despite these hardships, all were present in November/December 1941 within 70 kilometres of Moscow, the city before which the Wehrmacht was fighting at the end of six months of campaign in Bolshevik territory.

In the legend of the 20th century, they became «political soldiers». To the mass of fence-sitters: misunderstood men, traitors… Their engagement was that of regular soldiers against Bolshevik totalitarianism. History over the decades has judged, judges, and will judge.