Importance of the Spanish Foreign Legion

Alsina González
Specialist journalist and researcher

Born in 1920 under the name Tercio de Extranjeros, inspired by the French Foreign LegionToday, the Spanish Legion is one of the best known military corps in the world.

The Spanish Legion was founded in 1920 by José Millán-Astray, a seasoned war veteran.

Millán-Astray had begun his military career in the Philippines and later fought in the colonial war in Morocco. Spanish.

It was in 1919 when he became interested in the French Foreign Legion and the possibility of forming a comparable body within the Spanish army.

From here, he exposed his idea to the Minister of War at the time, and got a service commission from him to study the operation of the French body in Algeria.

On his return from Algeria, in 1920, Millán-Astray will be commissioned to form the first unit, which at that time was not known as the Spanish Legion, but rather as the Tercio de Extranjeros.

The name of the Spanish Legion was given to it in 1937, after the Civil War, a conflict in which the Legion sided with the rebels.

Precisely, Francisco Franco, future Spanish dictator after the civil conflict, had been the first-hour commander of the Legion, having coincided with Millán-Astray in 1919, who convinced him in 1920 to become part of the new body.

The internal organization of the legion differs from that of the rest of the Spanish army.

The unit with the greatest depth is the tercio, whose name is reminiscent of the mythical tercios of Flanders, and which groups a series of flags (currently three flags in each tercio, with four tercios in total), divided in turn into companies. In total, a third will group some 1,000-1,500 soldiers.

The first theater of operations in which the legionnaires fought was in the Rif colonial war, from its founding in 1920 until the end of the conflict in 1927.

In 1934 they intervened for the first time in the Peninsula, harshly suppressing the uprising of the miners in Asturias, in an operation directed, precisely, by Franco.

Being garrisoned in Spanish possessions in North Africa and led by right-wing Africanist soldiers, the Legion sided with the rebel side from the very beginning.

During the conflict, its number of troops would grow, going from six to eighteen flags, even having a tank flag.

The same Legion accredits a total of 3,042 combat actions between July 17, 1936 and March 31, 1939.

Among the most notable actions in which they take part are the capture of Badajoz, followed by the bloody repression in the form of a bloodbath in which the murder of babies at the hands of some legionnaires, as well as the liberation of the Alcázar de Toledo, a rebel stronghold that had been surrounded by the army loyal to the Republic.

Legionary troops will take part on almost all fronts, from Andalusia to Catalonia, passing through Madrid.

The next war scenario in which the legion would take part, already in the midst of the Franco dictatorship, was the Ifni War from 1957 to 1958.

In said conflict, a Legion flag held on the population of Ifni, while legionary paratrooper forces dispersed throughout the territory of the then Spanish colony to relieve pressure on the capital and facilitate the rescue operation.

Once this objective was achieved, the Spanish legionnaires (with the support of French troops) would focus on the defense of the Spanish Sahara. These territories, Ifni and the Sahara, would be decolonized by Spain in 1969 and 1976 respectively. But, until these dates, both would have the presence of the Legion.

With the change of regime in Spain from 1978, the successive governments seek to adapt the Legion to the new times.

It is modernized and prepared for its intervention in international mediation and peace missions, which they have done in scenarios such as Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Congo and Lebanon.

The Legion has developed a mystique of its own, designed to turn the recruit into a highly prepared and motivated soldier.

Part of that mystique lies in their creed, which denies the fear of death and even embraces it (death's boyfriend is his best-known hymn), cultivates esprit de corps (his best-known cry is that of To me the Legion! with which a legionary invokes others to help him), and elevates being part of the body, calling its members not as simple legionaries, but as "legionary knights".

Throughout Spain there are groups of "old legionary knights", which have state sometimes embroiled in controversy for having promoted the values fascists of the Franco dictatorship.

In fact, during the dictatorship, and due to Franco's sentimental attachment to the Legion, said body became a benchmark for the Francoist and fascist imaginary, a heritage from which the Spanish Legion has not been able to get rid of despite the efforts of some governments.