Due to the increased intake over the past two years, there was an unusually large number of legionnaires from the REP due to go on a Caporals’ course. Out of the forty places on the course, twenty had been allocated to the ‘boys’ from Calvi.
Our course was due to start on a Monday, with the last reporting time at Castelnaudary on the Sunday evening. Because of the sailing times from Corsica to the Continent at this time of the year, we were told that we would have to leave on the Wednesday night ferry from Bastia. This meant that we would arrive in Marseille early on Thursday morning and travel to Castelnaudary by train, arriving about 4.00 in the afternoon. We would be confined to camp for three days over the weekend before the course started which none of us wanted.
While on the ferry we got our heads together to discuss the problem and agreed that there was no way that we were going to let that happen. A plan of action was quickly agreed. We were being escorted by a Sergeant who had been tasked to deliver us directly to Castelnaudary, but we planned to ditch him in such a way that he would not be able do anything about it. If we worked together as a team, using our collective power, nothing could beat us.
The sea was calm and when we arrived at Marseille a bus was waiting for us on the quayside to take us to the railway station. We all boarded the train as planned and settled back to enjoy the run along the coast. Before reaching Narbonne, the last stop before the train headed inland on its run up to Toulouse, we made sure that the Sergeant was well established in the buffet car. He had no reason to suspect that we were up to anything and was enjoying a drink with a crowd of us around him for company.
When the train stopped, Operation ‘Ditch the Sergeant’ was put into action. Timing was everything. Half a dozen of our group got out at the front of the train and walked slowly back down the platform towards the buffet car. In France, as previously pointed out, a three-minute stop means exactly that – not a second more, not a second less. Thirty seconds before the train was due to pull out of the station, our six volunteers walked past the buffet car window and waved at those inside.
We made sure that the Sergeant saw them, he shot off his bar stool, ran for the nearest door and was out on the platform about five seconds before the train doors closed behind him. Once closed there was no way that they could be reopened. The door of the last carriage meanwhile was being held open by one of our group and the last of the six swung up into the train as it started to roll.
The next thing the sergeant was aware of was the train pulling out of the station with not a Legionnaire in sight on the platform. When he looked up there were twenty legionnaires waving at him from the departing train, leaving him standing on the platform without his kepi, his bags and most important of all, his detachment of legionnaires. I must admit that I felt sorry for him. He was the innocent victim of a well-organized plot.
The worst that could happen to us was that we would all be thrown off the course and sent back to Calvi. For the sergeant, I wasn’t so sure. We were all a bit nervous as the train pulled in to Castelnaudary. We half expected the Military Police to board the train to escort us all to the camp, but we needn’t have worried, there was no sign of them. I suppose up to that point we hadn’t done anything wrong.
We all stayed on the train to Toulouse where we went our separate ways for some unofficial leave. Some got on the TGV for Paris, others like myself decided to stay on in what was France’s second largest city. I had never been there before and there was lots to do. Being so close to Castelnaudary, legionnaires in uniform were not unusual.
We spent our time relaxing, bought some extra equipment to use on the course, went to the cinema and had a couple of good meals. On the Sunday morning, as agreed, we all headed for Castelnaudary, arriving at the station a little after 11.00. A reception committee was waiting for us as we stepped off the train. A sergeant chef, a sergeant and four MPs from the Training Regiment were standing on the platform. They wanted to take us to the camp in dribs and drabs as the lads arrived, but we had agreed that we would all regroup at the station and go to the camp together. Our strength was in our solidarity and we refused to go. There were only four still to arrive and their train was due in about five minutes, so we stayed. The REP has a mean reputation and the young MPs were afraid to take us on. Six against sixteen was no contest.
The final four arrived on time and we got onto the lorries for the short drive to the camp. When the lorries stopped at the main gates we all jumped down and lined up in two rows to march into the camp. Again the MPs were taken by surprise and could do nothing about it. The gates opened and we marched onto the parade square singing the REP regimental song. The sentries and the MPs were obliged by tradition to stand to attention and salute as we marched past.
Unbeknown to us, our second in command from the REP, Lieutenant Colonel Halbert, had flown by helicopter from Calvi and was waiting to interview us one at a time. He must have been watching from a window as we marched proudly into the camp. We were kept standing on the parade square for four hours before the interviews began, during which time we were not allowed to talk while we waited our turn, or question those who had been interviewed and returned to the ranks.
We gradually became aware that we were being watched from the windows of the barracks by those undergoing their basic training. Everyone was confined to quarters while all of this was going on. Quite what they thought of us we will never know, but I am sure that they must have been impressed.
I was second last to go in for questioning and by now it was just after six in the evening. We hadn’t eaten or been given any water, although fortunately for us it was a sunny but cool day. I am sure that we would have been left standing there even if it had been raining or even snowing.
After being marched in, the Colonel simply asked me to explain what we had done and why we had done it. He did not raise his voice or show any sign of displeasure at what had happened. In fact I got the impression that he was quite pleased that we had stuck together and had enhanced the reputation of the Regiment as being something special, to be held in awe by those not part of it. When I had finished my explanation he said that we would be staying to do the course and that any disciplinary action would be taken by the Regiment on our return. He also made it clear that he expected us all to come out at the top of the course and that nothing else would be good enough.
It was decided by the Colonel in Chief of the Training Regiment that everyone from the REP would be kept together for the course in one section. He felt that it would not be fair to those from the other regiments to be dominated by the ‘REPmen’. Basically, he thought they could break us that way. Half of us were Brits or English speaking, and that was another bond within our group.
First thing on the Monday morning we were assembled before our own Colonel in private. He told us that he could not condone what we had done, but he was pleased that we had stuck together. We were now expected to return his trust with positive results on the course, both as a group and as individuals, in the name of the Regiment. At the end of the course any punishment would reflect our achievements.
The only people to suffer immediate sanctions were the Sergeant who had been in charge of us and the Legionnaire who had been carrying our paperwork and had left it on the train. Fortunately it had been recovered but they were both sent back to Calvi. The Sergeant was demoted for six months but the Legionnaire was back at Castelnaudary on the next course.
Fortunately we had good NCO instructors. Two of them were ex-REP and wanted to return, while the others had ambitions to be transferred there. It was good to know that they were on our side and would be working with us rather than against. It was going to be an interesting four months. Our fitness levels were far superior to those of the other section and probably that of our instructors. We were going to be doing all our training at the farm where I had done my basic training and I therefore had another advantage of knowing the terrain. We were soon well into the programme of instruction and there was a healthy competitive atmosphere right from the start. It was also clear from the beginning that there were at least half a dozen natural leaders in our section who would challenge for first place. Instruction was comprehensive and intensive, and our group thrived on it. Every challenge was met head on as a united unit while individual skills came to the fore.
Time passed quickly and we were soon starting the final month of tests. The written and practical tests went well, but the most important test of all was the 30k forced march against the clock. Normally it would be every man for himself and the two sections combined for this final push. Right from the beginning of the course our section had worked together as a team, helping the weakest of us to perform well. On top of that we were ‘The men from the REP’, and we all knew that the Regiment expected us to stick together. There were those amongst us who were more than capable of setting a record time for the march but we all remembered the last words of the Colonel before he left. This was about regimental supremacy. The fittest helped the weakest who by any standards were fitter than many top athletes. We worked as a group with each of us taking it in turn to set the pace.
By the halfway stage most of the other section had been left behind and there were some very good lads amongst them. They were not given the cold shoulder by the rest of us and were encouraged to join in on the teamwork.
It is traditional for the Colonel in Chief of the 4eme RE and his senior officers, to come to the finish of the march to congratulate the winner. We all knew who was going to come top overall in the course and he had nothing left to prove. We therefore stopped before the final bend, out of sight of those waiting at the finish, and formed up into two columns. Our colleague who was going to come first then led us in. We were perfectly aligned, jogging in step and chanting our own version of ‘Two old ladies lying in bed, one rolled over and the other one said’, in English.
The look on the faces of the officers was worth all the effort. At first they didn’t know how to react – this had never happened before – but as we crossed the line they burst into applause. It was great to finish the course like this and we were elated that it was all over. We all gathered at the finish line to encourage the rest of the course as they straggled home in dribs and drabs. The last home was almost three quarters of an hour behind our group. In a way it was a shame because none of the participants had done badly, it was just that once more we had demonstrated that we, the ‘REPmen’, had earned the reputation of being part of an elite regiment.
We couldn’t wait to get back to Calvi to learn our fate. We occupied the top fifteeen places and the lowest finished twenty-second. I finished ninth which was a good result considering that I was rapidly approaching forty.
When we got back to Calvi we formed up before our Colonel in Chief, Colonel Germanos. He congratulated us on our results but could not resist adding that it was only what he had expected and that he would have accepted nothing less. Colonel Germanos was the perfect example of a Legion officer, and was loved and respected by us all. He would go on to become a five-star general and overall commander of all of the French armed forces.
As for our indiscretion on the way to the course, he told us that we would return to our duties as acting Caporals, but without the stripes or increase in pay. He and he alone would decide if and when we got promoted.
There had been an attempted coup in the Republic of Central Africa and the country was far from stable. The Regiment was on G1 alert and it was decided by Paris that we should reinforce the French troops based there. We would have to ensure the safety, and if necessary, the evacuation of all foreigners working in the country.
Two days after arriving back in Calvi we were on our way to Africa again. When we arrived at the airport in Bangui there were local troops everywhere and the atmosphere was electric. Half of them seemed to be high on drugs or alcohol and were trigger happy. It is at times like this that the REP’s reputation as being a hard, uncompromising fighting unit can help to save lives. None of the locals were prepared to take us on and an element of normality was quickly restored round the airport. We installed a half-mile no-go area round the facility, ensuring that anyone entering the area was disarmed. Patrols were sent out to key installations and to the foreign workers’ residences to protect them from the drunken armed gangs that were roaming the streets.
There were a couple of short exchanges of fire without injury to our guys and that was enough to quell any resistance. The coup collapsed quickly after that and the country got back to normal. It was decided that we should stay on in the country until they were sure that the uprising was well and truly over.
We went back to our old base in Bouar and found everything more or less as we had left it just over six months earlier. Because we were surplus to requirements we had little or nothing to do, so it was decided that we would use the time to do some jungle training. We spent the next three weeks deep in the tropical forest learning how to live off the land with no logistical support. It was fantastic. We were introduced to some pretty awesome animals and insects, but the most impressive were the snakes. Big spiders I can deal with, but huge snakes are something else
It was while we were there that word came through that I had officially been promoted. The last twelve months had flown past so quickly that I did not realize I had not been on leave for a year. I wasn’t complaining but was looking forward to our return to Calvi for a bit of a break.
A couple of weeks later we were heading back to Calvi.