Here is some blood sausage! : where does the official song of the Foreign Legion come from?

Clémentine Portier-Kaltenbach, edited by Alexis Patri 6:29 p.m., November 12, 2021

The Foreign Legion is an army corps which was created in 1831 by Louis-Philippe, with the idea of ​​constituting the first colonial troops who would go to Algeria first, and then to Tonkin, in particular.

But the initial idea was to bring together the various foreign army corps that had always been in the service of France.

Among them, the famous Swiss guards of François 1er in Marignan, who were all killed when the Tuileries was taken in 1792. We have therefore recreated this army corps, whose colors, red and green, are the colors of the Swiss Guards of Louis 16. 

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But where does

, the song of the Foreign Legion come from?

It was composed by Wilhem and Dussenty, both of whom were conductors of military music.

His words begin with “Here is some blood sausage!” And this famous sausage is not made of the blood of the enemy.

It is actually a tent canvas, which we rolled very tightly.

It was placed on the baggage or on the bag of the legionaries.

It is therefore its shape that has given its nickname of sausage.

"Blood sausage for the Alsatians, the Swiss and the Lorrainers. For the Belgians, there is more"

But the lyrics also say, about this famous sausage, "For the Alsatians, the Swiss and the Lorrainers. For the Belgians, there is more". There are several explanations for these words. But the most credible is that, when the war of 1870 broke out, the king of the Belgians Leopold II asked for the recall of all the Belgians who had enlisted in the Foreign Legion. Because, a year after the creation of Belgium in 1830, it was forced to be a neutral country. When France goes to war against the Prussians, Leopold II therefore recalls the Belgian legionaries, who must return their packages (and their blood sausage), under the jeers of the comrades.

In 1871, the Foreign Legion suspended the voluntary engagements of foreigners and specified that only the Alsatians, the Swiss and the Lorrainers could henceforth join the Legion.

Which explains their quote in the lyrics.

As Alsace-Lorraine then became German, many young people from Lorraine joined the Foreign Legion so as not to become Germans and avoid doing their service on the German side.

Never has the Foreign Legion been so young as it was then.

The last of the July 14 parade

Today the Legion has very strong traditions and a number of privileges. For example, she is the only one who has the right to keep her standards. On his flag, there is obviously Camerone and Diên Biên Phu. In Aubagne, at the Foreign Legion museum, there is a pennant which had been torn to pieces by French legionaries at Dien Biên Phu. They were arrested and taken prisoner. They then tore their pennants to pieces and hid pieces under their bandages and in their socks. After repatriation to France, the survivors restored their pennant.

But why does the Foreign Legion always go last in the July 14 parade?

The reason is technical: the Legion parades more slowly than the other army corps.

It scrolls at 88 steps per minute.

It is the not legion, which was also that of the Napoleonic troops.

Since its foundation by Louis-Philippe, more than 36,000 legionaries have passed under the flags of the Foreign Legion, thus adopting its motto: "The legion is my homeland".