REPATRIATION OF GERMAN MEMBERS OF THE FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION CAPTURED IN VIETNAM TO THE GDR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A007800420006-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 4, 2008
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: August 24, 1955
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2008/11/04: CIA-RDP80-00810A007800420006-7
CENTRAL IN!`tt,LIGENCE AGENCY
This material cont.ins information affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title
18, U.S.C. Sees. 793 rnd 794, the transmission or revelation of which in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
98,9,'R e
rmaxy (Soviet Zone) REPORT
SUBJECT Repatr1Iiatio'n o. German Members of the DATE DISTR. 24 August 1955
Feign Legion Captured in
`a,,it tnm to the GDR NO. OF PAGES 2
DATE OF INFO.
PLACE ACQUIRED
DATE ACQUIRED
REQUIREMENT NO. RD
REFERENCES
This is UNEVALUATED Information
U V 4LUATI NS ARE DEFINITIVE. APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE.
B ; ;halG'awerdaa East Germany.
3t The g, ?aL ti> camp at Bischofawerda was located 500 to 600 m' ;ers from the
railroad atat ,ono, The Legionnalm s were met by civilians from t he camp and
three e .'tubas s of the Volkspeliiei- and were split into three groups. The
Legio ::fth3a ? 'ere to be confined to the quarantine camp for a period of.four
to a eaka
While it L, the Legionnas stated, they were attended by Chinese
ae ce 'r a el and received good food in unrestricted amounts. However,
wh:11e t ovivi li `ng throughf the USSR,they were restricted to a daily rate of 35
rctbir a pe:? individual o
%~ l~? ^?et all of the Legionn es were ill and 90 percent of them had scabies.
malaria, amoebic and bacillic dysentery, etc., were. rife. The
Legio , ;s ranged in age between 16 and 43 or 44 years.
S-E-C-R-E-T
j _. `TaTE 5 flliT . ~~ NAVY
IL,4P A1 1955, 350 German members of the F+ench Foreign Legion who were
t&c u i in Vietnam were repatriated to the Soviet Zone of Germany through
0W1M!,1,Yat Oh. and the USSR. Some of these Legionn&s had fought with the
against the French and one' individual had been personally
de~%oi4t, ?for bravery by Ho Chi Minh. The repatriated Legionn: res were brought
in et8_gea t6 unidentified point north of the Chinese border. They covered
appro. ,taly 1,9000 kilometers on foot at an average of 20 kilometers per day.
The g-roup.moved to the Soviet - Manchurian border by rail. On 25 March 1955,
the Leggy'ban,: s were turned over to GDR representatives at Otporq USSR.
The I,agion `e,O moved through the USSR in a single-engine eight-car train over
the .f 11O n~-?route: Otpor, Chita, Ulan Ude, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Sverdlovsk,
K1no'v,q 'aimoelavl, and Velikiye Luki to Brest. They then passed through T arsaw9
at al, )c' 9 Fa wan, to Frankfurt an der Oder and finally to a quarantine camp ~t
., FBI 'I I AEC 1
(Note: Washington distribution indicated by "X"; Field distribution by "#'"?)
Approved For Release 2008/11/04: CIA-RDP80-00810A007800420006-7
 Approved For Release 2008/11/04: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA007800420006-7
60 S3rera. East German officials connected with''the repatriation estimated
that only 50 of the 350 repatriated Legionrus would be' acceptable
and adaptable for normal society; another 100 to 150 men., although looking
for an easy way of life without any effort, may bet able to settle down to
civilian life., while the rest were confirmed soldiers and many of these
wer?W morally depraved. Prior experience has shown that about twenty to
i,rty percent of the Legionnsiee previously repatriated to East Germany
ventually returned to the Foreign Legion,
5--E-C-R-E.,T
Approved For Release 2008/11/04: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA007800420006-7