Abstract

The following paper illustrates the genesis and evolution of the recruitment of Italian soldiers for the French Foreign Legion in both French and Allied prison camps situated in North Africa. The Italian volunteers were then mainly employed during the French war of decolonization in Indochina. Firstly, it is intended to analyze the dynamics of encounters, confrontation and the coexistence between soldiers and Allied authorities within the prison camps, contextualizing it in the international conjunctions, the evolution of war and the diplomatic relations between vanquished and victors. Secondly, the contiguous factors that pushed roughly a thousand Italian prisoners into the French Foreign Legion will be examined. The paper aims to read a chapter of Italian-French history of the Second World War and the immediate postwar period through a perspective that combines the individual stories of Italian legionnaires with political, diplomatic and military dynamics.