Battle of Cameron, the end.
By 18:00, with ammunition exhausted, the last of Danjou’s soldiers, numbering only five, including Lt. Maudet, desperately mounted a bayonet charge. Two men fell outright, while the rest were surrounded. Victor Catteau, had leapt in front of Maudet in an effort to protect him, and died in the Mexican barrage. Major Campos ordered the legionnaires to surrender, to which Corporal Phillipe Maine answered, “We will surrender if you leave us our weapons and our equipment. You also have to promise to take care of our wounded lieutenant.”
When Campos brought the trio to Milan, he asked, “Is this all of them? Is this all of the men who are left?” Then, in amazement, he exclaimed, “These are not men! They are demons!”
Each year, the French Foreign Legion commemorates the battle of Camarón in its headquarters in Aubagne.
As promised, Lt. Maudet was treated on the battlefield by Dr. Francisco Talavera.
I am that old and I remember the BBC bulletins in England the year 1954. The two months death struggle for the Vietnamese City of Dien Bien Phu.(French Indo China). A bitterly fought battle with the Viet Mihn. The French inflicting four times their own casualties. It is debatable. but it has been said that if America had thrown in their forces, the French could have won. Thus no debacle as we all know, regarding that country.