Free Republic

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Rebel fighters in Ivory Coast drew back on Sunday from the scene of a bruising clash with French troops that halted their advance and took the former colonial power a big step deeper into the messy war. All three rebel factions in the West African country condemned the French for blasting rebel vehicles on Saturday to stop insurgents capturing a key junction in the cocoa-growing region of the world's top producer. The French effectively held the line for President Laurent Gbagbo's mercenary-backed forces as they retreated from earlier defeats to Duekoue, still 300 miles from the main...

The French Foreign Legion has inherited the traditions of foreign troops who have served France since the Middle Ages. Every one has heard of the Scottish Guards of Charles the VIIth, the Swiss Guards of the Bourbon Kings, and Napoleon's Polish Lancers. Louis Philippe, "King of the French" created the French Foreign Legion on March 10, 1831. Composed exclusively of volunteers aged between 18 and 40, with or without means of identification, the Legion was immediately involved in the conquest of Algeria before passing under Spanish control in 1835. A second Legion was then created which fought in Algeria, in...