The Foreign Legion was established on March 10, 1831 by the King of France Louis Philippe d'Orleans. It was a special military unit mostly composed of foreigners, intended to fight in the colonies of North Africa, known as the Foreign Legion.

Immediately after the end of World War II, the Foreign Legion became a refuge for a generation marked by the horrors committed and suffered during the war. They were former fascists, former SS members, and former partisans. Many, about two-thirds, were Germans, and Italians were the second largest group.

Starting from 1946 onwards, in the case of Italians, legionnaires were no longer just "former something" hiding from their past, but mostly young people born between 1929 and 1935 who were fleeing poverty, emigrating to France in search of work. If discovered as illegal immigrants, they were faced with two choices: prison and then repatriation after serving the sentence, or enlistment in the Foreign Legion. The Legion was "employment" with pay and after five years of service, French citizenship was granted with the promise, or hope, of obtaining a decent job afterwards, provided they survived.

These young recruits knew nothing about the Foreign Legion; they didn’t know the rules, they didn’t know what they were getting into, and especially they didn’t know the horrors they would face.

The composition of those enlisted in the Foreign Legion varies depending on the historical period and personal or social misfortunes of the moment. For example, the writer Curzio Malaparte, following irredentist ideals, enlisted as a minor to fight against Austrians and Germans in World War I. In the 1920s, many White Russians enlisted, and in the 1930s many anti-fascists. In the immediate post-war period, many Germans who came directly from prisoner-of-war camps were enlisted. However, it was to regain Indochina that France needed more "cannon fodder."