by Jose E. Alvarez. Greenwood Press, ISBN: 0-313-30697-4, 282 pgs, 16 photos, 9 maps.

"I became the betrothed of Death
I drew her close with a strong embrace
and her love became my standard"

In spite of Patton's famous aphorism, "No one ever won a war by dying for his country" there have always been soldiers who have attempted to think of death in battle as romantic and noble. Seldom, however, has an entire unit made dying its primary ideal. The Spanish Foreign Legion was such a unit.

In 1920, Spain was trying to subdue the northern part of Morocco and was finding it hard going. Spain was in Morocco as much in order to have some kind of empire after defeat in the war with the United States but the lackluster performance of their conscript soldiers and the Moroccans' access to modern rifles, mortars and artillery were serious handicaps. Thus, the idea of a foreign legion was borrowed from the French. It would, it was hoped, settle unrest at home where the high butcher's bills and lack of results were depressing popular sentiment and also actually win battles.

Jose Alvarez, an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Houston, has obviously researched his subject thoroughly and the result is a nearly week-by-week account of the Legion and the Rif Campaign. As a reviewer, I must say, there's good news and bad news.

To get the bad out of the way: Alvarez has a less than inspired writing style; "The 3d battalion was on convoy duty. They were ambushed. They drove away the rebels losing one officer and 4 legionaries. The convoy got through." Try to imagine 240 pages of this.

Actually, nearly a third of the book is footnotes which is only a little heavy for a work of modern scholarship, what is frustrating is that most of the details that would add life to the narrative are in the footnotes, not the main text. I am writing based on advance uncorrected proofs but this is most unlikely to change. What this man needed was an editor with a firm hand.

Also, the maps in my copy were not very helpful as they varied in (unstated) scale and were of little use in placing events in context.

That said, the book is a veritable goldmine of scenario ideas. I have provided one at the end of this review just to make the point. Certainly there is a lot of detail here, including extensive appendixes, for those with the stamina to work through the author's style and tendency scatter the nuggets of information all over the landscape.

Reading this book can also be the basis for some reflection. In spite of the original plan to recruit actual foreigners, nearly 80% of the legionaries were Spaniards. This may be a cultural thing, the concept of Glorious Death may have carried over from the bull ring for example.

Certainly, the few Americans who joined wound up deserting at the first opportunity. Also, a close reading discloses the danger inherent in raising what are, in fact, permanent mercenary units. Having no real ties to the country or citizens they supposedly serve, the soldiers can become a power unto themselves, setting policy and threatening the government itself. Even during the course of the campaign, the Legion officers, who included Franco, were able to dictate policy to Madrid and plotted to overthrow the government.

That did not happen in the 1920s but, in the '30s, with the war over and a more liberal government in power, the plots became reality.

To summarize: for gamers, the book is well worth getting, it's just unfortunate the author isn't as good a writer as he is a researcher.

(The final moves in the Rif campaign are the subject of the board game 'Morocco 1926' which appeared in the Spanish magazine Alea #12 in 1994. English translations of the short rules are available.)

A scenario: A Spanish Camarone

14 September 1921; a blockhouse on a rocky spur held by elements of the penal company was under attack by Rif tribesmen armed with rifles and an artillery piece. It was an exposed position called "El Malo" (the bad one). 14 legionaries of the First Battalion (Bandera) under Legionary 1st Class Terrero Lopez volunteered to reinforce the position.

It was a death trap. 2 of the men were lost before they could even cross the wire to get into the blockhouse. They held out for 24 hours but, at the end, the Rif brought their cannon to within 50 meters and reduced the position to rubble. There were no survivors.