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It seems like yesterday, but more than a century has passed since the legion was born with the aim of turning around a war that was lost for Spain. The Rif was the cradle of a unit destined to suffer the excesses of the first line of battle and reduce casualties in the rest of the Army; the Sahara marked its maturity and, already in the 1980s, it became larger, if possible, in the Balkans. This is confirmed on ABC by the historian and writer Juan José Primo J.urado, who presents these days ‘Legion History‘ (Almuzara, 2022), a journey through one of the most beloved units by the Spanish.
“Now, at Easter, people vibrate with her in the processions,” he says.
And despite everything, that the Legion has shed blood and sweat from Africa to Bosnia-Herzegovina, some political groups have tried in the last thirty years to charge against it in an absurd way. «In the eighties, several parties proposed to dissolve it due to certain isolated events. Luckily, they soon realized that Spain needed such a unit,” the author explains to this newspaper.
The first time this madness was talked about was in 1982. It was then that the Island Council of Fuerteventura –at the head of which was the Majorera Assembly, UCD, PSOE and the Democratic Coalition– approved ending the unit under cover of a series of irregularities committed by some soldiers in the city. The witness was collected by United Left shortly after. In 1991, in fact, Anthony Romero Ruiz, deputy of the group, affirmed that they had already proposed “to the previous Minister of Defense, Mr. Narcís Serra, the need to dissolve the Legion and incorporate its members into other units of the Armed Forces.” As happened to them at the time, the proposal was answered with a resounding negative.
What does your work contribute to the history of La Legión?
The Legion is probably the unit of the Spanish army that has been written about the most after the Tercios of the 16th and 17th centuries. This book is a compendium. It treats its history in a complete way, but always informative. In addition, it has a second part that enters into that myth, that legend and that epic that its men have transmitted since it was founded. All this cocktail has made it the most famous unit in our country.
If the war in Ukraine shows anything, it is that it is important that there are units like The Legion within our Army…
Indeed. I put it in my dedication: ‘To the legionary ladies and gentlemen of all time’. When things go well, no one remembers The Legion, but when things go wrong, we all look to see where its members are. Just as the US does not question the Marines, Spain cannot question its elite forces, which are the ones that pull the chestnuts out of the fire when they paint coarse.
When has the Legion pulled the chestnuts out of the fire?
To begin with, in Morocco, where it was created to win a war that was lost. But also in international missions, because she has always been the first to be displaced. Now, when society begins to be aware of how important it is to have a prepared army to guarantee peace, we know that The Legion is essential.
He dedicates part of the work to narrate the presence of the Legion in the Sahara. When did this territory begin to be Spanish?
Since the 19th century. It is important to explain that the Sahara did not belong to anyone. It did not belong to Morocco. In principle, Spain sent a series of geographical and fishing expeditions that maintained good relations with the inhabitants of the area. Later, when the partition of Africa began, international treaties guaranteed that Spain was the colonizing power. And so, until 1975, now so topical. It was then that the UN demanded a referendum to decolonize the territory. At the time that Spain was going to undertake it, Morocco perpetrated the blackmail of the Green March.
The Legion has been in the Sahara since 1956, as stated in his work.
It came after a series of Moroccan-backed gangs attacked the Ifni and Sahara regions in the mid-1950s. The Legion then moved into the area to defend it from assault. And there they were for two decades. His greatest achievement was to withdraw without question despite the fact that his men were prepared to fight and defeat the Moroccan army in 1975; something that even corroborated a later CIA report. However, the unit complied with the orders to leave the territory and thereby fulfilled a great service to Spain.
Were their missions different from those they had undertaken thirty years earlier in Ceuta and Melilla?
In the seventies, although the scenario was similar, the differences were clear. The Legion was created in 1920 to win a war, that of Morocco, which was being lost, something that did not happen three decades later. Furthermore, there was no open war in the Sahara. Spain was much stronger then than it was in the 1920s, when it was isolated internationally, had a weakened army, and was going through a terrible political crisis.
Why do you say that the Sahara issue still raises blisters in La Legión?
In La Legión and throughout Spain. We are seeing a radical shift in foreign policy that should have had the consensus of the two major parties that represent Spanish society. Our country failed the Sahara in 1975. It is true that these were special circumstances because the head of state was dying and a new stage was opening in the country. It is also true that a war would not have been understood. But we have a debt with that people that must be made compatible with our Moroccan neighbor. That dilemma is what creates rashes. In all this context, what The Legion has always done has been to obey. They gritted their teeth when they gave up Villacisneros The Laayounebut they obeyed with discipline.
The Legion is also related to the creation of the Polisario Front
It all started with a demonstration that took place in El Aaiún. In it, the security forces of the Spanish police were overwhelmed and a section of La Legión was sent to regain control. The problem is that when its members were stoned, they opened fire and killed a protester. Shortly after, he created Polisario Front, which attacked the national border posts. Maybe that was his big mistake. They should have allied themselves with the Spanish instead of acting in a terrorist way. By the time they understood that Morocco was the great enemy, it was too late. In any case, the Polisario did not dare to attack the Legion posts. Their targets were always the border police enclaves.
What were the missions of The Legion?
The Legion was used to defend the border with Morocco, especially when the Green March was planned. And also during the Ifni war to avoid the coups of the pro-Moroccan bands. Apart from all this, it carried out special patrols both along the coasts of El Aaiún and along the coasts of Edchera and the northeast of the Sahara. Meanwhile, he kept reserves in Villacisneros.
And their weapons? Some, like the armored ones, are hard to forget
The image of the AML 60 y AML 90 Panhard. They were armored wheeled vehicles that were extraordinarily effective in patrolling the Sahara. There are still a few left for protocol. On the other hand, this was also the only time that the Legion had tracked battle tanks, the AMX -30 Gauls, which were purchased exclusively for this area. At the time of the Ifini war, it must be remembered that the Legion was the first unit to use the Cetme.
He talks about the Legion’s Special Operations Service and its actions in the Sahara
Today there is a flag of the Legion called Caballero Maderal Oleaga. His direct antecedent is the Special Operations Service that had the 3rd Third John of Austria, which carried out such missions in the Sahara in the 1970s. In a war of guerrillas and infiltrations like that one, they were basic. Although Spain never got to know what was cooking there because most of its movements were secret.
Spain even deployed a contingent of some 20,000 men on the border with Morocco to deal with a possible attack
Was the Operation Marabunta. In it, the Tercios of the Legion were deployed, but also units from the peninsula, artillery, armored sections… There were even members of the Marine Infantry in the Canary Islands prepared to intervene. In total there were three combat groups: two on the border and one in withdrawal near El Aaiun. A CIA report later corroborated that Spain could have won the war if it had happened. The problem is that the Green March was made up of civilians, and they would have been the ones who would have fallen.
He states in his work that the Legion was never defeated in combat in the Sahara.
They were never defeated. And that’s why, among other things, it caused them so much pain to leave the area. But they abided by the rules without question. And that, in 1974, there were even legionary commanders who wanted to make a preventive attack against Morocco. Despite all this, when the Government decided that it was best to abandon the colony and hand over responsibility to Morocco and Mauritania, there was not a single case of insubordination in this unit.
How did they take it?
I have spoken with legionnaires who were in Smara and Villacisneros and, for them, it was very hard. They abandoned barracks that they themselves had erected, surrendered the territory without fighting… In any case, they did not have the feeling of leaving with their tails between their legs. The anecdote is always told that, when they left their positions, they sawed off the pole on which the Spanish flag had flown so that no other would fly on that pole. It is true that the visit of His Majesty Juan Carlos I guaranteed that the army would withdraw with honor. In fact, the Legion demonstrated a discipline that needs to be remembered. The same one that the Police and the Civil Guard had when they fell under the shots of ETA. Sometimes, as Calderón de la Barca said, the most difficult thing is to obey. And all of them did.
Not long ago he charged against the legionnaire spirits because, or so it was said, they evoked Francoism…
If there are two representative military units in Spain, they are the Civil Guard and the Legion. What characterizes both? The symbols. The first has the tricorn and the primer since the foundation by the Duke of Ahumada. And the second the creed. You can’t tweak that because you take the soul out of them. Legionnaire spirits have nothing to do with Francoism. There was an intention in the nineties to change it. The dissolution of La Legión was even considered, but it was quickly understood that the country could not afford to eliminate it because it needed it.
Was the dissolution of La Legión considered?
Certain parties raised it. United Left He had it on his show. Also some minister of the PSOE like Narcís Serra was looking for him. But then the Balkan conflict arose. At that time, a minister who was also a socialist, Julian Garcia Vargas, made a bet on La Legión. They became the spearhead of the first two missions. The Malaga Tactical Group and the Canary Islands attended and fulfilled their duty, although they had deaths. Then it was understood that they were necessary and that madness did not occur to anyone again.
What area would you highlight from La Legión?
The connection with the people. In Andalusia La Legión comes out at Easter and people vibrate. The people love her because they know that they are facing men and women who not only parade fast, sing heroic songs and dress in a martial way. They are before people who are willing to give their lives when the time comes.
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