Rumours persist that during the First Vietnam War in the 1940s-50s, the French used thousands of former Waffen-SS soldiers to fight the Viet Minh. It is partly true, but I have discovered that there was in fact one entire unit in Vietnam that was completely composed of former French SS of the infamous Charlemagne Division, plus former Vichy French security forces and other collaborators. This is the largely unknown story of BILOM, the SS unit that actually fought in Vietnam!
Dr. Mark Felton FRHistS, FRSA, is a well-known British historian, the author of 22 non-fiction books, including bestsellers ‘Zero Night’ and ‘Castle of the Eagles’, both currently being developed into movies in Hollywood. In addition to writing, Mark also appears regularly in television documentaries around the world, including on The History Channel, Netflix, National Geographic, Quest, American Heroes Channel and RMC Decouverte. His books have formed the background to several TV and radio documentaries. More information about Mark can be found at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Felton
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Sources:
– BILOM : Les Volontaires de l’Indochine: https://www.scribd.com/document/375648307/BILOM
– The Forgotten German Veterans of Việt Nam by Jacopo Romanelli, https://thevietnamese.org/2026/01/the-forgotten-german-veterans-of-viet-nam/
– Le bataillon des condamnes, le bilom [bataillon d’infanterie legere d’outre-mer] / Indochine 1949-19 by Raymond Muelle, (1989)
Credits: US National Archives; Library of Congress; Fdutil
