The French Foreign Legion has always maintained its own system of military justice. For legionnaires who committed serious offenses, a stay in a regular prison was not considered sufficient. Instead, they were sent to a disciplinary company, a penal unit where the regime was deliberately harsh and the conditions austere. During the First Indochina War (1946–1954), this role in the Far East was fulfilled by a small, little-known unit stationed on a remote island off the coast of Vietnam.

—
L'article en français : Compagnie de Discipline des Régiments Etrangers en Extrême-Orient
—

CDRE/EO 1946-1955

The Foreign Regiments Far East Disciplinary Company (CDRE/EO) was created in French Indochina on June 1, 1946. The company was attached to the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e REI) and was stationed on the island of Tagne at Cam Ranh Bay, South Annam (which is now called South-Central Vietnam).

Given the nature of the unit, almost nothing is known about this disciplinary company, its numbers and statistics.

We know that the CDRE/EO received men from all Foreign Legion regiments in Indochina. The offenses that warranted a transfer here — such as desertion, theft, or physical aggression toward superiors — were too serious to be dealt with through the usual punishment for minor violations: spending several days in the prison of one’s own unit.

Like its sister unit based in Algeria, North Africa, the CDRE/EO was probably also divided into three parts: an ordinary platoon for all convicts, a repression platoon for repeat offenders and headstrong individuals, and a transition platoon.

The latter would have been for legionnaires who had finished serving their sentences; they would then spend several months preparing to return to their home units. These men would have already been treated as soldiers, allowed to carry weapons. When needed, they could be formed into a so-called intervention platoon — the company’s combat element — and deployed in military operations as support troops.

As for the daily life of the convicts, it is known that the men who joined the company – the enlisted men and, rarely, some demoted sergeants – temporarily lost their rank and name. They were addressed only as “punished” (les punis), and called by number. The punished were not allowed to sit, speak without permission, or walk – they had to move around only by running (in military cadence).

The number of convicts probably ranged between 30 and 50 men. They worked from early morning until late evening. The convicts usually maintained the camp’s facilities and grounds. We don’t know if they also served in other parts of the island, or even inland, as working detachments to build posts, trenches, or roads. Troublemakers from the repression platoon were, beyond working hours, locked to their uncomfortable cells. The time spent in the repression platoon did not count toward their sentences. For comparison — in Algeria, such a stay in the repression platoon lasted at least three months.

Beyond the camp, the intervention platoon of the company participated in military operations, mostly alongside the 2e REI in South Annam. Thus, on May 17, 1947, the CDRE/EO platoon under Lieutenant Bramoulé distinguished itself in the Khanh Hoa region by supporting the Colonial Mountain Artillery Levant Group (GACML).

The disciplinary company was commanded by a captain, with cadres seconded from the 2e REI. The unit was assigned to the regiment’s 1st Battalion.

In March 1947, Captain Michel Dutter, then commander of the CDRE/EO, had the unit badge made. In February 1950, the company was transferred from the 1st to the 4th Battalion of the 2e REI.

The last known commander of the CDRE/EO was Captain Otokar Kremar. Born in 1913, this former cavalry officer in the Czechoslovak army became a lieutenant in the 13th Foreign Legion Demi-Brigade (13e DBLE) during World War II and took part in the operations in the Middle East and North Africa. He was in command of the disciplinary company in 1954, when the Indochina War came to an end.

Testimony from a Commando Jaubert member

After the cease-fire that ended the war, the CDRE/EO was officially disbanded on August 11, 1954. However, part of the company remained on Tagne Island until mid-1955. The site was subsequently taken over by Commando Jaubert, an elite unit of the French Navy. One of its members, Bernard Pestre, later described what the legionnaires had left behind. His account provides a rare outside glimpse of a place that few had ever seen and even fewer had written about.

 
Bernard Pestre: Foreign Legion camp on Tagne Island

Geographically, Tagne Island is situated across from Cam Ranh Bay, south of Nha Trang. Originally, it served as a disciplinary camp for the Foreign Legion, and like all the quarters of this branch, the place was rather austere and breathed order and discipline. The Legion had passed through, leaving its characteristic imprint. There were stone buildings with an upper floor for the troops, the NCO quarters set a little apart. At the center of the camp stood the Legion’s flame, built in stone, visible from the entire camp — a constant reminder of the place’s purpose…

In the immediate vicinity were the inevitable Vietnamese “bistros” with their “congaïes,” the soldier’s pleasure [1]. One had to spend the piastres somehow… Also, near the tiny port, there was an artisanal nuoc-mam factory [2], delicious in Chinese soups, but which, while fermenting, stank up the atmosphere. What had struck me most were the disciplinary cells, so cramped that one could only be locked in them crouching or lying down — real ergastula [3]. As it happened, one of us, a hothead no doubt, had spent a short time in them, only to come out aching all over.

1. In fact, paid "girlfriends"
2. A tasty fish sauce
3. A Roman building used to hold dangerous slaves in chains

Originally, the testimony appeared in 2007 on Commando Jaubert’s blog. It is published with the kind permission of Jean-Claude Balisson, the blog’s creator and owner.

Conclusion

The Far East Disciplinary Company remains one of the least documented units in the history of the Foreign Legion. The camp on Tagne Island is long gone, and the men who served their sentences there left no memoirs. What little we know about a world that was designed not to be seen, comes from scattered official records and fragments like Pestre’s testimony.

———
 

Special thanks:
I am deeply grateful to Andrew J. Mitchell for sharing his beautiful photos.
Also, many thanks to Jean-Claude Balisson, the creator and owner of the Blog du Commando Jaubert, for his kind permission to share the testimony and the rare pictures.

 
———
 

Main information sources:
More majorum – C.D.R.E./E.O.
Pierre Soulié: Paul-Frédéric Rollet : Père de la Légion étrangère (Editions Italiques, 2007)
Blog of Commando Jaubert
Google Maps
Google.com
Wikipedia.org

 
———
 

You can support this website at any time through our store. Thank you.
EU-based readers can visit our EU-based shop, to avoid import charges.

 
 
—
 

More from history of the Foreign Legion in Indochina:
2nd Foreign Parachute Battalion
2nd Foreign Legion Medium Repair Company
40th Dump Truck Company
3rd Foreign Legion Transportation Company
15th Engineer Maintenance Company
2nd Foreign Legion Armored Vehicles Repair Company
1st Transportation & Headquarters Company

 
—
 

The page was updated on: May 26, 2026

↑ Back to Top