Attention – Attention – BFC – 5e REI

Attention – Attention was the battalion march of the Autonomous Battalion, 5e REI (Bataillon Formant Corps du 5e REI, BFC/5), a very little-known, short-living unit of the French Foreign Legion’s 5th Foreign Infantry Regiment (5e REI, later 5e RE) in Indochina in 1945-46. The march was composed in Hanoi in October-November 1945 by Major Dumaine, the commanding officer, with music composed by Sous-chef de musique Calippe, the then head of the BFC/5 Music band.

The march of this forgotten unit was lost for decades and has never been published online.

The unit, formed in Hanoi in October 1945 and consiting of 5e REI legionnaires imprisoned by the Japanese after their hard fighting during March-May 1945 in Vietnam, should not be confused with the Provisional Battalion, 5e REI (Bataillon de Marche du 5e REI, BM/5) of Major Gaucher, formed in mid-1945 in China with 5e REI legionnaires having escaped the Japanese to China with the column of General Alessandri.

5e REI - 5 REI - 5th Foreign Infantry Regiment - 5th REI - Foreign Legion Etrangere - Lt Colonel - Jean Dumaine - BFC - B.F.C.
Lt Colonel Jean Dumaine around 1947. In 1945-46, he commanded the BFC – 5e REI and wrote lyrics for his battalion’s march.
5e REI - 5 REI - 5th Foreign Infantry Regiment - 5th REI - Foreign Legion Etrangere - Repatriated legionnaires - Sidi Bel Abbes - 1947
Repatriated 5e REI legionnaires marching in Sidi Bel Abbes (then main garrison of the Legion), Algeria, late January 1947. In Indochina in 1945-46, they formed both the BM/5 and BFC/5 battalions.

 

Refrain:
Attention – Attention (bis)
Nous sommes bien du Bataillon
Du Bataillon de la Légion
Attention – Attention (bis)
Nous sommes bien du Bataillon
Du Bataillon de la Légion

1.
En arrivant à la Légion
Pour des raisons particulières
Oubliant femme, amour, nation
Nous sommes devenus Légionnaires
Portant en nous notre destin
Comme une flamme intérieure
Nous avons fait nôtre ce refrain

2.
Aussi lorsque dans un sillon
Dans un désert ou la rizière
Quelque matin, nous tomberons
Sans avoir fait face en arrière
Une bonne place, nous recevrons
Au paradis des Mousquetaires
Il suffira que nous disions
Nous sommes bien des Légionnaires