Attention – Attention – BFC – 5e REI

Attention – Attention was the march of the Autonomous Battalion of the 5e REI (BFC 5), a short-lived and little-known unit of the French Foreign Legion’s 5th Foreign Infantry Regiment (5e REI, later 5e RE) that served in Indochina from 1945 to 1946. The march was composed in Hanoi in late 1945 by Major Dumaine, the battalion’s commander, with music written by sous-chef de musique N. Calippe, deputy head of the BFC 5 band.

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

The BFC 5 battalion was formed in Hanoi in October 1945 and composed of 5e REI legionnaires who had been imprisoned by the Japanese after the heavy fighting of March–May 1945 in Vietnam. The unit should not be confused with the well-known Marching Battalion of the 5e REI (BM 5) commanded by Major Gaucher, which was formed in mid-1945 in China.

5e REI - 5 REI - 5th Foreign Infantry Regiment - 5th REI - Foreign Legion Etrangere - Lt Colonel - Joseph Dumaine - BFC - B.F.C.
Joseph Dumaine. From 1945 to 1946, he commanded the BFC 5e REI and wrote lyrics for its march.

 

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