Knut Flovik Thoresen, a Norwegian military officer and historian, has released his new work this month. An author interested in less-known history of the Norwegian military, he decided to map the stories of Norwegian men serving in the French Foreign Legion from 1831, the year of its first establishment, until nowadays.

Hundreds of men, having joined one of the most mythical military unit in the world, were born in Norway. These descendants of the Vikings were fighting and dying for France in Algeria, in the Crimean War or in Tonkin in the 19th century, in France during WWI, in Morocco, in Syria and Lebanon during WWII, in the First Indochina War, in the Algerian War, during the Gulf War or the war in the Balkans in the 20th century, in Afghanistan or in Africa in the 21st century. Knut F. Thoresen collected as many data as possible about Norwegian legionnaires to introduce them to his readers.

Knut Flovik Thoresen (46) has studied history at the University of Agder. He is an author of several historical books focused mainly on the World War II period. Ranked Captain in the Norwegian Army, he served in Libya, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo or in Afghanistan.