700 Legionnaires
The mystique surrounding The French Foreign Legion has always fascinated audiences around  the world with romantic  tales such as Beau Geste and March or Die.  Today’s modern Legion carries on this tradition with tales of great heroism in the face of overwhelming  odds.  The story of 700 Legionnaires is one of elite fighting men learning to adapt quickly in  order to save innocent lives with little or no concern for their own.
Rescuers and hostages meet again for the first time in 24 years to re-live the nightmare and the courage of this event.  The programme delves deep into the men and history of the Legion allowing the viewer a rare insight into France’s Mercenary army in action.  The programme retraces the story through interviews alternating between hostages awaiting rescue and veterans of the Legion preparing to jump.
On 11 May 1978, a crisis developed in Zaire when 4,000 members of the Congo National Liberation Front seized Kolwezi.  Reports emerged of massacres of Europeans.  Mindful of similar incidents fourteen years earlier in the then Belgian Congo, Belgium, France, Great Britain and the United States monitored the situation, but only France was prepared to act.
On 17 May, 2nd Foreign Legion Parachute Regiment, 2nd REP (Régiment Étranger de Parachutiste ) left its base in Corsica and deployed to Zaire.  Colonel Philippe Erulin, packed three companies into four C-130 Hercules and, without any reconnaissance, jumped “blind” to a drop zone near Kolwezi. It was a desperate race against time to save lives. Often screened by elephant grass, the Foreign Legion moved into the town and after overwhelming a small amount of determined resistance liberated the first Europeans.
By the 25th, the rebels had been driven back across the border into Angola and the 2,000 Europeans were safe for the loss of five legionnaires killed and twenty wounded.  For Western parachute units, a new role had been found and Great Britain and the United States developed rapid deployment and reaction forces. This story of decisive and aggressive action has never been told from the view of the men who jumped on that day.
The program will be shot on location at 2nd REP’s headquarters in the town of Calvi, Corsica and Africa. The tough  Veterans of the Kolwezi operation talk about their experiences in a frank and down to earth manner explaining how they left their base in Corsica, not knowing their destination, but knowing full well they were heading into action and could be killed. The programme will also investigate some of the myths and legends of the French Foreign Legion. It is a rare insight to the myths and legends sounding the Kepi Blanc.
	Brush Fire Films has published a The Kolwezi Drop web site. Click on the banner below