laststandonzombieisland

90 years ago– 12 July 1954– French Cochinchina: “A portrait of Sergeant Major Robert Biet, of the amphibious group of the 5e Régiment de Spahis Marocains (5e RSM). He was nicknamed ‘the man from Texas.'” Note the SGM’s personal sporting rifle slug over his shoulder, a British Enfield .38/200 revolver in an open-topped holster, combat short shorts, and a bevy of DF 37 (smooth) and OF 37 (ridges) bottle grenades tucked into his pistol belt via their spoons.

While the French had been licked at Dien Bein Phu in May 1954, as seen above, they did not withdraw the last of their troops until 1956.

As for the 5th Moroccan Spahis — an altogether different force from the 5e Régiment de Spahis Algériens (5e RSA) which existed from 1914 to 1962– they were formed as a horse cavalry unit in Morocco in 1943 shortly after the Torch Landings, they deployed to Europe after August 1944 and, after constabulary use in the Toulouse region, they were engaged in Alsace, then in the Black Forest and dissolved after occupation duty in Germany.

Reformed in 1949 for service in Indochina, they fielded a mixed force of armored reconnaissance units in Cambodia and around Saigon as well as two platoons of riverine troops on shallow draft brown water boats (as seen above in the first image).

They were disbanded for the final time on 1 February 1955.