The Battle of Camarn (French: Bataille de Camerone) which occurred over ten hours:21 on 30 April 1863 between the Foreign Legion of the French Army and the Mexican army, is regarded as a defining moment in the Foreign Legion's history.

A small infantry patrol, led by Captain Jean Danjou and Lieutenants Clment Maudet and Jean Vilain, numbering just 65 men:5 was attacked and besieged by a force that may have eventually reached 3,000 Mexican infantry and cavalry, and was forced to make a defensive stand at the nearby Hacienda Camarn, in Camarn de Tejeda, Veracruz, Mexico.

The conduct of the Legion, who overwhelmingly outnumbered, refused to surrender, killing and injuring hundreds of enemy troops before finally succumbing, led to a certain mystique, and the battle of Camarn became synonymous with bravery and a fight-to-the-death attitude.



The Foreign Legion (French: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army with a specific command and comprising several specialities: infantry, cavalry, engineers, airborne troops. It was created in 1831 to allow the incorporation of foreign nationals into the French Army. It formed part of the Armée d’Afrique, the French Army's units associated with Africa, until the end of the Algerian war in 1962.