La bandera

The Spanish Foreign Legion this is set in was founded in 1920 modeled on the French one to be an international vanguard to crush an uprising by Berber tribes of the Riff mountains in Spain's Protectorate of Northern Morocco. They called themselves the Bridegrooms of Death, 10,000 killed in its first 20 years. Francisco Franco was first Deputy Commander, then Commander, it was said, could terrify murderers with just a glance. It has never been as international as the French, usually 90% native Spanish, in the multinational mix in its history an ex-Texas Ranger, Australian undertaker, Cambridge law student, Polish count, Sikh from India. It acquired a reputation for brutality, in training and combat, worse than the French.The film's climax was based on an actual incident. The actual Legionnaires filmed here a year later went into the Spanish Civil War on Franco's side,, few surviving. It crushed an uprising in the Spanish Sahara in 1957-1958, left there in 1976, served in U.N. Peacekeeping missions, with NATO in Afghanistan. Reports by two British deserters of brutality in the 1980's led NATO on admitting Spain in 1987 as conditions to curb mistreatment, not to accept recruits from member nations. It was closed to non-Spanish in 1987, opened again in 2000, draws non-Spanish recruits from Africa and Latin America, and garrisons two fortress enclaves on the Moroccan cast, Mellila and Ceuta, dating from the 1500's the Spanish consider their soil Antonio Banderas' character Galgo in the third Expendables movie sings and talks about being in the Legion.