Upon the Japanese surrender in Indo-China, French Forces began reinforcing their newly regained colonies in order to prevent a popular liberation movement and communist insurgents from exploiting the existing power vacuum. This move was also viewed as a 'housekeeping' measure to restore French control over lands the French had deemed a portion of France. The troops that streamed to Indochina were not only French colonial troops, but also large numbers of Germans, Italians, Poles and other North-Eastern Europeans. Furthermore, there were large numbers of Russian escapees from the various involuntary repatriations after having either served in the Soviet army and having been captured, or worse, having served in the Wehrmacht in an attempt to free their homeland from Communism. All of these nationalities were combined in the formations of the French Foreign Legion.

This hodge-podge of troops was equipped with an even more astounding array of gear and uniforms. The items used right from the beginning were a mélange of French, British and American Uniforms and web equipments. Weaponry consisted of a similarly dramatic mix of (order representing approximate proportion of issue) French, US, British, German and Italian small arms and ordnance.