Hi Thadeusz,
If you are still interested, I served 5 years in Algeria during the Algerian war, and most of that time in 2e REP. I was good at breaking the Legion rules without getting caught, but I failed twice. Once in Phillippeville (now Skikda) I was on medical leave from having contracted hepatitis, a common medical problem in Algeria, due to bad food and water. While on convalescence, I was drinking beer with some sailors from a British ship in the harbour one evening (of course alcohol is not supposed to be good for you when you are recovering from hepatitis, but I was like that).
Then there was an 11 pm curfew and the sailors invited me back to their ship for a drink, which I readily accepted of course, (I was a bit like that). Since there was a curfew there would be no chance of getting back to my barracks, but never mind, I reckoned, I can always sleep on the ship. Anyway, to shorten the story a bit, I was betrayed by a Spanish ‘cabo-chef’, colloquial term for caporal-chef (they are a bit like that) and ended up with 15 days en taule, charged with desertion. I knew my case looked bad, having been caught red-handed onboard a ship in the harbour, which was strictly off limits to start with.
But I had one card up my sleeves that I could play in my defence. I had signed my contract with the Legion as an underage boy at 16, i.e. my contract was not valid, and I could get my parents in Norway to get me out anytime I wished.
But I didn’t want to leave the Legion so I didn’t play that card and took the punishment instead. I was worried the Legion would throw me out if I played my trump card, although a conviction for desertion did prevent me from being promoted to even corporal during my first five years of service. Anyway, Adjudant-chef Bethery, in charge of prison, was sympathetic to my cause and granted me ‘repos en prison’, which meant just hanging about doing nothing much until the prisoners who had been on kitchen duty during the day returned with jerrycans of wine smugled into the prison. Then it was party time, dancing and singing. Legion taules can be quite fun, I reckon.