“Deadliest Warrior” — S03E09 — Gurkha vs. French Foreign Legion
Deadliest Warrior — Season 03, Episode 09 — Gurkha versus French Foreign Legion
In this episode of Deadliest Warrior we have a match-up of two World War 2-era armies — neither of which are filled with troops born from the country that they serve.
Originally fighting against the British East India Company in the early 1800s, the fierce Gurkha soldiers from Nepal were later hired as mercenaries and fought for the British Crown and in the British Indian Army, seeing action everywhere from south Asia to the World War One battlefields in France, Turkey, and even Baghdad. Although small in size, the Gurkhas’ Himalayan Mountain training gave them the physical conditioning to become tremendous warriors.
The French Foreign Legion, on the other hand, is an army filled with not only thugs and criminals, but many people wishing to re-start their life by serving in an army composed of the toughest of the tough. The French Foreign Legion was created because after the 1830 July revolution, foreigners were forbidden from serving in the French Army. The Foreign Legion’s purpose was to remove the disruptive elements from society (criminals, thugs, troublemakers, disbanded foreign regiments, etc.) and have them fight the enemies of France. After serving in the Foreign Legion for three years, soldiers can apply for French citizenship providing they meet the requirements.
While the Gurkhas and French Foreign Legion have both been around since the early 1800s and are still in service today, this episode of Deadliest Warrior looks at both armies during their roles in World War 2 (1939-1945).
VERSUS 
WEAPONS:
In this episode of Deadliest Warrior, the Gurkha are armed with a Kukri Knife, Enfield No. 4 Rifle, and a Bren Light Machine Gun. The French Foreign Legion are armed with a Camillus Knife, MAS-36 Rifle, and a Browning Automatic Rifle.
long-range weapons: Browning Automatic Rifle versus Bren Light Machine Gun
Up first is the Browning Automatic Rifle (B.A.R.), a machine gun used by the French Foreign Legion with an effective range of 600 yards and capability of firing its 20-round magazine at a rate of 450 or 650 rounds per minute.
The firing demonstration required the shooter to engage three targets, starting in a prone position and then moving forward and engaging the remaining two targets. The shooter with the B.A.R. used 58 seconds and needed to change magazines and reload to kill all three targets.
Going against the B.A.R. is the Bren light machine gun, a rifle used by the Gurkha during World War 2 with an effective range of 600 yards and capability of firing its 30-round magazine at a rate of 500 rounds per minute. in the shooting demonstration, the shooter needed 53 seconds to clear the targets. He needed to unjam the rifle in the beginning and later reload with additional ammunition.
While both weapons had a similar performance in the shooting demonstration (except for the Bren jamming), the B.A.R. was determined to be the deadlier rifle as it had a more fluid and easier to use feel to it. The Bren was noted to have a few wobbling parts when being fired, and transitioning to a shooting position and adjusting your sights seemed to be a bit awkward when compared to the B.A.R. Throw in the lower amount of recoil when firing the B.A.R., and there you go.
Winner — French Foreign Legion’s Browning Automatic Rifle
medium-range weapons: MAS-36 rifle versus Enfield No. 4 rifle
Up first again is the French Foreign Legion and their MAS-36 rifle. The MAS-36 is a bolt-action rifle with an effective range of 375 yards, weighs only 8.5 pounds, is 40 inches long, and it carries a five-round magazine. The MAS-36 was tested to fire with a muzzle velocity of 2,647 feet per second.
The Gurkahs used the Enfield No. 4. Deemed the fastest military bolt-action rifle in its day, the Enfield No. 4 has an effective range of 550 yards, weighs 8.75 pounds, is 44.5 inches long, and it carries a ten-round magazine. The Enfield No. 4 was tested to fire with a muzzle velocity of 2,417 feet per second.
The firing demonstration for the rifles involved first firing ten rounds at three moving targets. The shooters are then required to crawl to a second shooting location and fire ten more rounds at two static targets. The first three targets are fifty yards away, while the second two targets are only 35 yards away. Both sets of targets are well within the shooting range of the World War 2-era bolt-action rifles.
The shooter with the Enfield No. 4 rifle took 02:07 to fire all twenty rounds and clear the course, hitting the targets a total of 13 times. He had an 80% hit ratio on the static targets and only 50% hit ratio on the moving targets.
The shooter with the MAS-36 rifle took 02:54 to fire all twenty rounds (reloading three times because of the smaller magazine) and clear the course, scoring a total of 14 hits on the targets. He had an 80% hit ratio on the moving targets, but only 60% on the static targets. Obviously, the incredible slow reloading speed of feeding a single bullet into the magazine at a time cost the MAS-36 a TON of time in the shooting demonstration.
While the MAS-36 was demonstrated to be not only more accurate and also having more stopping power, the Enfield No. 4 was determined to be the deadlier of the two bolt-action rifles. For starters, the Enfield No. 4 reloaded with two five-round clips of ammunition; significantly faster than the single bullet reload of the MAS-36. The Enfield No. 4 also carried twice as many rounds as the MAS-36, giving that shooter a greater amount of firepower before pausing to reload the weapon. And as it was pointed out in the show, when sliding back the bolt on the Enfield No. 4, the shooter didn’t have to move his head and have to reacquire himself with the rifle. He could keep his head in position, swiftly eject the spent round while reloading a new one, and then quickly fire another round at the target.
To me, this is an easy comparison between the two bolt-action rifles. They’re both accurate enough on the battlefield, but the Enfield No. 4’s larger magazine makes it a much deadlier weapon when compared to the MAS-36. Through in a quicker process of swapping the spent round with a fresh one, and there you go.
Winner — Gurkha’s Enfield No. 4 bolt-action rifle
X-factor — battlefield tactics: Gurkha’s improvised ambush versus French Foreign Legion’s active defense
Both the Gurkha and French Foreign Legion were known for using small-unit tactics against larger forces.
The history example for the Gurkhas involved an ambush against Japanese forces in the dense jungles of Burma. A Gurkha scouting party located a small Japanese force moving along a trail. Although outnumbered nearly 3-to-1, the Gurkha troops set up an ambush using the terrain to contain the Japanese forces and force them into the trap. A few Gurkha went ahead of the party and attacked in silence with their kukri knives, the rest of the Japanese fled back along the trail and into the trap, leading to their massacre in the jungle.
The history example of the French Foreign Legion (FFL) takes place at the Battle of Bir Hakeim in the Libyan desert. Manning an old Turkish fort and surrounded and outnumbered nearly 10-to-1 by the Nazis, the FFL held their ground and fought off wave after wave of German attackers. To make matters worse for the Germans, the FFL troops snuck out of the fort at night and attacked incoming German supplies and replenishment, reducing their ability to continue the attacks. After 16 days of the attacks, the few remaining FFL troops were able to escape at night and re-join allied forces to the north, successfully stalling General Rommel in the Northern Africa campaign and surviving to fight another day.
While the Gurkha’s improvised ambush tactic slaughtered Japanese forces on a small scale, the active defense of the French Foreign Legion not only took out a significant number of German troops, but it also stalled General Rommel and helped change the outcome of the war in north Africa.
Winner — French Foreign Legion’s active defense
close-range weapons: Kukri versus Camillus
Up first is the Gurkha’s kukri, a 15.5 inch knife with a 10.5 inch “bent” steel blade capable of hacking and slicing anything in its path. As we saw in the demonstration, the weighted tip of the kukri’s blade allowed it to make heavy lacerations in the slicing attacks against all three targets, cutting deep and slicing into the bone itself.
Going against the kukri is the French Foreign Legion’s camillus, a 12-inch knife with a 7-inch steel blade capable of slashing and stabbing anything in sight. The demonstration by the FFL soldier showed how to muscle your way with three targets and brutally kick ass, slashing and stabbing and leaving the scene in a giant, bloody, and quite horrific mess.
The key thing here between these two knives is that the kukri has a larger blade, and with its forward bend and weighted tip, it also has more killing power when it comes to slashing. A smaller person can swing the blade and have a greater chance of not only striking but killing the target with one blow. A knife like the camillus requires greater strength and more precision to make the killing blow. And of course, it helps when using the camillus if you’re big and strong and can muscle your way with the enemy, further guaranteeing of controlling your target and being the winner.
Winner — Gurkha’s kukri knife
OVERALL WINNER — GURKHA
FINAL THOUGHTS
When you look at the numbers, both the Gurkha and French Foreign Legion were pretty comparable.
Personally, I didn’t care for this simulation as it had the French Foreign Legion being ambushed in a camp in mountainous terrain with heavy vegetation. It was an ideal situation for the Gurkha ambushing party. The battle itself should have been even more one-sided for the Gurkha with these conditions. Had the fight been fought in Europe or the desert of northern Africa, then we’d probably have a different outcome.
Out of the five thousand simulated battles, the Gurkha won 2,619 times, 52%. Their best weapons were the Enfield No. 4 rifle and the kukri knife.
Although the French Foreign Legion had more accurate rifles and probably meaner troops, the greater amount of firepower with the Bren light machine gun and Enfield No.4 rifles, along with the better fighting knife, gave the Gurkha the overall advantage. In the end, the discipline and physicality of the Gurkha helped seal their overall victory and prove them to be the deadlier of the two troops.