Devil's island

The work carried out by members of the French Foreign Legion sent to the tiny South Pacific atoll of Mururoa in Nov. 1982, for a year of hard labour is described. Legionnaires were required to perform a number of tasks in connection with the nuclear tests being conducted on the atoll but, unlike scientists and other personnel, were never issued with any form of protective clothing. The legionnaires worked long, arduous days, often in areas designated as highly radioactive, and were never given the results of tests carried out on their urine and faeces.