french union forces included colonial troops from the whole former empire (moroccan, algerian, tunisian, laotian, cambodian, vietnamese and vietnamese ethnic minorities), french professional troops and units of the french foreign legion. the use of metropolitan recruits was forbidden by the governments to prevent the war from becoming even more unpopular at home. it was called the "dirty war" ("la sale guerre") by supporters of the left in france and intellectuals (including sartre) during the henri martin affair in 1950.