[1] It was published in 1960 and translated from the original French into English by Xan Fielding.

[3] In 1966, The Centurions was adapted into a motion picture, Lost Command, starring Anthony Quinn.

The Centurions was highly successful in France at the time of its writing and sold over 420,000 copies.

Indochina expert Bernard Fall called it "one of France's greatest bestsellers since World War II.

"[7] In 1972, the American journal The French Review stated that Lartéguy "almost overnight became something of a household" name in France after its publication, and that during the 1960s, he was one of the most widely read authors in the nation.