Post
by Victor » 10 Aug 2003 06:47
On 19 January 1942, De Gaulle proposed to Stalin to send some pilots and technicians to fight on the Eastern Front. The offer was of course accepted.
On 1 September 1942, at Rayak, in Lebanon, was formed GC 3 (Groupe de Chasse 3=3rd Fighter Group), later renamed GC Normandie, under the command of cdt. (Maj.) Joseph-Marie Pouliquen. It had 11 pilots and 47 ground personnel. They arrived at the training base at Ivanovo (250 km NE Moscow) in early 43 and started to fly on the Yak-1M. On 22 March 1943, the 14 Yaks of the Normandie squadron arrived on the front, subordinated to the 303rd Air Division/1st Air Army. In September 1943 they converted to the Yak-9Ts.
In the first year on the front (1943) they claimed 86 kills (77 confirmed+9 probable) and 16 enemy aircraft damaged. They lost 25 Yaks.
In January 1944, the group was reorganized as a regiment, with four squadrons. In July, flying the new Yak-3s, the French pilots reappeared on the front. In October, during the Soviet offensive in East Prussia, the regiment claimed 29 kills only in one day! At the end of 1944, 201 kills have been confirmed.
They continued to fight to the end of the war.
They had been credited with 273 confirmed kills, 37 probable kills, but lost 52 pilots and 87 aircraft of their own. They flew 5240 sorties and engaged in 869 dogfights. Four of its pilots became heroes of the SU and the unit received the Cross of the Legion of Honor, the Croix de Guerre, the Alexander Nevski and Red Banner Orders.
After the WWII, the Normandie-Niemen fought in Indochina in 1950-51 and then was transferred to Algeria and then to France (1962). It also took part in the Kossovo war.
Presently the EC 2/30 Normandie-Niemen has Mirage F1-CTs and is based on the BA-132 air base.
Btw, I posted this stuff some while ago in the "foreigners in the Red army" topic.
