French air regiment "Normandie-Niemen"
At the beginning of 1942 general De Gaulle had directed to the USSR a team of combat pilots that would have presented fighting French at the Soviet-German front. On November 29 of 1942 a team consisting of 15 pilots, 39 mechanics and 4 staff officers had arrived at airfield in Ivanovo. Here the pilots were presented at their choice with La-5, Yak-1, "Harricane" and "Aircobra" aircraft. They selected the Yak-1.
| March 22 of 1943 | After retraining and conversion to Yak-1 the French team named "Squadron Normandie" flew out to the West Front. |
| July of 1943 | the Squadron was re-formed in fighter regiment "Normandie" with Pierre Pouyade as a Commander. The French mechanics were replaced
by the Soviet ones. At that time the regiment was replenished with Yak-9 instead of Yak-1 aircraft.
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| May of 1944 | Louis Delfino he has been appointed the Commander. For effective combat activity in liberation of Lithuanian Republic the regiment was given the name "Niemen" by the Supreme Commander order. |
| in August of 1944 | The regiment had got Yak-3 aircraft. |
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| Major Pierre Pouyade |
Marcel Albert |
The French pilots said: "One Yak-3 can fight against four aircraft and four Yak-3 can defeat 16 enemies' planes. While flying the Yak-3 one feels himself a master of the situation".
The impressive evidence of these words was an air fight on October 15 of 1944. The squadron of Marcel Albert met 20 German bombers under the cover of 6 fighters. The French pilots shot down 6 bombers and 3 fighters. The next day, on October 16 of 1944, they were even more successful: the French pilots brought down 29 German planes without any loss.
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| The Soviet and French pilots. |
French air regiment "Normandie-Niemen" had been operating in close community with Soviet pilots. At the beginning the French squadron was included in 204 Air Bomber Division but from May of 1943 and up to the end of the War they were subordinated to the 303 Air Fighter Division under the command of Major-General Zaharov G.N. With this formation the "Normands" had marched the combat way from near Moscow up to the Baltic Sea. They had participated in liberation of Orel, Bryansk, Smolensk, Byelorussia and Lithuania and in seizure of Gumbinnen, Kaenigsberg and other cities.
The French pilots had performed more than 5300 combat flights participated in 869 dog fights and shot down 273 enemy's aircraft.
The French pilots Marcel Albert, Roland-de-La Poype, Jacques Andre and Marcel Lefevre were awarded with honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
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| Louis Delfino |
Roland-de-La Poype |
Marcel Lefevre |
76 French pilots were decorated with Soviet and French orders for feats of arms. The French air regiment "Normandie-Niemen" was awarded with the Red Banner and Alexander Nevsky orders for services in battles.
60 years ago, on June 20 of 1945 the French air regiment "Normandie-Niemen" consisting of 40 Yak-3 aircraft presented by the Soviet Government had landed at Le Bourget airfield. One Yak-3 is exhibited in Paris Aviation Museum.
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