Normandie-Niemen

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The Normandie-Niemen squadron (Нормандия-Неман in Russian) is a fighter squadron of the French Air Force.

The unit originated in mid-1943 during World War II. It comprised a group of French fighter-pilots sent to aid Soviet forces on the Eastern Front at the suggestion of Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French, who felt it important that French servicemen serve on all fronts in the war. It was the GC3 (Groupe de Chasse 3 or 3rd Fighter Group) in the Free French Air Force, first commanded by Jean Tulasne (the 's' is silent). Joseph Stalin awarded the unit the name Niemen for its participation in the battle of the Niemen River. For its deeds on the Eastern Front, the unit received various Soviet and French honours.

As of 2005 the unit, known as squadron 2/30, flies Mirage F1 CT planes.

[edit] History

Six months after the Germans invaded the USSR in June 1941, talks aimed at closer co-operation between Free France and the Soviet Union resulted in setting up a special squadron with an initial core of twelve fighter pilots for service on the Russo-German front. De Gaulle officially promulgated the Groupe de Chasse GC 3 Normandie on September 1, 1942, with Commandant Pouliquen in command. Mechanics, pilots and hardware travelled by rail and air via Tehran (Iran) to Baku (now the capital of Azerbaijan). They completed a period of training on the Yakovlev Yak-7 by mid-February 1943, when Commandant Jean Tulasne took command of the groupe, which finally headed for the front on March 22, 1943.

Commandant Jean Tulasne led the then-Normandie fighter group on the Eastern Front until his death in action on July 17, 1943

The first campaign of GC 3, equipped with the Yakovlev Yak-1 fighter-plane, lasted until October 5, and encompassed the area of Russia between Polotniani-Zavod and Sloboda/Monostirtchina. From an initial aerial victory over an Fw 190 on April 5, the tally rose dramatically and the squadron became the focus of much Soviet propaganda, so much so that Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel (who was executed in 1946 after the Nuremberg trials) decreed that any French pilot captured would be executed.

Pilots from the Normandie-Niemen fighter-regiment, designated GC 3 by the French, in front of a Yakovlev Yak-9D fighter-plane, circa 1943 - 1944. The unit, initially a groupe, fought in three campaigns on behalf of the USSR between March 22, 1943, and May 9, 1945, during which time it destroyed 273 enemy aircraft and received many orders, citations and decorations from both France and the USSR, including the French Légion d’Honneur and the Soviet Order of the Red Flag

Tragedy struck the squadron with the much-decorated Tulasne reported missing-in-action after combat on July 17, requiring Commandant Pouyade to take command. In spite of the loss, GC 3 started to receive many Soviet unit citations and decorations as well as French ones. On October 11, de Gaulle accorded the groupe the title of Compagnon de la Libération. By the time GC 3 relocated to Tula on November 6, 1943, only six pilots remained from the original groupe, which had accumulated 72 aerial victories since joining the fighting.

1944 witnessed the expansion of the groupe to become a régiment, with a fourth escadrille joining its ranks. After completing training on the more advanced Yakovlev Yak-9D fighter-planes at Tula, the new regiment rejoined the front line for its second campaign. This lasted until November 27, and took in the area between Doubrovka (in Russia) and Gross-Kalweitchen (in East Prussia, Germany). During this campaign Joseph Stalin allowed the regiment to style itself Normandie-Niemen in recognition of its participation in the battles to liberate the river of that name. On October 16, the first day of a new offensive against East Prussia, the easternmost part of the Reich home territory, the regiment’s pilots destroyed 29 enemy aircraft without loss. By the following month, the regiment found itself based in Reich territory. By the end of the year, Pouyade had been released from his command of the regiment and he, along with other veteran pilots, returned to France.

January 14, 1945, saw the Normandie-Niemen regiment start its third campaign (from Dopenen to Heiligenbeil), concentrating in the East Prussian part of the German Reich, until the formal announcement of victory in the east on May 9, the day after V-E Day in western Europe. By that day, the regiment had shot down 273 enemy aircraft and had received many citations and decorations. Stalin expressed his gratitude to the regiment by offering the unit’s Yak-3s to France, to which the pilots returned to a hero’s welcome in Paris on June 20, 1945.

Its flag bore the testimony of its battle experience, with names such as Bryansk, Orel, Ielnia, Smolensk, Koenigsberg (later renamed Kaliningrad by the Soviets), and Pillau. It received the following decorations: from France, the Légion d'Honneur, the Croix de la Libération, the Médaille Militaire, the Croix de Guerre with six palmes; from the USSR, it received the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of Alexander Nevsky, with eleven citations between the two orders.