| Fighter Regiment 2/30 Normandie-Niemen | |
|---|---|
| Regiment de Chasse 2/30 Normandie-Niemen | |
 Squadron insignia | |
| Active | 1942–present |
| Country | France |
| Branch |  French Air and Space Force |
| Type | Regiment |
| Part of | 30e Escadre de Chasse |
| Garrison/HQ | BA 118Mont-de-Marsan Air Base |
| Nickname | Neu-Neu |
| Engagements |
|
| Decorations | |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
|
| Aircraft flown | |
| Fighter | Dassault Rafale C |
Régiment de Chasse 2/30 Normandie-Niemen (Fighter Regiment 2/30 Normandie-Niemen) is aFrench Air and Space Force (Armée de l'air et de l'espace)fighter regiment which flies theDassault Rafale C from BA 118Mont-de-Marsan Air Base.[1] During a dormant period in 2009, the squadron was equipped withDassault Mirage F1CT fighters and stationed at the BA 132Colmar-Meyenheim Air Base.
TheNormandie-Niemen Fighter Regiment (French:Régiment de Chasse Normandie-Niémen – (Russian:Нормандия — Неман) has adopted a number of formations and designations since 1942. Originally formed as Groupe de Chasse Normandie 3 in 1942, it was re-designated as a regiment (with and without the "Niemen" designation) in 1944 and received four different squadron numbers (in 1953, 1962, 1993, and 1995) and two later regimental designations (in 2008 and 2011).
The squadron, which served on theEastern Front of theEuropean theatre of World War II with the1st Air Army, is notable as one of only three units from Western Allied countries to see combat on the Eastern Front during the war and was the only Western Allied unit which fought with Soviet forces until the end of the war in Europe.[note 1][2] The 3rd Fighter Group (Groupe de Chasse 3, or GC 3) in theFree French Air Forces was initially a group of French fighter pilots sent to aid Soviet forces on the Eastern Front at the suggestion ofCharles de Gaulle, leader of theFree French Forces, who felt it important that French servicemen serve on all fronts of the war. The group, first commanded byJean Tulasne [fr], fought in three campaigns on behalf of theSoviet Union between 22 March 1943 and 9 May 1945. It destroyed 273 enemy aircraft and received a number of orders, citations and decorations from the Free French and Soviet governments, including the French Légion d'Honneur and the SovietOrder of the Red Banner.Joseph Stalin named the squadronNiemen for its participation in theBattle of the Niemen River.
In 2005, the squadron (now known as Escadron de chasse 1/30 Normandie-Niemen) flewDassault Mirage F1CT aircraft. It was disbanded in June 2010 and re-activated the following year as aDassault Rafale unit, with its formal reactivation on 25 June 2012 as Escadron de Chasse 2/30 Normandie-Niemen at the BA 118Mont-de-Marsan Air Base. The squadron was reattached to the30e Escadre de Chasse on 3 September 2015, and reformed at the BA 118 Mont-de-Marsan Air Base, it has since been renamed to Régiment de Chasse 2/30 Normandie-Niemen
When GeneralCharles de Gaulle called on Frenchmen to join him in London in hisappeal of 18 June 1940, some went toGreat Britain to fight with the Allies. Britain became an important Free French military base and rallying point.[citation needed]
WhenOperation Barbarossa broke theMolotov–Ribbentrop Pact on 22 June 1941, Soviet authorities declared their representatives ofVichy Francepersona non grata and asked them to return to France. ColonelCharles Luguet, the air attaché of the Vichy government in Moscow, changed his allegiance toFree French.
De Gaulle, believing in the importance of French soldiers serving on all fronts of the war, decided to engage forces on theEastern Front in 1942. He initially proposed to send a mechanized division (the future1st Free French Division, under GeneralEdgard de Larminat) to the Eastern front. British opposition and the advice ofFree French Air Forces commanderMartial Henri Valin, however, made him opt for an air unit instead of a division.[3][4]
Soviet diplomats liaising with theFrench National Committee, primarily AmbassadorAlexander Bogomolov, announced that the Soviet government welcomed French aviators on the Eastern Front. On 19 February 1942, de Gaulle designated Luguet and Captain Albert Mirlesse (under the authority of General Valin) to negotiate with the Soviet Union.[5] Negotiations were lengthy, and Colonel Pougachev (military chief of the mission in London) opposed a separate French group near the Red Army. Parallel negotiations in Moscow andKuybyshev, the alternate Soviet capital, were fruitless.
On 25 February 1942, the first list of pilots was given to the Soviets. The first commandant, Joseph Pouliquen, was tasked by De Gaulle with forming and commanding Fighter Group 3 (GC 3) inLebanon while awaiting Soviet approval. Fighter Group Normandie was created in late 1942 (the first date mentioned in the Marching Journal was 15 September)[6] as "Normandie". Joseph Pouliquen suggested the name for GC 3; he had wanted to use the name of his province,Brittany, but it was already in use by a bombardment group. The first volunteer group consisted of 14 French fighter pilots and 58 mechanics, joined by 17 Soviet mechanics.
The first 14 fighter pilots of GC 3 came from units of theRoyal Air Force or from the Île-de-France fighter group in England and from the Alsace Fighter Group North Africa. The eight British pilots wereAspirantsJoseph Risso [fr], Yves Mahé,Marcel Albert, Marcel Lefèvre,Albert Durand,Yves Bizien,Roland de la Poype, and Lieutenant Didier Béguin. The six "Libyans" were AspirantNoël Castelain, LieutenantsRaymond Derville,André Poznanski and Albert Preziosi, CaptainAlbert Littolff, and commanderJean Tulasne.
De Gaulle ordered the creation of GC 3 on 1 September 1942, commanded by Pouliquen. Mechanics, pilots and hardware travelled by rail and air viaTehran toBaku.
After lengthy negotiations with Colonel Levandovich, the militarychargé d'affaires of international relations at the Soviet Air Ministry general staff headquarters,[7] the group leftRiyaq airfield on 12 November 1942 and arrived on 28 November atIvanovo air base (250 km north-east of Moscow), viaIraq andIran. The group were trained at Ivanovo in handling their first aircraft: theYakovlev Yak-1.
The squadron's training on theYakovlevYak-7 andYak-1 lasted from 2 December 1942 to 14 March 1943. On 20 March, French mission military chief in Moscow Ernest Petit, Ivanovo base commander Shumov, commander of the aerial base of Ivanovo, and Colonel Levandovich of the Soviet air force high command reviewed the group for two days. According to the reviewers, "By its military qualities and morals, this unit is ready to be sent to the front";[8] it became operational on 22 March 1943.
GC 3, equipped with the Yak-1 fighter, saw combat betweenPolotnyany Zavod andMonastyrshchina. It became the fourth squadron of the18th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. The squadron was part of the1st Air Army. Pilots Albert Preziosi and Albert Durand shot down twoFw 190s on 5 April nearRoslavl while escorting aPetlyakov Pe-2 bomber. Eight days later, three pilots were shot down; three Fw 190s were also shot down.
The squadron fought in the JulyBattle of Kursk, in which group commanderJean Tulasne and deputy commanderAlbert Littolff were killed.[9]Pierre Pouyade, who joined the squadron after deserting from Vichy in Indochina, became commander. It became the focus of Soviet propaganda, andWilhelm Keitel decreed that any French pilots were to be shot on sight.[10]
In August, French mechanics commanded by Alex Michel and Louis Duprat were sent to the Middle East and replaced by Soviet mechanics at the order of Captain Sergueï Agavelian.[11] On 11 October, de Gaulle awarded the squadron theOrder of Liberation. Only six pilots remained from the original group, which had 72 air victories, by the time GC 3 moved toTula on 6 November. In their first year at the front, they claimed 86 kills (77 confirmed, 9 "probables") and 16 enemy aircraft damaged against a loss of 25 Yak fighters.
The squadron became a regiment in 1944, with a fourthescadrille reinforced by North African pilots. After training on theYakovlev Yak-9D fighter in Tula, the regiment rejoined the front for its second campaign. The campaign was fought near Dubrovka[clarification needed] andGross-Kalweitchen (inEast Prussia) until 27 November 1944. The following day,Joseph Stalin gave the regiment the nameNieman (making itNormandie-Niemen) in recognition of its participation in the battles to take over theNeman River region;[12] it was common to give Soviet units thebattle honour names of places at which they had fought. On 16 October, the first day of an unsuccessful offensive againstEast Prussia, the regiment's pilots claimed 29 enemy aircraft destroyed with no losses; twelve more German aircraft were shot down the following day, again with no losses, for a two-day record. The regiment was based in Germany by November, the first French troops in Germany since the September 1939Saar Offensive. At the end of the month, ColonelPierre Pouyade ordered the 303rd Aerial Division emblem (to which Normandie-Niemen belonged) painted on the Yaks.[13] Pouyade was released from command at the end of the year; replaced by commanderLouis Delfino, he returned to France with other veteran pilots. By the end of 1944, 201 kills were claimed. The regiment went to Moscow in early winter for de Gaulle's diplomatic visit with Stalin; one-quarter of the pilots were given leave in France, reducing it to threeescadrilles.
The squadron began its third campaign (fromDopenen toHeiligenbeil) on 14 January 1945, concentrating onEast Prussia. From January to May 1945 (V-E Day), it participated in the invasion of East Prussia and the siege ofKönigsberg (nowKaliningrad).
In June 1945,Joseph Stalin decreed that combatants could return home with their arms.[14] The squadron flew toPosen on 15 June, and toPrague the following day. They were received byGeneral de Lattre de Tassigny inStuttgart on 17 June. On 20 June, the squadron arrived atSaint-Dizier three days later. They were welcomed atParis–Le Bourget Airport,[15] and their 38 Yak-3s paraded down theChamps-Élysées.[16]
The squadron claimed 273 enemy aircraft shot down (37 probable), with a loss of 87 aircraft and 52 pilots. About 5,240sorties were flown, and the unit took part in 869dogfights. It destroyed 27 trains, 22 locomotives, twoE-boats, 132 trucks, and 24 staff cars. Forty-two of the squadron's pilots were killed, and 30 wereflying aces.[17] Four pilots (Marcel Albert, Marcel Lefèvre, Jacques André andRoland de la Poype) becameHeroes of the Soviet Union. Forty-seven Axis planes were damaged, and eight train stations, five airfields, four garrisons and three factories were attacked.
Its battle honours includedBryansk,Orel,Yelnya andSmolensk (1943);Orsha,Berezina andNiemen (1944), and Insterburg (later renamedChernyakhovsk),Königsberg (later renamedKaliningrad) and Pillau (nowBaltiysk) in 1945. Members of the squadron received theLégion d'Honneur, theCroix de la Libération, theMédaille militaire and theCroix de Guerre (the latter with sixpalmes) from France, and theOrder of the Red Banner and theOrder of Alexander Nevsky (with eleven citations between the two) from the Soviet Union.
The squadron was part of the French Air Force, which ordered the transfer of its aircraft toToussus-le-Noble in early February 1946; the civilian base had a zone reserved for the air force. As training aircraft, without spare parts, the planes were graduallycannibalized. A restored specimen is at the Paris–Le Bourget Airport'sMusée de l'air et de l'espace. SovietChief MarshalAlexander Novikov wrote,
The gift of the Regiment Normandie-Niémen of all the aircraft on which they flew demonstrated the sincere friendship between the French and Soviet people ... In giving the pilots of Normandie-Nièmen the honour of keeping their arms and allowing them to return to their homeland on their combat aircraft, the Soviet Union offered them the highest compensation.[18]
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After postings at Bourget andToussus-le-Noble, the regiment was assigned toRabat-Salé Airport inMorocco in 1947. It was stationed inSaigon during theFirst Indochina War (1949–1951) before returning toAlgeria. The regiment was split in two in 1953, and one of the two squadrons became the Escadron de Chasse 2/6 Normandie-Niémen. After the dissolution of the6e Escadre de Chasse, the squadron was attached to the30e Escadre de Chasse and became the Escadron de Chasse 2/30 Normandie-Niémen.
It returned toOrange, Vaucluse on 13 March 1962. The squadron moved toReims – Champagne Air Base (BA 112) in June 1966, remaining there for almost 30 years as part of the 30e Escadre de Chasse. On 18 September 1992, the squadron celebrated its 50th anniversary. The celebration included a visit bySukhoi Su-27s from theRussian Knights aerobatics team and a delegation of military veterans from the formerSoviet Union, organized by FrenchDefense MinisterPierre Joxe and the commander-in-chief of theRussian Air Force.
On 13 October 1993, the squadron was renamed Escadron de Chasse 1/13 Normandie-Niémen. It later left Reims forColmar–Meyenheim Air Base (Air Base 132) inMeyenheim, nearColmar inAlsace. In 1994, the squadron participated inOpération Turquoise in Rwanda and Opération Crécerelle inBosnia and Herzegovina. On 9 May 1995, the 50th anniversary ofVictory Day, the18th Guards Assault Aviation Regiment of the Russian Air Force was renamed Normandiya-Neman.[19] Based inGalenki,Primorsky Krai, in theRussian Far East as part of the11th Air Army, the regiment fliesSukhoi Su-25 ground-attack aircraft.
On 1 July 1995, the squadron was renamed Escadron de Chasse 2/30 "Normandie-Niemen". Four years later, it participated in Operation Allied Force (French:Opération Allied Force). PresidentsNicolas Sarkozy andVladimir Putin unveiled a monument by Russian sculptorAndrey Kovalchuk commemorating the squadron in Moscow's Lefortovo Park on 10 October 2007.
The squadron was decommissioned on 3 July 2009, with the last takeoffs for Reims and Châteaudun in mid-July; after 17 July 2009, no aircraft flew out ofColmar–Meyenheim Air Base. Its regimental colors and some of its aircraft and pilots went toMont-de-Marsan Air Base.[20] Veterans of the squadron and a French contingent from the unit participated in the 9 May2010 Moscow Victory Day Parade inRed Square.[21]
The firstDassault Rafale with the squadron colors took off from Mont-de-Marsan Air Base on 25 August 2011,[22][23] reviving theSPA 91,SPA 93,Escadrille Spa.97 andEscadrille SPA 97 squadrons.[24]
From 31 August 2015 to 18 September 2015, fifteen Rafales from the squadron'sEscadron de Chasse 1/7 Provence and theEscadron de Chasse 1/91 Gascogne were deployed at Corsica'sSolenzara Air Base.[25] From 13 to 25 April 2016, two Rafales from the squadron and two from the Escadron de Chasse 1/7 Provence were deployed to an RAF station as part of the Griffin Strike 2016 exercise.[26]
On 9 June 2017, the squadron celebrated its 75th anniversary. With help from theRussian Ministry of Defense, French historianPierre Malinowski discovered a World War II Yak-1 belonging to the squadron in August 2018.[27]
In February 1945, Delfino reduced the squadron to two units: the 2nd and 3rd, commanded respectively by Captain de Saint-Marceaux and Captain Charles de La Salle.[28] Other notable personnel included:
Monuments and tombs of squadron pilots and unknown French soldiers are in the French Square (French:Carré français) of Moscow'sVvedenskoye Cemetery. The remains of six other squadron members were repatriated to France in 1953.
The 1960 Franco-Russian filmNormandie-Niémen, directed by Jean Dréville and Damir Viatich-Berejnykh, explores the arrival in Russia of the first twenty pilots for training and the formation of the squadron. The squadron appears in theYuri Bondarev 1970–1971Liberation film series about the Russian war from theBattle of Kursk to theBattle of Berlin, with Italian actor Erno Bertoli playing Pierre Pouyade. The character Lieutenant Duroc (Patrick Chauvel) describes his time with the Free French squadron inPierre Schoendoerffer's 1992 film,Dien Bien Phu.
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