A review of "French Eagles - Soviet Heroes" -the Normandie-Niemen squadrons on the Eastern Front by John D. Clarke (by Neil Page and published in SAM, December 2005)
During 1942 the Free French leader Charles de Gaulle, enjoying limited freedom of action in London, set in motion a variety of initiatives to preserve France's 'honour' and 'influence' alongside the Americans and British. One of these initiatives was the opening of negotiations with the Russians with the aim of sending a fighter unit of French pilots to fight alongside the Red Air force on the Eastern Front. On 1 September 1942, the Groupe de Chasse III or 3rd Fighter Group 'Normandie' was created under its first operational CO Jean Tulasne.Tulasne's career highlighted the dilemma that many French pilots faced after June 1940. As one of them put it; " it was not so much a question of doing one's duty, but actually knowing what one's duty was.."
Clarke's new work is to be welcomed for providing the first English language account of this most famous of Free French units... a detailed work, it appears to be essentially a translation of the unit's service journal..there is little more on the pilot's careers or their service history...Tulasne's is especially interesting..
Tulasne had initially gone to the Middle East with GC I/7 (Rayak, Bekaa valley, Syria) in early 1940 and had taken no part in the French campaign. Although his wife and young child were in France, Tulasne was determined to continue fighting - with the RAF if possible - following the French armistice with the Germans. He had seized his chance on 5 December 1940. Airborne from Rayak at the controls of MS 406 No. 819 he headed for British-controlled Palestine. Officially reported lost at sea by the Vichy authorities, he was promoted to the rank of Commandant during February 1941 by the Free French, assuming command of GC 1 Alsace in September 1941. Tasked with setting up the third Free French fighter Group destined to fight on the Russian front, Tulasne was entrusted with training the first volunteers, pilots such as Albert Littolff, Préziosi, Derville. It was with no little apprehension that the first 'Normandie' pilots boarded the three Dakotas that would fly them to Russia during November 1942. In an interview at the time Tulasne related some of his fears;
" what concerns me the most is not so much the thought of aerial combat with the Germans on the Russian front, but how we will cope with the uncertain conditions in Russia, the vastness of the country, the cold. We don't know the regime, the people or the language. In addition our men come from disparate backgrounds and are lacking an homogenous flying training programme. What sort of technical assistance will we enjoy? Not least we know nothing of the aircraft the Russians fly..."
Arriving in Ivanovo -north east of Moscow- from North Africa the first Normandie pilots started training on the Yak-1 fighter aircraft - choosing to fly this aircraft was perhaps a gesture towards the Soviets perhaps but one that the 'Normandie' would never regret..
On 5 April 1943, pilots Albert Préziosi and Albert Durand, airborne from Polotniani-Zavod, south-west of Moscow, achieved the unit's first victories each downing a Fw 190 in the region of Loudinovo..
Over the next two years, the notoriety of the 'Normandie' group grew quickly, as they became not only the most highly decorated French fighter unit but the second highest scoring fighter air group of the Soviet Air Force. In May 1943 an order was signed by General Keitel stating that all 'Normandie' pilots were to be shot if captured.
GC 3, 'Normandie' played an active role in the air support of the epic Battle of Kursk, now flying their first Yak -9s. Commandant Tulasne himself claimed a Bf 110 on 15 July and a Fw 190 on 16 July before being shot down and killed the following day on his second sortie escorting IL 2s over the Znamenskaia sector. His successor was Pierre Pouyade, dubbed le Loup des Steppes, 'the wolf of the Steppes'. Losses were to grow during the hard fighting on the central Russian front during 1943 with Pouyade obliged to leave for North Africa on a recruiting mission during October 1943. A second wave of Normandie volunteers arrived in Russia during January 1944, one of whom was Roger Sauvage. His post-war memoir "Un du Normandie-Niémen" is a classic of the genre.
Unfortunately Clarke appears to make no use at all of the various pilot's memoirs..and the work is much less exciting than it could have been as a result.. During 1944 Stalin was to honour the Normandie by adding 'Niemen' to their title in recognition for the help they rendered the Soviet Army in crossing this river. One of the first Allied fighter units to operate from occupied German territory, the 'Normandie-Niemen' clashed with German fighter group JG51 Mölders in the huge air battles over Konigsberg in March 1945 - although written as "Moulders" all through the work...that and the indifferent translation (il a fait demi tour ..he made a half turn !!!) slightly detract from the books readability... By the war's end the Group had racked up an impressive 273 confirmed victories and another 36 probables before their triumphal return to Le Bourget, Paris on 20 June 1945 .