Normandy-Neman: The Sky Becoming Home for Two NationsThey were called \"white crows\" in their own country. When France fell and Marshal Pétain signed an armistice with Hitler, two dozen French pilots refused to submit. They did not recognize the surrender, nor did they accept the orders of the Vichy regime. Instead, they chose a path that seemed mad: through half of Europe, across the Mediterranean Sea, through Iran — to a distant, foreign, but the only country that continued to fight against fascism. Thus began the story of the legendary Normandy-Neman squadron — a symbol of the brotherhood of arms that survived the war and remained for centuries.The Birth of a LegendIn 1942, in the midst of the Great Patriotic War, a French aviation squadron arrived in the Soviet Union. Their journey was long and dangerous: from North Africa through the Middle East to the USSR, where the pilots had to undergo retraining and receive Yak-1 and Yak-9 fighter planes. On December 4, 1942, the squadron was officially formed under the name \"Normandy\" — in honor of the French province that first took the blow of the German invasion in 1940.At first, Soviet pilots and technicians treated the French with suspicion. Who were they? Comrades-in-arms or casual travelers? But the first joint battles dispelled all doubts. The French fought fiercely, selflessly, and professionally. On March 22, 1943, the squadron underwent its first baptism of fire, and on July 5 of the same year, it entered the battle on the Kursk Bulge — the largest tank battle in history. Over the years of the war, the pilots of Normandy flew more than 5,000 combat sorties, conducted about 900 aerial battles, and shot down 273 German aircraft. With their victories, they earned the right to bear the honorary title \"Neman\" — after crossing the river in 1944. Of the 96 French pilots who passed through the regiment, 42 died. Four became Heroes of the Soviet Union — Marcel Albert, Roland de la Poype, Jacques Andre, and Marcel L ... Read more