Seventy years ago this year, the Normandie Niemen was formed
One of the lesser known stories in the United States about World War II (but very well known in Russia) is about the air group of French pilots formed into four squadrons sent to the eastern front by Charles DeGaulle, who fought alongside the Russian Air Force. These squadrons were only one of two allied military forces to fight on the eastern front, the other being the British No. 151 Wing of the RAF. Thirty pilots of the Normandie Niemen reached air ace status (5 victories or more) and four of them won the very highest military honors bestowed by the Russian Army, "Hero Of The Soviet Union" ( similar to the U.S. Congressional Medal Of Honor). Their top air ace was Marcel Albert, who won the Soviet Gold Star and Hero Of The Soviet Union with 23 victories (Nazi planes shot down). A feature film was produced in France on this subject several years ago along with a documentary (a portion of which is below - unfortunately it's in French and Russian). The documentary describes the close relationship that developed between the French pilots and their Russian mechanics.