exactly 80 years ago, the first independent french fighter regiment, known as normandie niemen, was sentthe third belarusian front. the squadron took part in the offensive operations bagration, including the defeat of enemy troops at the airfields of bolbasovo in the varshansky region, dakudov in krupsky, podtolochin and bar. for its successful action in crossing the neman, the regiment was given the honorary name neman. 148 pilots of the normandy neman air regiment flew over 5.00 sorties, conducted 869 air battles, shot down about 280 enemy aircraft and damaged 80. many of them were awarded orders and medals of the ussr, and four were awarded the title of hero of the soviet union. in honor of the regiment normandy neman. a street in borisov is named. during this period, french pilots accompanied bombers on combat missions. and they managed to do this absolutely without a single loss. this was especially distinguished, so to speak, and as a special merit. yes, here in the soviet union they had to retrain on soviet aircraft, get used to completely different conditions, weather, natural co

the veterans from the regiment, normandy niemen, had everything in common, a common enemy, a common goalnd a common grave, this is the land on which they fought and died. equally sacred for both the french and the soviet people. in the skies we flew alone, we lost military friends, but those who have the privilege of living must remember them and be friends; thousands of conscripts and reservists took an oath of allegiance to their homeland. oath-taking ceremonies took place in military units throughout the country. this is footage of the solemn ritual from the storage and maintenance base. on the parade ground, more than 100 recruits officially became military personnel. the army is much better than it seemed at first glance. good commanders, very good colleagues, this is the duty of every citizen, every man in our country, who can at any time protect his homeland, there were quite a lot of interesting things, we were at the training ground twice, shooting, using different shooting tactics, we also had an interesting forced march in the village of volma, minsk region, 2 km through the f

to the soviet union back in 1942 pilots and mechanics, known as the french aviation regiment, normandy niemenll, because... that degol led the resistance from london, and london interfered with him as best he could. despite all the obstacles, at the end of the war, degol gathered an army of millions and personally took part in the liberation of paris from german occupation. stalin appreciated this victory, thanks to which france was included among the winners, which turned out to be a complete surprise for the german side. on the day the surrender was signed, field marshal wilhelm keitel, seeing a representative of france at the table next to representatives of the ussr and the usa, exclaimed in amazement: how? and these also defeated us. it is a fact that the french, at least at that time, defeated their internal fascism. but whether the anglo-saxons coped with it is a big question. after the end of the second world war, it was they who helped many nazis evade responsibility and tried with all their might. but the most interesting story, of course, is that of spain, because the franco regime