Normandie-Niemen - French fighters in Russia during WW2

The Normandie-Niemen Regiment was a fighter squadron, later Regiment of the Free French Air Force. It served on the Eastern Front of World War II with the Soviet 1st Air Army. The regiment is notable for being one of only two air combat units from an Allied western European country to participate on the Eastern Front during World War II and the only one to fight together with the Soviets until the end of the war in Europe. Four of its pilots, Marcel Albert, Marcel Lefèvre, Jacques André and Roland de La Poype, became Heroes of the Soviet Union. Its battle honours included such names such as Bryansk, Orel, Ielnia, Smolensk, Königsberg and Pillau. It received the following decorations: from France, the Légion d’Honneur, the Croix de la Libération, the Médaille Militaire, the Croix de Guerre with six palmes; from the USSR, it received the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of lexander Nevsky, with eleven citations between the two orders. Pour les Francoph