French pilot of Normandie Niemen

[massenez]

you're right, some contemporary historians are trying to restore the truth about the fighting spirit of French fighter pilots : 680 German planes shot down from may to june 1940, and 650 french Planes destroyed during combats in the Sky. But immediatly after the defeat in june 1940 the fascist regim of Vichy had decided to repeat that french left wing government (socialist and communiste unified in the "Front of the people") had disorganized the army and refused its modernization before the war. This is totally wrong but it avoids criticizing military doctrine that was more archaic than the equipment. De Gaulle said the doctrine of the armoured troops were archaic , the doctrine of the french aviation was archaic too. But pilot and mecanics were brave!
Jean

[Dom]

I am not sure but except these letters and translations added on the last page , both books contain the same text named "ДОРОГОЙ ДРУТ!", "Dear friend". One text is signed by about 30 mecanics /vétérans, the second texte is sign by only 15 vétérans. I suppose that the texts were signed during two different ceremonies. that could explain there are fewer signatures on one version . Some veterans are they dead? Who knows?

I think that the ceremony took place in the USSR which explains the limited number of these pilots .

Can be asked to the family

[bourguignotte]

Hello
Very nice group indeed, to be maintained and preserved for sure
Bruno

[Larboard]

True heroes, every single last one... because not only the military thinking was archaic, but diplomacy had been a huge failure also (they probably knew they were fighting a losing battle from the start). A few of Europe's major powers could have turned on Hitler long before they were ready for war, but for a combination of reasons they didn't. France went from the Versailles treaty in 1919 to annihilation and occupation just 21 years later, almost unheard of in modern history. But then again Germany shortly thereafter went from the most powerful nation in the Europe to near total destruction in half that time...

Tumultuous times.

[SovPha]

Amazing lot. Cheers for sharing.

Best regards,
SovPha

[Leaftree]

Thanks for posting this grouping. It was a part of history I was completely unaware of.

[Boudionovka]

Hi there,
I shared this subject with Hervé Pierrot (son of Fernand Pierrot, pilot in Normandy-Niemen) who counted the new children of Jacques Bagnères (He had no children therefore these new children are these universal heirs) who were happy to see that their uncle's medals have not been lost for everyone... After the death of their Uncle these medals had disappeared by magic
This explains why it ended up for sale in an American forum and not a French one...
Whatever they care and dear members you are looking at medals stolen from a retirement home...

[order]

It was sold on French ebay for around 1.600 euro as I remeber, at least for the first time when it appeared on the market.

[Boudionovka]

Hello Order,

This lot has never been on ebay, being responsible for monitoring the sales of Normandie-Niemen objects for the memorial, there is little chance that I missed this sale. Other members of the Memorial also follow the sales, so if I had missed it, someone else would have noticed.

[order]

Here are two pictures that I've saved from the sale from ebay that are not in this thread.
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