Pics : 'Normandie Niemen'

Having suffered several days of visiting WWII sites around Falaise, my wife insisted on deciding upon our route home. She picked on Les Andelys, on the Seine between Rouen and Paris, as a picturesque lunchtime 'non-WWII' stop.

As we drove into the town, I was intrigued by a little sign saying 'Normandie Niemen Memorial'. A visit to the Tourist Information Office revealed the location - and quelle surprise ! ( Although my wife called it something else....).....

Outside the building, a nice replica Yak-9.....







And inside, a very well-laid-out display of photos, relics, decorations, etc focussing on the personalities of the 'Normandie Niemen' Squadrons....










Also on display were many Soviet propaganda leaflets, publications and posters - I especially liked this one.....





All in all, this was a nice surprise find....and proves that you really cannot go anywhere in Normandy without finding something for the WWII buff !

 

We stayed at Les Andelys for a week in the summer.
Lovely campsite there.
Saw the planes outside the museum but was so busy doing the battlefields etc that never got around to going in.
There was also a WW2 Museum down the road next to the Tolysland funpark.
This one>>>> NORMANDIE
Didn't go there either.
I'll have to back oneday.
Thanks for the photos Martin.

 

oh ..merde !

..lucky man ..always wanted to visit that museum ...will do it one day...any more interior shots..?

the Yak on the plinth is a 'model' of one of Marcel Lefèvre's mounts ( '14 Le Père Magloire')- Lefèvre was one of the Neu-Neu's leading aces and originally from Les Andelys itself - the emblem celebrates his links with Normandy, "Le Père Magloire" being a particularly well known brand of Calvados...(apple Brandy)

 

Thanx again for the pics, Martin!

 

Sorry, Neil - I took relatively few interior shots as many exhibits were behind glass and difficult to photograph on a very sunny day.....but here's a couple more to give a flavour....







Probably about 20% of the exhibits relate to Lefevre...someone has taken a lot of trouble and expense over this Museum which is housed in an attractive, large 19th-Century house. The shop also has a good selection of 'NN' books - all in French, of course....

A visit is highly recommended !

 

..the NN is still today's Groupe de Chasse 3 so I imagine there might be some official funding.....

 

Martin I'm totally bluffed. This is so close from where some of my family lives and I haven't even been there. Now I must remedy to that! Remember when you posted the Kientzheim tank it didn't take me long before I got there! Thank you from sharing. If interested I have some of the stories of these brave pilots.

 

Excellent exhibition

 

When you and your wife go on vacation you really do it up right ! Excellent pictures and I really like the mural of the planes in the forest and the models hanging in front.
Did you happen to take a picture of the other plane or planes that were with the Yak ? That is an excellent model, just needs a bit of interior to make it complete.
Next vacation why don't you try your excellent luck in Russia. I am sure there lots of memorials and museums there to discover !

 

....I think the food and drink in France is better.....

 

What? That's an insult! Volodya, bring some Bortsch for this capitalist pig who is insulting our motherland! And Vodka, man, don't forget the vodka! - The Red Rabbi

 

I guess he don't like caviar either !

 

Well, you can put me down in the 'interested' column!

I, for one, would love to hear your stories!

-whatever

-Lou

 

Well I don't know where to start, they are mostly not my stories, just a few personnal details added to the many things that have been written. One nice one. I was investigating about the storry of a Lancaster crew that crashed near the Normandy Border between dreux and Evreux in July 1944. One day I found an eye witness and the lady stated that she remembered that just after the war a ceremony took place for the crew and that a aviation general was present. This must have been around 1947-48. She said that se took some pictures and that they are somewhere in here attic (I don't have them I'm afraid). Then I thought about matching home of "local" generals and I soon found that the man she mentionned was General Valin himself! His home was not far from thecrash place and he naturally attended the ceremony. Valin was not only a leader of the Free French Squadron in England, he was also one of the first to suggest the creation of sending Free French volunteers to the Russia (feb 1942). Their story is incredible and thye travelled around half of the globe before gettign to the Soviet Union!
Until July negociation with the Soviets took place and the 12 first volunteers lef t as early as August 17th 1942. The Group Normandie (Groupe 3) was set up by De Gaulle in Syria on Sept 1st and the Commander was Pouliguen. Then Captitaine Mirlesse goes to Moscow with a list of 62 volunteers.
On Sept 19th the first volunteers use the Ship "Highland Princess" and set sail to Lagos Nigeria . From there thye go to Cairo (Btw they flew A JU-52 from the Belgian airlaines)
In october the volunteers from the Oriental colonies and those who came form England meet at Rayak (Lebanon) . They start their training.
In November they fly to iraq (incredible trip isn't it? ) using three American Dakotas and land at Bagdad. Then they take the train to Basra.
On November 17th thye use trucks and drive to Iran and catch a train to Teheran.
On Nove 28 , using three Soviet Dakotas thye fly to Baku in the Soviet Union. Then thye get to Ivanovo and start their training using Yak-7 in December 1942. This is 1942. Next time I'll add the three next years later, I will look up 1943 first. Hope this helps.

 

..a small contribution from me ...this was a review of John D. Clarke's book 'French Eagles, Soviet Heroes' ....which is about the only English language source on the NN -

During 1942 the Free French leader Charles de Gaulle, enjoying limited freedom of action in London, set in motion a variety of initiatives to preserve France's 'honour' and 'influence' alongside the Americans and British. One of these initiatives was the opening of negotiations with the Russians with the aim of sending a fighter unit of French pilots to fight alongside the Red Air force on the Eastern Front. On 1 September 1942, the Groupe de Chasse III or 3rd Fighter Group 'Normandie' was created under its first operational CO Jean Tulasne.Tulasne's career highlighted the dilemma that many French pilots faced after June 1940. As one of them put it; " it was not so much a question of doing one's duty, but actually knowing what one's duty was.."

Clarke's new work is to be welcomed for providing the first English language account of this most famous of Free French units. While detailed, it appears to be essentially a translation of the unit's service journal and as such is written in a very dry fashion - disappointingly there is little to be gleaned here on the men themselves; the pilot's careers or their service history...Tulasne's is especially interesting..

Tulasne had initially gone to the Middle East with GC I/7 (Rayak, Bekaa valley, Syria) in early 1940 and had taken no part in the French campaign. Although his wife and young child were in France, Tulasne was determined to continue fighting - with the RAF if possible - following the French armistice with the Germans. He had seized his chance on 5 December 1940. Airborne from Rayak at the controls of MS 406 No. 819 he headed for British-controlled Palestine. Officially reported lost at sea by the Vichy authorities, he was promoted to the rank of Commandant during February 1941 by the Free French, assuming command of GC 1 Alsace in September 1941. Tasked with setting up the third Free French fighter Group destined to fight on the Russian front, Tulasne was entrusted with training the first volunteers, pilots such as Albert Littolff, Préziosi, Derville. It was with no little apprehension that the first 'Normandie' pilots boarded the three Dakotas that would fly them to Russia during November 1942. Tulasne related some of his fears;

" what concerned me the most is not so much the thought of aerial combat with the Germans on the Russian front, but how we would cope with the uncertain conditions in Russia, the vastness of the country, the cold. We didn't know the regime, the people or the language. In addition our men came from a variety of backgrounds and were lacking an homogenous flying training programme. What sort of technical assistance would we enjoy? Not least of our problems was that we knew nothing of the aircraft the Russians flew..."

Arriving in Ivanovo -north east of Moscow- from North Africa the first Normandie pilots started training on the Yak-1 fighter aircraft - choosing to fly this aircraft was perhaps a gesture towards the Soviets perhaps but one that the 'Normandie' would never regret..

On 5 April 1943, pilots Albert Préziosi and Albert Durand, airborne from Polotniani-Zavod, south-west of Moscow, achieved the unit's first victories each downing a Fw 190 in the region of Loudinovo..

Over the next two years, the notoriety of the 'Normandie' group grew quickly, as they became not only the most highly decorated French fighter unit but the second highest scoring fighter air group of the Soviet Air Force. In May 1943 an order was signed by General Keitel stating that all 'Normandie' pilots were to be shot if captured.

GC 3, 'Normandie' played an active role in the air support of the epic Battle of Kursk, now flying their first Yak -9s. Commandant Tulasne himself claimed a Bf 110 on 15 July and a Fw 190 on 16 July before being shot down and killed the following day on his second sortie escorting IL 2s over the Znamenskaia sector. His successor was Pierre Pouyade who enjoyed the soubriquet 'Le Loup des Steppes', 'the wolf of the Steppes'. Losses were to grow during the hard fighting on the central Russian front during 1943 with Pouyade obliged to leave for North Africa on a recruiting mission during October 1943. A second wave of Normandie volunteers arrived in Russia during January 1944, one of whom was Roger Sauvage. His post-war memoir "Un du Normandie-Niémen" is a classic of the genre.

Unfortunately Clarke appears to make no use at all of the various pilot's memoirs..and his bok is the poorer for this omission.. During 1944 Stalin was to honour the Normandie by adding 'Niemen' to their title in recognition for the help they rendered the Soviet Army in crossing this river. One of the first Allied fighter units to operate from occupied German territory, the 'Normandie-Niemen' clashed with JG51 Mölders in the huge air battles over Konigsberg in March 1945. By the war's end the Group had racked up an impressive 273 confirmed victories and another 36 probables before their triumphal return to Le Bourget, Paris on 20 June 1945 .

 

...and by the most extraordinary coincidence I found a copy of Clarke's book in a remaindered bookshop in London yesterday - for £4.99.....

I'm very much looking forward to reading this.

 

..don't want to put you off Martin....but unfortunately the man can't write too well, or - more probably - is using an indifferent translation .....it is not quite as bad as Simpson's Wittman book ..but not far off ...still it is the only source in English on this unit...

 

Oh, well - - at least I only paid under a fiver ! Perhaps that explains why it was 'remaindered'......

 

Never heard about this museum before, thanks for sharing !

 

Maybe I should set myself up in business...sort of, 'Bull's Battlefield Tours Of France For French members Of The WWII Forums'.....