Timeline World History Docs

Why France Offered Their Pilots To Stalin | Stalin's French Fighters (2017x43)

Air date: Jun 28, 2017

In 1942, determined to prove that France was leading the fight against Nazism, General de Gaulle offered Stalin a squadron of French pilots to fight on the Soviet front. That regiment, known as Normandy-Niémen, were legendary, winning 273 aerial victories. But the men paid a heavy price. 43 pilots were killed during combat.