ФРАНЦУЗЬКІ АВІАТОРИ ТА АВІАЦІЙНІ ЧАСТИНИ НА СХІДНОМУ ФРОНТІ ПЕРШОЇ СВІТОВОЇ ВІЙНИ

Abstract

One of the forms of military assistance that France provided to allied Russia during the First World War was the deployment of aviation specialists. During 1916-1917, two air contingents were sent to Russia. The first of them numbered only 30 people and was not the consolidated unit – the aviators who were part of it were distributed among the various Russian aviation units. This approach proved unsuccessful: a few weeks after the arrival of the French pilots, they had to move from one section of the front to another, more important one. This negative experience was taken into account when forming the second contingent. In 1917, France sent two full-fledged air squadrons to Russia, as well as the necessary units to provide a total of almost 270 people. The second air contingent operated on the South-Western Front (and the adjacent section of the Romanian Front). The choice of the South-Western Front was conditioned by the fact that in 1917 the largest operations of the Russian army were planned here.The French aviation contingent was armed with quite modern fighter planes and reconnaissance aircraft. The personnel was largely formed at the expense of volunteers, which contributed to the high morale and activity of the aviation contingent. This is evidenced by the results of a series of air battles conducted by French pilots. At the same time, the fighting of the French squadrons was affected by the general situation at the front. They suffered significant losses in equipment during the retreat in July 1917. However, despite the collapse of the Russian army in the autumn of 1917, French aviators continued their hostilities until the armistice between the Bolshevik government of Russia and Germany. Their further stay on the territory of Ukraine, which lasted until February 1918, was characterized by the desire to maintain neutrality and ensure repatriation.