After the Nazi occupation of France prostrate fallen on hard times. Two-thirds of France was occupied by German troops. Under the yoke of Nazi occupation, freedom-loving French people do not stop fighting against them. To finally break the will of the French people to resist, Nazi occupation forces and the Vichy government in France found the bloody regime of violence. They covered the country concentration camps, driven into the underground all democratic organizations, fire and sword to suppress the slightest manifestation of discontent with the Hitler 'new order'. The French people could not tolerate a situation. He all actively involved in the fight for freedom in France, for the triumph of democracy.

The heroic struggle of the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany intensified resistance to the French people the Nazi occupiers. The forces of the resistance movement outside the metropolis were consolidated under the leadership of the French National Committee, who was in London. The growth of anti-fascist sentiment is increasingly felt in the army. After the shameful capitulation and armistice many French military pilots were still in parts, subject to the government of Petain. But, finally convinced that the remains of French aviation gradually transformed into an appendage Hitler's war machine, many of them did not want to be traitors to the French nation. True to their homeland, they grew the ranks of fighters under the banner of the Free French. In late 1942, the French volunteers – 14 pilots and 58 Aircraft Mechanics – arrived in the Soviet Union to continue the fight against the enemies of their country together with the Red Army.