Friday 1 September 2017

Martin B-26C Marauder, Free French Users part two

Today we cover two interesting squadrons of the Free France Air Force that were equipped with the Martin B-26C.
The first one is the GBM 2/20 "Bretagne" squadron that received the B-26 in December 1943 at Telergma airfield, in the East of Algeria where they were formed and assigned to the 31º Escadre that was part of the 42nd Bombardment Wing of the USAAF. Later, in April 1944 they operated from Sardinia, together with the other FFL's bombardment squadrons and conducted attack and support missions against Corsica and Northern Italy.
In November 1944 they were rebased to Bron, in Lyon in order to perform attack and bombardment missions against Germany. In March 1945 they were rebased to the French town of Saint-Dizier in order to provide support for American troops fighting in the Saarland.

The second one, the GBM 2/52 "Franche-Comte" was formed as a bombardment group, receiving the B-26C, in Médiouna, in Morocco, in January 1944 where they got their nickname. In March 1944 they were rebased to Telergma, Algeria and in July 1944 they were rebased to Villacidro, Sardinia, in order to take part in the operations against Northern-Central Italy where they remained until the end of the war. After the war, they operated from Blida until they B-26 were replaced in order to serve in Indochina in 1949.










Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_B-26_Marauder
2. http://halifax346et347.canalblog.com/archives/2013/10/11/28195353.html (translated)
3. http://anfas.fr/escadron/Bretagne%203.pdf (translated)
4. Signal Squadron - Aircraft in Action 50 - Martin B-26 Marauder in Action

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