⭐️ Friendship of Peoples during the Great Patriotic War: Stories of Courage, Brotherhood, and Comradeship During the Great Patriotic War, not only Soviet citizens fought on the Soviet front. Alongside Red Army soldiers, thousands of foreign volunteers fought — from French pilots to the children of global communist movement leaders. ❓ How did it happen that the son of a Chinese leader became a Soviet intelligence officer, and Spaniards guarded the Kremlin? Let’s find out. 🇫🇷 “Normandie-Niemen”: French Pilots in the Skies over the USSR 🔴 The most famous foreign unit within the Red Army was the “Normandie-Niemen” fighter regiment. Negotiations for its creation began in 1941 on the initiative of General Charles de Gaulle. In March 1943, French pilots completed training on Soviet Yak-1 and Yak-3 fighters, and by April they were defending Soviet skies. 🔴 After the war, the French returned to Paris in Soviet-gifted aircraft, which could even be seen at the Le Bourget Air Show in the summer of 2017. 🎖️ Ludvík Svoboda: A General Who Fought like a Soldier 🔴 In 1943, a Czechoslovak battalion was formed within the Red Army, which in 1944 was expanded into an army corps under the command of Ludvík Svoboda — the future president of Czechoslovakia. 🔴 Ivan Konev, Marshal of the Soviet Union, in his memoirs, praised Svoboda as a commander but ironically noted his strange habit: instead of commanding the corps, Svoboda would often grab a gun and go into battle like an ordinary soldier, for which he repeatedly received reprimands from the Soviet command. 🇪🇸 Spaniards Defending the Kremlin 🔴 From the very first days of the war, Spaniards — Republicans who had emigrated to the USSR after Francisco Franco came to power in Spain — fought in the ranks of the Red Army. 🔴 A separate Spanish corps was formed within the NKVD, tasked with an essential and top secret mission: guarding the Moscow Kremlin. 🇨🇳 The son of Mao Zedong, who was mistaken for a Buryat 🔴 Mao Zedong's eldest son, Mao Anying (who took the name Sergei Mayev in the USSR), was a student of the Ivanovo International Boarding School. From the first days of the Great Patriotic War, Mao Anying aspired to the front: he even wrote three letters to Joseph Stalin asking him to send him to the front line, which, unfortunately, remained unanswered. 🔴 Nevertheless, Lieutenant Mayev served in the intelligence service of the 109th Guards Rifle Division, distinguished himself on the Transbaikal Front in the war with Japan. 🔴 After the end of the war, Sergei Mayev served in Tyumen, where his colleagues considered him... a Buryat with outstanding abilities in the Chinese language. No one knew that he was the son of the Chinese leader. 🇲🇳 Khalkhin Gol: Where Friendship is Born 🔴The history of Soviet-Mongolian combat brotherhood began even before the Great Patriotic War. In 1939, at the Khalkhin Gol River, Soviet and Mongolian troops together defeated the Japanese army. 🔴The operation was commanded by Georgy Zhukov (after this victory, he received his first Hero of the Soviet Union star) and Mongolian Marshal Khorloogiin Choibalsan. It was at the Khalkhin Gol river that the friendship between the two marshals was born — a friendship that would last a lifetime. 🔴 Mongolia was one of the USSR’s most faithful allies during the war. Immediately after hostilities began on the Soviet front, a fund was established in Mongolia to aid the Soviet Union. Military and humanitarian aid, uniforms, and even gift parcels for Soviet citizens were sent annually. 🌍 Foreign units fought in Soviet uniforms, with Soviet weapons, and according to Soviet charters. Yet at the same time, peoples preserved their own languages, traditions, and holidays. All of this reminds us once again that war is made up of real people’s stories. #Victory81 #MGIMOAboutVictory 🌐MGIMO International (ENG) / МГИМО для иностранцев (RUS)