DES AILES DANS LES JAMBES – Memoirs of André Courval FAFL 1939–1945

Three escapes (Cherbourg, Carteret and Jersey), two crashes, wounds, a desertion, a flight of 7,000 kilometres across Africa to return to combat: André Courval's war within the Free French Air Forces was a perpetual adventure. Narrated by the man himself, the six years of war covered in his Memoirs constitute a rare testimony from a non-commissioned member of the Free French Forces who served in a little-known technical arm: aerial bombardment.

Preceded by a section covering his apprenticeship and military service, the occupation, the escape via Jersey and the arrival in England, and his enlistment in the Free French Air Forces are particularly well documented. André Courval's war in the Saharan Africa is linked to the Leclerc epic (Koufra, Fezzan, Libya…). The two men crossed paths on several occasions.

Present from September 1940 at Odiham, André Courval — nom de guerre Saillard — was a pioneer of GRB1 and then of the Bretagne group, flying the Blenheim and then the Marauder. His war in sub-Saharan Africa, Chad, Tunisia and Syria is that of unsung heroes whose daily exploits, so vital to the affirmation of Free France, he recounts for us. It precedes the reconquest of the national territory, prepared in Algeria, launched from Italy and completed from Provence to Alsace.

Enhanced by original drawings by André Courval's own hand illustrating his odyssey, along with photographs and documents that belonged to the author, this edition is a richly annotated critical edition. It is presented, commented upon and compared with those of two other volunteers from Carteret who shared with him the risk of fleeing occupied France and who won, at the price of blood, the honour of fighting for its liberation. It was prepared by Christian Kermoal, doctor of history and associate researcher at the Tempora laboratory of the University of Rennes 2. It is a tribute to all those free men who became warriors.